5.8.2 Special Files for Network Communications

gawk programs can open a two-way TCP/IP connection, acting as either a client or a server. This is done using a special file name of the form:

/net-type/protocol/local-port/remote-host/remote-port

The net-type is one of ‘inet’, ‘inet4’, or ‘inet6’. The protocol is one of ‘tcp’ or ‘udp’, and the other fields represent the other essential pieces of information for making a networking connection. These file names are used with the ‘|&’ operator for communicating with a coprocess (see section Two-Way Communications with Another Process). This is an advanced feature, mentioned here only for completeness. Full discussion is delayed until Using gawk for Network Programming.