Awk print string with variables

Question

How do I print a string with variables?

Trying this

awk -F ',' '{printf /p/${3}_abc/xyz/${5}_abc_def/}' file

Need this at output

/p/APPLE_abc/xyz/MANGO_abc_def/

where ${3} = APPLE and ${5} = MANGO

Answer 1

printf allows interpolation of variables. With this as the test file:

$ cat file
a,b,APPLE,d,MANGO,f

We can use printf to achieve the output you want as follows:

$ awk -F, '{printf "/p/%s_abc/xyz/%s_abc_def/\n",$3,$5;}' file
/p/APPLE_abc/xyz/MANGO_abc_def/

In printf, the string %s means insert-a-variable-here-as-a-string. We have two occurrences of %s, one for $3 and one for $5.

Answer 2

Not as readable, but the printf isn't necessary here. Awk can insert the variables directly into the strings if you quote the string portion.

$ cat file.txt
1,2,APPLE,4,MANGO,6,7,8


$ awk -F, '{print "/p/" $3 "_abc/xyz/" $5 "_abc_def/"}' file.txt
/p/APPLE_abc/xyz/MANGO_abc_def/