AWK vs PowerShell

Overview

AWK

Stacks639

Followers49

Votes0

GitHub Stars2.1K

Forks181

PowerShell

Stacks8.2K

Followers1.0K

Votes0

AWK vs PowerShell: What are the differences?

Introduction to AWK and PowerShell

AWK and PowerShell are both powerful scripting languages that are commonly used for automating tasks and manipulating data. Although they have some similarities, there are key differences between the two languages that make them unique in their own ways. Here are six key differences between AWK and PowerShell:

Syntax: AWK uses a pattern-action paradigm, where patterns are used to match records and actions are performed on those records. PowerShell, on the other hand, uses a command-based syntax similar to traditional scripting languages.
Platform: AWK is primarily designed for Unix-like operating systems and is not natively available on Windows. PowerShell, on the other hand, is built specifically for Windows but can also be used on Unix-like systems through cross-platform versions like PowerShell Core.
Data Manipulation: AWK specializes in processing and manipulating structured text data, such as CSV files, by using fields and records. PowerShell, on the other hand, can work with various types of data, including text, files, objects, and even COM and .NET objects.
Regex Support: AWK has built-in regular expression support that allows users to easily match and manipulate text based on patterns. PowerShell also supports regular expressions, but it provides more advanced regex capabilities, making it more versatile when it comes to pattern matching and text manipulation.
Ease of Use: AWK is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It has a shallow learning curve and is relatively straightforward to write and understand. PowerShell, although more powerful, has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive features and capabilities. However, PowerShell's rich ecosystem and comprehensive documentation make it easier to find resources and support for learning and troubleshooting.
Community and Ecosystem: AWK has a smaller community compared to PowerShell, which means there are fewer resources, libraries, and modules available. PowerShell, being a Microsoft product, has a large and active community that continuously contributes to its ecosystem by developing modules, scripts, and sharing knowledge, making it a more robust and versatile scripting language.

In summary, AWK and PowerShell differ in syntax, platform compatibility, data manipulation capabilities, regular expression support, ease of use, and community size. While AWK is more focused on text processing in Unix-like systems, PowerShell offers a broader range of features and is ideal for automating tasks on Windows platforms with extensive community support.

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CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Advice on AWK, PowerShell

Justin

Open Source Program Manager at Reblaze

Aug 15, 2019

Review

If you have a file (demo.txt) that has 3 columns:

Column-1    Column-2    Column-3
Row-1a      Row-2a      Row-3a         
Row-1b      Row-2b      Row-3b
Row-1c      Row-2c      Row-3c
Row-1d      Row-2d      Row-3d
Row-1e      Row-2e      Row-3e

and you want to only view the first column of the file in your CLI, run the following:

awk {'print $1'} demo.txt

Column-1
Row-1a
Row-1b
Row-1c
Row-1d
Row-1e

If you want to print the second column of demo.txt, just replace $1 with $2

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

AWK	PowerShell
A data-driven scripting language consisting of a set of actions to be taken against streams of textual data – either run directly on files or used as part of a pipeline – for purposes of extracting or transforming text, such as producing formatted reports.	A command-line shell and scripting language built on .NET. Helps system administrators and power-users rapidly automate tasks that manage operating systems (Linux, macOS, and Windows) and processes.
-	Windows PowerShell Workflow; Windows PowerShell Web Access.; Support for .NET 4.0; Support for Windows Preinstallation Environment; Disconnected Sessions; Robust Session Connectivity; Updatable Help System
Statistics
GitHub Stars 2.1K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 181	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 639	Stacks 8.2K
Followers 49	Followers 1.0K
Votes 0	Votes 0
Integrations
GNU Bash Linux macOS Zsh (Z shell)	Linux Microsoft Azure .NET Microsoft SQL Server

What are some alternatives to AWK, PowerShell?

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

Related Comparisons

AWK vs PowerShell: What are the differences?

Introduction to AWK and PowerShell

Syntax: AWK uses a pattern-action paradigm, where patterns are used to match records and actions are performed on those records. PowerShell, on the other hand, uses a command-based syntax similar to traditional scripting languages.
Platform: AWK is primarily designed for Unix-like operating systems and is not natively available on Windows. PowerShell, on the other hand, is built specifically for Windows but can also be used on Unix-like systems through cross-platform versions like PowerShell Core.
Data Manipulation: AWK specializes in processing and manipulating structured text data, such as CSV files, by using fields and records. PowerShell, on the other hand, can work with various types of data, including text, files, objects, and even COM and .NET objects.
Regex Support: AWK has built-in regular expression support that allows users to easily match and manipulate text based on patterns. PowerShell also supports regular expressions, but it provides more advanced regex capabilities, making it more versatile when it comes to pattern matching and text manipulation.
Ease of Use: AWK is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It has a shallow learning curve and is relatively straightforward to write and understand. PowerShell, although more powerful, has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive features and capabilities. However, PowerShell's rich ecosystem and comprehensive documentation make it easier to find resources and support for learning and troubleshooting.
Community and Ecosystem: AWK has a smaller community compared to PowerShell, which means there are fewer resources, libraries, and modules available. PowerShell, being a Microsoft product, has a large and active community that continuously contributes to its ecosystem by developing modules, scripts, and sharing knowledge, making it a more robust and versatile scripting language.

AWK vs PowerShell

Overview

AWK vs PowerShell: What are the differences?