Part IV:
Appendices ¶

Appendix A The Evolution of the awk Language ¶

This Web page 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 chapter briefly describes the evolution of the awk language, with cross-references to other parts of the Web page where you can find more information.

• Major Changes Between V7 and SVR3.1
• Changes Between SVR3.1 and SVR4
• Changes Between SVR4 and POSIX awk
• Extensions in Brian Kernighan’s awk
• Extensions in gawk Not in POSIX awk
• History of gawk Features
• Common Extensions Summary
• Regexp Ranges and Locales: A Long Sad Story
• Major Contributors to gawk
• Summary