gawk: Debugging Summary
1
1 14.6 Summary
1 ============
1
1 * Programs rarely work correctly the first time. Finding bugs is
1 called debugging, and a program that helps you find bugs is a
1 debugger. 'gawk' has a built-in debugger that works very similarly
1 to the GNU Debugger, GDB.
1
1 * Debuggers let you step through your program one statement at a
1 time, examine and change variable and array values, and do a number
1 of other things that let you understand what your program is
1 actually doing (as opposed to what it is supposed to do).
1
1 * Like most debuggers, the 'gawk' debugger works in terms of stack
1 frames, and lets you set both breakpoints (stop at a point in the
1 code) and watchpoints (stop when a data value changes).
1
1 * The debugger command set is fairly complete, providing control over
1 breakpoints, execution, viewing and changing data, working with the
1 stack, getting information, and other tasks.
1
1 * If the GNU Readline library is available when 'gawk' is compiled,
1 it is used by the debugger to provide command-line history and
1 editing.
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1 * Usually, the debugger does not not affect the program being
1 debugged, but occasionally it can.
1