UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I'll take it back. If the only constraints are that you can't change RS and you can't have an END clause, this simple modification to my earlier script will do what you want:

Code:

gawk '/^1_this/ {
        if(NR != 1) printf("\n")
        printf("%s|", $0)
        next
}
        {printf("%s", $0)}' input
if [ -s input ]
then echo
fi

It uses the echo command outside of the awk script to add the <newline> that was being provided by the END clause. It just doesn't seem natural to have to add a shell if statement outside of awk when the rest of the program's logic is entirely performed in awk.