Multi-line records
Records are normally separated by newlines,
so that each line is a record;
but this too can be changed,
though only in a limited way.
If the built-in record separator variable
RS
is set to the empty string,
as in
BEGIN { RS = "" }
then input records can be several lines long;
a sequence of empty lines separates records.
A common way to process multiple-line records is to use
BEGIN { RS = ""; FS = "\n" }
to set the record separator to an empty line and the field separator
to a newline.
Each line is then one field.
However, the length of a record is limited;
it is usually about 2500 characters.
``The getline function''
and
``Cooperation with the shell''
show other examples of processing multi-line records.
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The getline function
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Input separators
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SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 -- 02 June 2005