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This guide demonstrates how to combine the power of awk with Bash to process delimited text files. We’ll compare a pure awk script to a Bash/awk hybrid, then progressively build a reusable salary‐benchmarking tool.

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Why Bash-AWK Hybrids?

  • Pure awk scripts are concise for text processing.
  • Embedding awk inside Bash adds flexibility (variables, flags, CLI args).
  • Shebangs (#!/usr/bin/env …) let you run scripts directly.

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Pure awk Script (salary.awk)

#!/usr/bin/env awk -f
BEGIN {
    FS = "|"
}
{
    print $2, $3
}

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Bash Script Embedding awk (print_names.sh)

#!/usr/bin/env bash
awk -F "|" '{
    print $2, $3
}'
You can run either script by: 
chmod +x print_names.sh
./print_names.sh < employees.txt
Or invoke awk directly: 
awk -f salary.awk employees.txt

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Preparing the Data Source

Our employees.txt file uses | as the field separator and contains:
Column NoFieldDescription
1Employee IDUnique identifier
2First nameGiven name
3Last nameFamily name
4DepartmentDepartment name
5Job titlePosition title
6EmailContact email
7SalaryAnnual salary (USD)
The image shows a text file named "employees.txt" containing a list of employees with details such as name, department, job title, email, and salary.
Set the field separator with -F or FS to split on |.

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Salary Thresholds

Threshold VariableCriteria
high_salarySalary ≥ 90000 (high earners)
low_salarySalary ≤ 65000 (potential bumps)

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1. Basic One-Liner

Print first name, last name, and salary for every employee: 
awk -F "|" '{ print $2, $3, $7 }' employees.txt
Output: 
Kriti Shreshtha 60000
Rajasekar Vasudevan 75000
Debbie Miller 80000
Enrique Rivera 65000
Feng Lin 90000
Andy Luscomb 95000
Mark Crocker 85000
Jing Ma 100000

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2. Filter by Salary Range

Use -v to pass thresholds into awk: 
awk -F "|" \
    -v high_salary=90000 \
    -v low_salary=65000 \
    '$7 >= high_salary || $7 <= low_salary {
        print $2, $3, $7
    }' employees.txt
This shows both high and low earners in one stream.

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3. Add a Header with BEGIN

Introduce a one-time header via BEGIN: 
awk -F "|" \
    -v high_salary=90000 \
    -v low_salary=65000 \
    -v header="==== Salary Adjustments ====" \
    'BEGIN { print header }
     $7 >= high_salary || $7 <= low_salary {
         print $2, $3, $7
     }' employees.txt

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4. Wrap into a Bash Script (salary.sh)

For readability and reuse, move the awk call into a Bash script: 
#!/usr/bin/env bash

awk -F "|" \
  -v high_salary=90000 \
  -v low_salary=65000 \
  -v header="==== Salary Adjustments ====" '
BEGIN {
  print header
}
$7 >= high_salary || $7 <= low_salary {
  print $2, $3, $7
}
' < employees.txt
Make it executable and run: 
chmod +x salary.sh
./salary.sh

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5. Separate “Up” and “Down” Sections (salary-v2.sh)

Print distinct headers for high and low salaries: 
#!/usr/bin/env bash

awk -F "|" \
  -v high_salary=90000 \
  -v low_salary=65000 \
  -v up_header="===== Needs to be adjusted up =====" \
  -v down_header="===== Needs to be adjusted down =====" '
$7 >= high_salary {
  print down_header
  print $2, $3, $7
}
$7 <= low_salary {
  print up_header
  print $2, $3, $7
}
' < employees.txt

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6. One Header per Group (salary-v3.sh)

Use flags inside awk to avoid repeating headers: 
#!/usr/bin/env bash

awk -F "|" \
  -v high_salary=90000 \
  -v low_salary=65000 \
  -v up_header="===== Needs to be adjusted up =====" \
  -v down_header="===== Needs to be adjusted down =====" '
$7 <= low_salary {
  if (!printed_up_header) {
    print up_header
    printed_up_header = 1
  }
  print $2, $3, $7
}
$7 >= high_salary {
  if (!printed_down_header) {
    print down_header
    printed_down_header = 1
  }
  print $2, $3, $7
}
' < employees.txt

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7. Parameterize with CLI Arguments (salary-v4.sh)

Allow users to override thresholds when running the script: 
#!/usr/bin/env bash

readonly UP_HEADER="===== Needs to be adjusted up ====="
readonly DOWN_HEADER="===== Needs to be adjusted down ====="

high_salary="${1:-90000}"
low_salary="${2:-65000}"

awk -F "|" \
  -v high_salary="$high_salary" \
  -v low_salary="$low_salary" \
  -v up_header="$UP_HEADER" \
  -v down_header="$DOWN_HEADER" '
$7 >= high_salary {
  if (!printed_down_header) {
    print down_header
    printed_down_header = 1
  }
  print $2, $3, $7
}
$7 <= low_salary {
  if (!printed_up_header) {
    print up_header
    printed_up_header = 1
  }
  print $2, $3, $7
}
' < employees.txt
Run with defaults: 
chmod +x salary-v4.sh
./salary-v4.sh
Or specify custom thresholds: 
./salary-v4.sh 80000 60000

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Next Steps

You’ve now explored:
  • Pure awk vs Bash/awk hybrids
  • Using -v to pass variables into awk
  • Conditional headers with BEGIN and internal flags
  • Parameterizing scripts via CLI
Practice customizing these scripts for different file formats, field counts, or more complex filtering logic.

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References

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