Author here. You're right that awk is a limited tool. That's exactly why I wanted to write about it. It just wouldn't be possible to make a comprehensive case f

Author here. You're right that awk is a limited tool. That's exactly why I wanted to write about it. It just wouldn't be possible to make a comprehensive case for perl in a blog post this short, because perl does much more than awk does. And that's kind of why I like awk as much as I do, in spite of its limitations. There's so little to the language, it's of practical use, and as a precursor to tools like perl, python, and ruby, it's historically interesting, too. And I know a lot of people who like to learn neat, useful things who don't know anything about awk. Thanks for reading, btw - I think perl is another older tool that could stand for some evangelizing. I don't write perl, though, so I'm not the guy to do it.