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Operators
The following table provides the list of operators with examples.
Note:  IFS is set to space for these examples.
 
 
OPERATOR
OPERATION
EXAMPLE
----------------------
MEANING OF EXAMPLE
RESULTS
=
+=
assignment
a = 1;
a += 2;
a is set to a + 2
 
a now equals 3
||
logical OR
a || b
1 if a or b is true, 0 otherwise
abc
c
ac
bc
# true (1)
# false (0)
# true (1)
# true (1)
&&
logical AND
a && b
1 if a and b are true, 0 otherwise
abc
c
ac
bc
# true (1)
# false (0)
# false (0)
# false (0)
in
array membership
j in a
1 if a[j] exists, 0 otherwise
a[b] = 4;
a[c] = "dog";
j in a;
a[j] = "cat";
j in a;
# false (0)
# true (1)
~
!~
matching
matched by
not matched by
$1 ~ /go/
1 if the first field contains go, 0 otherwise
gone fishing
will go fish
# true (1)
# false (0)
 
<
<=
==
!=
>=
>
relational
less than
less than or equal to
equal to
not equal to
greater than or equal to
greater than
a == b
1 if a is equal to b, 0 otherwise
a = 1;
b = 1;
a == b;
b = 5;
a == b;
# true (1)
# false (0)
+
concatenation
"A" + "BC"
If either variable is a string, variables are united side by side.
a = "A" + "BC"
a = "ABC"
+
-
add
subtract
a + b
If both variables are numeric, sum of a and b or difference between a and b.
a = 2;
b = 1;
c = a + b;
c= a - b;
c equals 3
c equals 1
*
/
multiply
divide
a * b
product of a and b
a = 2;
b = 3;
c = a * b;
c equals 6
$
field
$2+1
value of the second field plus 1
owe 25 dollars
a = $2 + 1;
a equals 26
( )
grouping
and precedence
(AB) + C
1 if both the characters in parenthesis are next to the other character and each other, 0 otherwise.
Last modified date: 08/02/2023