Re: [bug-gawk] in-place edit request

[Manuel Collado]

El 31/12/2012 8:25, Ed Morton escribió:
> Arnold - does the proposed solution allow the user to write:
>
>      gawk -X 'script' file
>
> where "X" is some appropriate letter and the result is to update "file"
> with the result of executing "script" on the original contents of "file"?
>
> I just want to make sure we're talking about implementing something every
> bit as simple to use as the sed, perl, and ruby equivalents otherwise it's
> probably not worth bothering with.

I love simplicity, but there is a risk of oversimplifying. A better 
approach could be to request in-place edit on a per-file basis. A typical 
use case is multiple renames. If the set of renames is hardcoded, then the 
suggested -X syntax is ok:

   gawk -X -f renames.awk file(s)

But if the set of renames is read from a configuration data file, then the 
proposed syntax is not applicable:

   gawk -X -f renames.awk renames.config file(s)

This invocation will replace both the config file and the file(s) to be edited.

IIRC, Janis proposed a slightly different approach for the general tool:

   inplace command args --- files to_be replaced

The '---' mark separates regular command argument data files from data 
files to be edited in-place:

   inplace gawk -f renames.awk renames.config --- file(s)

Regards,
--
Manuel Collado - http://lml.ls.fi.upm.es/~mcollado