File: gawk.info,  Node: Print,  Next: Print Examples,  Up: Printing

5.1 The 'print' Statement
=========================

Use the 'print' statement to produce output with simple, standardized
formatting.  You specify only the strings or numbers to print, in a list
separated by commas.  They are output, separated by single spaces,
followed by a newline.  The statement looks like this:

     print ITEM1, ITEM2, ...

The entire list of items may be optionally enclosed in parentheses.  The
parentheses are necessary if any of the item expressions uses the '>'
relational operator; otherwise it could be confused with an output
redirection (*note Redirection::).

   The items to print can be constant strings or numbers, fields of the
current record (such as '$1'), variables, or any 'awk' expression.
Numeric values are converted to strings and then printed.

   The simple statement 'print' with no items is equivalent to 'print
$0': it prints the entire current record.  To print a blank line, use
'print ""'.  To print a fixed piece of text, use a string constant, such
as '"Don't Panic"', as one item.  If you forget to use the double-quote
characters, your text is taken as an 'awk' expression, and you will
probably get an error.  Keep in mind that a space is printed between any
two items.

   Note that the 'print' statement is a statement and not an
expression--you can't use it in the pattern part of a pattern-action
statement, for example.