In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.

That's not exactly as simple to use as, say,
gawk -i ...
and
gawk -i.bak
so I suppose there's a reason for the added complexity in the handling.

Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

Janis

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On 2025-05-23, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The the "-i inplace" thing was introduced in May 2013, by
the GNU Awk 4.1.0 release. So, almost exactly twelve years ago now.

The release notes do not mention that any existing inplace
mechanism was being replaced. It mensions only sed -i.

However, like you, I also seem to have same strange memory that there
had been some earlier inplace mechanism that was deprecated.
It might have been something very short-lived?

The manual has a Feature History, but that is unreliable;
since it doesn't mention the -i inplace feature either,

Btw, spotted something mildly funny in the gawk git:

commit cce5115e21db1702e0617afdca36633e7e2c9eae (tag: gawk-2.11.1)
Author: Arnold D. Robbins <arnold@skeeve.com>
Date: Thu Jul 15 23:24:47 2010 +0300

Move to gawk 2.11.1 as found on Walnut Creek CD-ROM.

commit 3697ec5ca140f686643d204a54181a5ddbf9a799 (tag: gawk-2.11)
Author: Arnold D. Robbins <arnold@skeeve.com>
Date: Thu Jul 15 23:12:49 2010 +0300

Moved to gawk 2.11.

--
TXR Programming Language: http://nongnu.org/txr
Cygnal: Cygwin Native Application Library: http://kylheku.com/cygnal
Mastodon: @Kazinator@mstdn.ca

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On 2025-05-23, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

In article <100p11m$3uh3m$1@dont-email.me>,
Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.

That's not exactly as simple to use as, say,
gawk -i ...
and
gawk -i.bak
so I suppose there's a reason for the added complexity in the handling.

Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

I've explained this a few times over the years (in this newsgroup).

There was never a "-i" option in Gawk that meant "inplace" (and there never will be).

The key to understanding this is to understand that (in Gawk), the "i" in "-i" does not stand for "inplace". It stands for "include".

Once you understand that, all becomes clear.

Sure, but, interestingly, just like Janis, I also seem to have a false,
memory of there having been some other inplace mechanism that was
replaced by the -i inplace include (not necessarily a -i option). There
is no evidence of any such in the available materials, though.

We might have both been duped by something unclear someone said once,
(perhaps here)?

--
TXR Programming Language: http://nongnu.org/txr
Cygnal: Cygwin Native Application Library: http://kylheku.com/cygnal
Mastodon: @Kazinator@mstdn.ca

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In article <100p11m$3uh3m$1@dont-email.me>,
Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.

That's not exactly as simple to use as, say,
gawk -i ...
and
gawk -i.bak
so I suppose there's a reason for the added complexity in the handling.

Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

I've explained this a few times over the years (in this newsgroup).

There was never a "-i" option in Gawk that meant "inplace" (and there never will be).

The key to understanding this is to understand that (in Gawk), the "i" in
"-i" does not stand for "inplace". It stands for "include".

Once you understand that, all becomes clear.

--
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said it was
"extremely inappropriate" for the president to nominate a Supreme Court justice on a
day ending with the letter "Y", and she said that "Biden is putting the demands of the
radical progressive left ahead of what is best for our nation."

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On 23.05.2025 10:58, Kaz Kylheku wrote:

On 2025-05-23, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

In article <100p11m$3uh3m$1@dont-email.me>,
Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.

That's not exactly as simple to use as, say,
gawk -i ...
and
gawk -i.bak
so I suppose there's a reason for the added complexity in the handling.

Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

I've explained this a few times over the years (in this newsgroup).

It's no disrespect; my memory is just limited.

There was never a "-i" option in Gawk that meant "inplace" (and there never >> will be).

The key to understanding this is to understand that (in Gawk), the "i" in
"-i" does not stand for "inplace". It stands for "include".

No doubt. - What I wanted to say is that I thought there was a _simple_
option "like -i" (although, before 'include' times, it could have also
been '-i').

Once you understand that, all becomes clear.

Unfortunately, the question about the rationale for using the GNU Awk
Extension mechanism - which was my original question - isn't answered
by that or any clearer.

Sure, but, interestingly, just like Janis, I also seem to have a false, memory of there having been some other inplace mechanism that was
replaced by the -i inplace include (not necessarily a -i option).

I never needed the "inplace" feature with Awk[*] so my (wrong) memories
were not based on practical experience; practical experience would have
lead to a more enduring (likely correct) memory, I'd expect.

[*] On shell level I use a two-step process with a temporary, to make processing typically also a bit more reliable.

There is no evidence of any such in the available materials, though.

We might have both been duped by something unclear someone said once, (perhaps here)?

It's no biggie, I just wanted some clarity.

Thanks for the investigation.

Janis

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In article <100p11m$3uh3m$1@dont-email.me>,
Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

You are misremembering.

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.
....
Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

It was done with an extension because the maintainer saw no
reason to add Yet Another Option and Still More Code That Would
See Very Little Use into the main core of gawk.

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On 25.05.2025 22:27, Ed Morton wrote:

On 5/23/2025 12:28 AM, Janis Papanagnou wrote:

In GNU Awk I was looking for the in-place option (similar to sed -i).
I thought there once was some _simple_ option usable from the command
line. (Or am I misremembering?)

The manual now suggests to use a GNU Awk "inplace" _Extension_ for that
gawk -i inplace ...
and
gawk -i inplace -v inplace::suffix=.bak ...
respectively.

That's not exactly as simple to use as, say,
gawk -i ...
and
gawk -i.bak
so I suppose there's a reason for the added complexity in the handling.

Does anyone know that reason or remember a rationale? - I don't recall
any discussions about that...

The somewhat lengthy discussion at https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gawk/2012-12/msg00046.html may
(or may not) be useful.

Hi Ed,

this is very valuable, and more than I expected; it has some technical discussions, it shows the "feelings", opinions and rationales, and all
around it. Also the contained link to the Usenet discussions from that
time (where we participated, obviously) was a good addition, and also
to recall the thoughts, wishes and doubts we had back then. - Thanks!

Janis

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