11. Advanced Features of gawk

Write documentation as if whoever reads it is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
Steve English, as quoted by Peter Langston

This chapter discusses advanced features in gawk. It's a bit of a "grab bag" of items that are otherwise unrelated to each other. First, a command-line option allows gawk to recognize non-decimal numbers in input data, not just in awk programs. Next, two-way I/O, discussed briefly in earlier parts of this Web page, is described in full detail, along with the basics of TCP/IP networking and BSD portal files. Finally, gawk can profile an awk program, making it possible to tune it for performance.

Adding New Built-in Functions to gawk, discusses the ability to dynamically add new built-in functions to gawk. As this feature is still immature and likely to change, its description is relegated to an appendix.

11.1 Allowing Non-Decimal Input Data		Allowing non-decimal input data.
11.2 Two-Way Communications with Another Process		Two-way communications with another process.
11.3 Using gawk for Network Programming		Using gawk for network programming.
11.4 Using gawk with BSD Portals		Using gawk with BSD portals.
11.5 Profiling Your awk Programs		Profiling your awk programs.