# Install awk with Homebrew, chocolatey, pacman, zypper Text processing scripting language. Version 20260426 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with pacman: sudo pacman -S gawk. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:awk ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install awk ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S gawk ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: gawk from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/core/os/x86_64/core.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install gawk ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: gawk from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - Chocolatey (92%): ```sh choco install awk ``` Evidence: Chocolatey community package catalog: awk from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','autodesk-fusion360' ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:awk - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 20260426 - **Source summary:** Text processing scripting language - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** SMLNJ - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-26T07:20:29+00:00 ## Executables - awk (cli) - awk (alias) ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-26 - Package-manager version: 20260426 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage One True Awk is Brian Kernighan's maintained awk implementation, packaged by Homebrew as awk. It is the direct lineage most Unix people mean when they say awk as a small pattern-action language for scanning text, selecting fields, computing summaries, and printing reports. ### Project history Awk was developed at Bell Labs by Alfred Aho, Brian Kernighan, and Peter Weinberger. The original paper, referenced from the official awk.dev site, describes awk as a pattern scanning and processing language; the 1985 technical report covered the expanded language that became the basis for the 1988 book. The official awk.dev page for The AWK Programming Language, Second Edition says the first edition was written by Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger in 1988, and points to the maintained source at github.com/onetrueawk/awk. That repository is the modern home for the implementation commonly called One True Awk. ### Adoption history Awk spread through Unix culture because it sits between grep, sed, cut, and a full programming language. Its pattern-action model lets shell users write small data programs directly in pipelines without compiling anything or creating a larger script project. The 2023 second edition of The AWK Programming Language and the continuing maintenance of the onetrueawk repository are part of awk's unusual afterlife: an old Unix language remains relevant because CSV-ish logs, columnar text, and quick data checks have not gone away. ### How it is used Typical usage is inline and pipeline-oriented: match records, split fields, accumulate counters, transform columns, and print reports. The man page and historical papers emphasize scanning input lines for patterns and executing actions for matching lines. There is no project-specific config or credential file. Awk programs are supplied on the command line or in script files, and behavior is controlled by variables, input files, and environment inherited from the shell. ### Why package nerds care For package nerds, awk is a tiny package with oversized cultural weight. It overlaps with POSIX awk, BWK awk, gawk, mawk, and system-provided /usr/bin/awk, so the packaging question is often which awk you are intentionally installing rather than whether awk exists at all. Homebrew's awk formula is useful on macOS because it gives users a current One True Awk without replacing the system awk. That makes it attractive for people testing portability, newer awk fixes, or scripts that should stay close to the original language rather than GNU awk extensions. ### Timeline - 1979: The original Awk paper appeared in Software: Practice and Experience. - 1985: Bell Labs technical report CSTR 118 documented the expanded awk language. - 1988: The first edition of The AWK Programming Language was published. - 2023: The AWK Programming Language, Second Edition was published with an official companion site. - 2026: awk.dev continues to point users to the maintained onetrueawk source repository. ### Related projects - GNU awk, or gawk, is the GNU Project implementation and has its own manual and release stream. - mawk is another long-lived awk implementation focused on speed and small size. - sed, grep, cut, perl, and shell are neighboring tools in the same Unix text-processing workflow. ### Sources - - - - - source_facts.description - source_facts.repo ## Security Notes No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for awk. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL. ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** awk - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - pacman - gawk - 5.4.0-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: gawk from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/core/os/x86_64/core.db.tar.gz | GNU version of awk | https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/ - zypper - gawk - 5.4.0-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: gawk from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Domain-specific language for text processing | https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/ - Chocolatey - awk: normalized package name match | Chocolatey community package catalog: awk from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','autodesk-fusion360' ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Language runtime packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/language-runtime-packages/) - Matched language runtime, compiler, or interpreter metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [rhai](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rhai/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [mawk](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mawk/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: awk, cli, language-runtime, text-processing. - [rad](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rad/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [rune](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rune/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [cbmbasic](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cbmbasic/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [chaiscript](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/chaiscript/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [goawk](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/goawk/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: awk, cli, language-runtime. - [jimtcl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/jimtcl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, scripting-language. - [libpinyin](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libpinyin/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, language, language-runtime, processing, runtime. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/awk.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/awk.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph