gawk: option requires an argument -- f Usage: gawk [POSIX or GNU style options] -f progfile [--] file ... Usage: gawk [POSIX or GNU style options] [--] 'program' file ... POSIX options: GNU long options: (standard) -f progfile --file=progfile -F fs --field-separator=fs -v var=val --assign=var=val POSIX options: GNU long options: (extensions) -m[fr] val -b --characters-as-bytes -c --compat, --traditional -C --copyleft, --copyright -d [file] --dump-variables[=file] -e 'program-text' --source='program-text' -E file --exec=file -g --gen-pot -h --help, --usage -l [fatal] --lint[=fatal] -L --lint-old -n --non-decimal-data -N --use-lc-numeric -O --optimize -p [file] --profile[=file] -P --posix -r --re-interval -S --sandbox -V --version To report bugs, see node `Bugs' in `gawk.info', which is section `Reporting Problems and Bugs' in the printed version. gawk is a pattern scanning and processing language. By default it reads standard input and writes standard output. Examples: gawk '{ sum += $1 }; END { print sum }' file gawk -F: '{ print $1 }' /etc/passwd