File: gawk.info,  Node: Language History,  Next: Installation,  Prev: Dynamic Extensions,  Up: Top

Appendix A The Evolution of the 'awk' Language
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This Info file describes the GNU implementation of 'awk', which follows
the POSIX specification.  Many longtime 'awk' users learned 'awk'
programming with the original 'awk' implementation in Version 7 Unix.
(This implementation was the basis for 'awk' in Berkeley Unix, through
4.3-Reno.  Subsequent versions of Berkeley Unix, and, for a while, some
systems derived from 4.4BSD-Lite, used various versions of 'gawk' for
their 'awk'.)  This major node briefly describes the evolution of the
'awk' language, with cross-references to other parts of the Info file
where you can find more information.

* Menu:

* V7/SVR3.1::                   The major changes between V7 and System V
                                Release 3.1.
* SVR4::                        Minor changes between System V Releases 3.1
                                and 4.
* POSIX::                       New features from the POSIX standard.
* BTL::                         New features from Brian Kernighan's version of
                                'awk'.
* POSIX/GNU::                   The extensions in 'gawk' not in POSIX
                                'awk'.
* Feature History::             The history of the features in 'gawk'.
* Common Extensions::           Common Extensions Summary.
* Ranges and Locales::          How locales used to affect regexp ranges.
* Contributors::                The major contributors to 'gawk'.
* History summary::             History summary.