UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

i am new to awk scripting. i couldn't figure out how this awk script works can anyone explain?

Code:

#!/bin/awk -f
{
    for( x=1; x<=NF; ++x) {
        if( x == 3 ) {
            continue
        }
        print x, $x
   }
}

thank you and regards

Because there's no pattern, the code enclosed in {} will run for every line of the input.
NF is the number of fields on the input line.
For each line, it will print all of the fields on the line EXCEPT field 3, because when x == 3, the continue executes, skipping the "print x, $x".
So for every line, you'll get something like
1 field1
2 field2
4 field4 (assuming there's more than 3 fields on the line).

What its intended purpose is, I can't tell you. But that's what it's doing.