7.1 Pattern Elements

Patterns in awk control the execution of rules—a rule is executed when its pattern matches the current input record. The following is a summary of the types of awk patterns:

/regular expression/

A regular expression. It matches when the text of the input record fits the regular expression. (See section Regular Expressions.)

expression

A single expression. It matches when its value is nonzero (if a number) or non-null (if a string). (See section Expressions as Patterns.)

pat1, pat2

A pair of patterns separated by a comma, specifying a range of records. The range includes both the initial record that matches pat1 and the final record that matches pat2. (See section Specifying Record Ranges with Patterns.)

BEGIN

END

Special patterns for you to supply startup or cleanup actions for your awk program. (See section The BEGIN and END Special Patterns.)

BEGINFILE

ENDFILE

Special patterns for you to supply startup or cleanup actions to done on a per file basis. (See section The BEGINFILE and ENDFILE Special Patterns.)

empty

The empty pattern matches every input record. (See section The Empty Pattern.)