AWK是一种优良的文本处理工具，Linux及Unix环境中现有的功能最强大的数据处理引擎之一。这种编程及数据操作语言（其名称得自于它的创始人阿尔佛雷德·艾侯、彼得·温伯格和布莱恩·柯林汉姓氏的首个字母）的最大功能取决于一个人所拥有的知识。AWK提供了极其强大的功能：可以进行正则表达式的匹配，样式装入、流控制、数**算符、进程控制语句甚至于内置的变量和函数。它具备了一个完整的语言所应具有的几乎所有精美特性。实际上AWK的确拥有自己的语言：AWK进程设计语言，三位创建者已将它正式定义为“样式扫描和处理语言”。它允许您创建简短的进程，这些进程读取输入文档、为数据排序、处理数据、对输入执行计算以及生成报表，还有无数其他的功能。gawk是AWK的GNU版本。

AWK is an interpreted programming language designed for text processing and typically used as a data extraction and reporting tool. It is a standard feature of most Unix-like operating systems.

The AWK language is a data-driven scripting language consisting of a set of actions to be taken against streams of textual data – either run directly on files or used as part of a pipeline – for purposes of extracting or transforming text, such as producing formatted reports. The language extensively uses the string datatype, associative arrays (that is, arrays indexed by key strings), and regular expressions. While AWK has a limited intended application domain and was especially designed to support one-liner programs, the language is Turing-complete, and even the early Bell Labs users of AWK often wrote well-structured large AWK programs.