File: gawk.info,  Node: Statements,  Next: Built-in Variables,  Prev: Action Overview,  Up: Patterns and Actions

7.4 Control Statements in Actions
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"Control statements", such as 'if', 'while', and so on, control the flow
of execution in 'awk' programs.  Most of 'awk''s control statements are
patterned after similar statements in C.

   All the control statements start with special keywords, such as 'if'
and 'while', to distinguish them from simple expressions.  Many control
statements contain other statements.  For example, the 'if' statement
contains another statement that may or may not be executed.  The
contained statement is called the "body".  To include more than one
statement in the body, group them into a single "compound statement"
with braces, separating them with newlines or semicolons.

* Menu:

* If Statement::                Conditionally execute some 'awk'
                                statements.
* While Statement::             Loop until some condition is satisfied.
* Do Statement::                Do specified action while looping until some
                                condition is satisfied.
* For Statement::               Another looping statement, that provides
                                initialization and increment clauses.
* Switch Statement::            Switch/case evaluation for conditional
                                execution of statements based on a value.
* Break Statement::             Immediately exit the innermost enclosing loop.
* Continue Statement::          Skip to the end of the innermost enclosing
                                loop.
* Next Statement::              Stop processing the current input record.
* Nextfile Statement::          Stop processing the current file.
* Exit Statement::              Stop execution of 'awk'.