topic GAWK : Turning a variable value into a variable name in Operating System - HP-UX

GAWK : Turning a variable value into a variable name

Andrew Jewell — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:43:34 GMT

I need to fill in the middle statement in the following GAWK script:

X = "foo"
# something like @X = 7
assert( foo == 7 )

in perl I'd just use $$X. Is there a way to do this in GAWK?

Re: GAWK : Turning a variable value into a variable name

Dennis Handly — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:24:21 GMT

I don't know of any. You could use associative arrays:
X = "foo"
mapVar[X] = 7
assert(mapVar["foo"] == 7)

I.e. if you want to do the indirection, you always have to use mapVar[].