I have a file

a b
c d
e f
g h

and I want output

(a-d) (b-c)
(c-f) (d-e)
(e-h) (f-g)

I have tried using the awk getline command but I always seem to skip a line.

Thanks

nawk '{ $0="(" $0 ")"; gsub(" ", "-") ; ORS=(FNR%2)?FS:RS}1' myFile

Can you post what you have so far? I think you are using a getline plus a next which will skip a line if you are not careful. Will help to see what you have

awk '{a=$1;b=$2;getline;c=$2;print a,c}' input_file

which gives me an output from my original input file of

a d
e h

and I was expecting
a d
c f
e h

Any ideas???

Thanks

ok, I've misread the requirements - hopefully this is what you need:

nawk '!a {a=$1;b=$2;next} {printf("(%s-%s)%c(%s-%s)\n", a,$2,OFS,b,$1);a=$1;b=$2}' myFile

 awk '
NR==1{p1=$1;p2=$2;getline;printf("(%s-%s)%s(%s-%s)\n",p1,$2,OFS,p2,$1);q1=$1;q2=$2;next}
{printf("(%s-%s)%s(%s-%s)\n",q1,$2,OFS,q2,$1);q1=$1;q2=$2}' file