Field Separator Help

[rswarich]

Is there a way to use FS=??? in the
BEGIN part of an awk script so that
every character becomes a field separator?

I would like to use $1, $2 ... $n to specify
the nth character on a line, regardless of
what separates the characters.

So, for example on the line:
abcd e f g hi

$13 would be the "i"

Thanks

 

[vgersh99]

echo 'abcd e f g hi' | nawk '{substr($0, 13,1)}'

vlad
+----------------------------+
| #include<disclaimer.h> |
+----------------------------+

 

[PHV]

> every character becomes a field separator
As field value can't contain field separator you'll be in trouble ...
Anyway, you can get the nth character on a line with the substr($0,n,1) built-in function.

Hope This Help
PH.

 

[rswarich]

Thanks,
The substr is working and is much better
than what I originally asked for.