Commands used by AWK can come from two locations:

• They can be specified on the command line.
• Alternatively they can come from a source file. If such is the case, AWK is alerted to this occurrence by means of the -f option.

Assuming a file, test.txt, exists with the following contents:

10   Peter     Terence   Roux        45
11   Virginia  Genevieve  Roux       45
12   Felix     Devon     Roux         5
13   David     Bruce     Stevenson   48
14   Bob       James     Smith       16
48   Adam      Winter    Ridley      23

Assuming a command file exists with following contents:

awklist

{print $2,$3}
{print $4,$5,"\n"}

Issue the following command:

awk -f awklist test.txt

returns:

Peter Terence
Roux 45

Virginia Genevieve
Roux 45

Felix Devon
Roux 5

David Bruce
Stevenson 48

Bob James
Smith 16

Adam Winter
Ridley 23