12.2 General Programming

This section presents a number of functions that are of general programming use.

• Nextfile Function: Two implementations of a nextfile function.
• Strtonum Function: A replacement for the built-in strtonum function.
• Assert Function: A function for assertions in awk programs.
• Round Function: A function for rounding if sprintf does not do it correctly.
• Cliff Random Function: The Cliff Random Number Generator.
• Ordinal Functions: Functions for using characters as numbers and vice versa.
• Join Function: A function to join an array into a string.
• Gettimeofday Function: A function to get formatted times.