Awk: Help

[Robert Fisher_1]

Hello everybody,

I am trying to process some very large input lines with awk and I keep getting the error "awk: Input line cannot be longer than 3,000 bytes. The source line number is 59.

I've done a man of awk but I don't see anything to increase the input line limit. Is there a patch for this?

TIA, Bob

[A. Clay Stephenson · Accepted solution]

Hi Bob:

You can probably search on "awk" and "3,000" and get several answers; here's my response to a question very much like yours:

-----------------------------------------


That question has come up before and the answer is to use the Gnu version of awk 'gawk' which removes those restrictions. You can download an executable version from any of the HP-UX Porting Centre's.

http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gawk-3.1.0/

You will find that gawk is compatible with your version of awk and is in fact a superset of awk. Download it and you should be all set.

Regards, Clay

[David Burgess]

It might be a limit in awk. You could try gawk from http://hpux.connect.org.uk

Regards,

Dave.

[Clemens van Everdingen]

Hi,

Read this thread:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xe0487b8d1de3d5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

Also try to use GNU Awk from:

http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gawk-3.1.0/

C.

[hpuxrox]

HPUX default awk does not support files that large. You will need gawk for that support.

http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gawk-3.1.0/

-Yates

[harry d brown jr]

perl? Seriously, when messing around with such huge lines, perl is much better suited for the job.


live free or die
harry

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Robert:

This is a limitation in HP-UX 'awk'. Get a copy of the gnu version:

http://gatekeep.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gawk-3.1.0/

Regards!

...JRF...

[S.K. Chan]

Just try this first ..

Set kernel parameter large_ncargs_enable=1 in SAM and rebuild the kernel, then reboot.

[S.K. Chan]

.. only if you're on 10.20, not needed for 11.x..

[Robert Fisher_1]

Hello everybody:

I installed gawk and it worked.

S.K, I was going to adjust my kernel but I couldn't find the value you listed. I then did a search on 'awk', '3,000', and 'large_ncargs' and I found a thread that both A. Clay and JRF answered and it explained about the ncargs problem rather forcefully. I guess I should have mentioned that I am on HP-UX 11i.

Thanks for all the quick responses.

Bob