AWK - how to truncate an output file

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how to truncate an output file

Kevin Rodgers

2005-02-16, 8:56 am

I'm writing a program that splits the input stream into multiple output
files, whose names are determined at run time. At the point where the
program starts writing to a "new" output file, I want it to truncate the
file (in case it already exists). I thought this would do the trick,
but it initializes the file to 1 byte (the newline character):

{
outputfile = "something_that_depends_on_" $0
printf "" > outputfile
}

What's the right way to accomplish that?

Thanks,
--
Kevin Rodgers

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