Most awk variables are available for you to use for your own
purposes; they never change except when your program assigns values to
them, and never affect anything except when your program examines them.
However, a few variables in awk have special built-in meanings.
Some of them awk examines automatically, so that they enable you
to tell awk how to do certain things. Others are set
automatically by awk, so that they carry information from the
internal workings of awk to your program.
This chapter documents all the built-in variables of gawk. Most
of them are also documented in the chapters describing their areas of
activity.
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