Overwrite input file using awk

Question

I have the following line of code:

awk -F, '{printf "%09d,%d\n" ,$1,$2}' $newDir/$processNew

and it does what I want it to, but instead of overwriting the current file, it prints out of screen.

What do I need to change to overwrite the current input file which is $processNew ?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you want to override the source file, you need to use a temporary file file:

awk -F, '{printf "%09d,%d\n" ,$1,$2}' $newDir/$processNew > tmp && mv tmp $newDir/$processNew

Answer 2

With GNU awk, you can do

gawk -i inplace -options 'script' file ...

or

gawk -i inplace -v INPLACE_SUFFIX=.bak -options 'script' file ...

ref: https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/Extension-Sample-Inplace.html