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Jawk 6.4.00

CLI Reference

This page documents the CLI surface implemented by Cli[1]. It focuses on the actual parser-backed options in the current codebase rather than historical flags from older Jawk documentation.

Caution

Precompiled tuples loaded with -L use Java serialization and are version-sensitive. If Jawk reports that a tuples file is incompatible, recompile it with the current Jawk version instead of trying to reuse the old file.

Invocation Shape

The common command shape is:

java -jar jawk-6.4.00-standalone.jar [options] [script] [name=value | input_filename]...

The extension listing mode is separate:

java -jar jawk-6.4.00-standalone.jar --list-ext

Option Groups

Script selection
  • script is the inline AWK program used when you do not pass -f or -L.
  • -f <filename> reads a script from a file. You can repeat -f to combine multiple script sources.
  • -L <filename> loads previously serialized AwkTuples instead of compiling source now.
  • --persist <filename> loads retained user-defined globals from a serialized state file before execution and writes them back after the run finishes.
  • -K <filename> compiles the current script sources to a tuples file and exits without executing the script.
Input and ARGV
  • Remaining operands after the script are exposed through ARGV and ARGC.
  • An operand without = is treated as an input filename.
  • An operand containing = is treated as an AWK-style file-list assignment that applies before the next input file is consumed.
  • Use -v name=value instead when the variable must exist before BEGIN.
Variables and formatting
  • -v <name=value> assigns a variable before execution begins.
  • -F <fs> sets the initial field separator.
  • -r disables Jawk's default trapping of IllegalFormatException for printf and sprintf.
  • --locale <locale> sets the locale through Locale.forLanguageTag(...).
  • -t keeps associative array keys sorted.
  • --posix enforces POSIX-oriented compile-time behavior such as disabling gawk-style nested arrays.
  • JAWK_PERSISTENT_MEMORY can also point at the persistent-memory file when you do not want to pass --persist explicitly. --persist wins when both are present.
Extensions and sandbox
  • -l <extension> or --load <extension> loads an extension by registered identifier, simple class name, or fully qualified class name.
  • --list-ext prints the identifiers currently registered in ExtensionRegistry and exits. It must be used by itself.
  • -S or --sandbox compiles and runs the script with sandbox restrictions enabled.
Inspection and compilation
  • --dump-syntax prints the parsed abstract syntax tree and skips execution.
  • --dump-intermediate prints the tuple stream and skips execution.
  • -s or --no-optimize disables tuple optimization during compilation.
  • --profile executes the script with runtime profiling enabled and prints tuple and function timing statistics to stderr.
  • --profile=<filename> writes the same profiling report to the specified file instead of stderr.
Help and errors
  • -h and -? print usage and exit. They must be used by themselves.
  • Missing option arguments, unknown parameters, invalid -v syntax, or missing scripts cause argument parsing to fail.
  • Jawk reports runtime problems through exceptions and exits with a non-zero status when execution fails.

Execution Notes

  • --dump-syntax, --dump-intermediate, -K, -h, -?, and --list-ext are non-executing modes.
  • --profile is an executing mode. It keeps normal AWK output on stdout and writes the profiling report to stderr after execution finishes.
  • --profile=<filename> keeps normal AWK output on stdout and writes only the profiling report to the file.
  • -S affects compilation and execution, not just runtime behavior.
  • --posix currently disables arrays-of-arrays syntax and related subarray-only operands in order to keep CLI compilation aligned with classic POSIX-style AWK expectations.
  • --posix is rejected together with -L, because loading precompiled tuples bypasses source compilation entirely.
  • -L lets you skip source compilation, but the loaded tuples must still be compatible with the current runtime.
  • -f and -L are distinct paths: source files compile now, tuple files load now.
  • --persist and JAWK_PERSISTENT_MEMORY affect only real execution. Non-executing modes such as -K, --dump-syntax, and --dump-intermediate ignore persistent memory.

Tuple Serialization Compatibility

Jawk tuples are reusable, but they should be treated as internal artifacts tied to the Jawk version that produced them.

  • -K writes tuples to a file
  • -L reads those tuples back
  • version mismatches can cause tuple loading to fail
  • the safe fix is to recompile the tuples with the current Jawk version

Persistent memory files use the same Java serialization machinery. They are therefore version-sensitive as well and should be discarded when Jawk reports an incompatibility.

See Also

cli options flags command line awk
Links:
  • [1] apidocs/io/jawk/Cli.html
  • [2] cli.html
  • [3] java.html
  • [4] compatibility.html
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