Run unix command on awk field [duplicate]

Question

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I want to run the basename command on a certain awk field.

echo "1 /this/is/a/path" | awk '{print $1" "system("/usr/bin/basename " $2)}'

but the output always produces a 0 from the system command. How do I print the real output?

awk -F, '{printf "%s ",$1 ; system ("/usr/bin/basename " $2)}' — Costas, Feb 9 at 17:18

cuonglm · Answer 1 · 2015-02-09 17:37:46Z

up vote 0 down vote

POSIXly:

$ echo "1 /this/is/a/path" | awk '
{
  cmd = "/usr/bin/basename -- " $2;
  cmd | getline out; 
  print $1, out;
  close(cmd);
}'
1 path

answered Feb 9 at 17:20

cuonglm
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marked as duplicate by jasonwryan, Gilles, John WH Smith, slm♦ Feb 9 at 19:39