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 Short options: GNU long options: (extensions) -b --characters-as-bytes -c --traditional -C --copyright -d[file] --dump-variables[=file] -D[file] --debug[=file] -e 'program-text' --source='program-text' -E file --exec=file -g --gen-pot -h --help -i includefile --include=includefile -l library --load=library -L[fatal|invalid|no-ext] --lint[=fatal|invalid|no-ext] -M --bignum -N --use-lc-numeric -n --non-decimal-data -o[file] --pretty-print[=file] -O --optimize -p[file] --profile[=file] -P --posix -r --re-interval -s --no-optimize -S --sandbox -t --lint-old -V --version To report bugs, see node `Bugs' in `gawk.info' which is section `Reporting Problems and Bugs' in the printed version. This same information may be found at https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/Bugs.html. PLEASE do NOT try to report bugs by posting in comp.lang.awk, or by using a web forum such as Stack Overflow. 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