You can make awk print the text instead of using the echo-keyword. The BEGIN-clause in awk is for that: whatever is in the BEGIN clause is executed before any text from the input file is processed:

Code:

awk 'BEGIN {
             printf "host entries:\n";
          }
          {
             printf "  %s:\n     ip: %s\n", $2, $1;
          }' hosts2.txt

This should do the same as the construct with echo. Furthermore, a little hint: if you connect two commands (like the awk and the echo) with the && operator you effectively say: execute the second command only if the first command exits without error.

This can make sense if the second command really depends on the successful execution of the first. But even in this case it is clearer to write it in long form:

Code:

if command1 ; then
     command2
else
     echo "something went wrong with command 1"
fi

instead of the (basically equivalent but less readable)

Code:

command1 &&  command2 || echo "something went wrong with command 1"

In case of awk and echo it doesn't make any sense because, honestly, how is echo supposed to not succeed?

I hope this helps.

bakunin