🚀 go-pugleaf

Explain why the following 'nawk' program produces:

---- cut ----
This is the BEGIN section
a b c
1 2 3
x y z
This is the END section
---- cut ----

When run as: 'nawk -f test.nawk test.dat', whereas it produces

---- cut test.out ----
a b c
1 2 3
x y z
This is the BEGIN section
This is the END section
---- cut test.out ----

when redirected to a file, as in: 'nawk -f test.nawk > test.out'

Here is the program:
---- cut test.nawk ----
BEGIN {
	printf("This is the BEGIN section\n");
}

	{ printf("%s %s %s\n",$1,$2,$3) | "cat" }

END {
	close("cat")
	printf("This is the END section\n");
}
---- cut test.nawk ----

Oh, if it isn't obvious, the contents of test.dat are:
-- cut test.dat --
a b c
1 2 3
x y z
-- cut test.dat --

Now, I guess that there must be some sort of buffering of output
akin to that of the beginner C programming problem of missing '\n' in
printf statements.  I would like to have the contents of the file
that I redirect the output to to be identical to that of the terminal;
that's the confusing part -- they aren't the same.

There is no problem when the pipe is removed.

I want the 'BEGIN' prints to happen before the body prints and
the 'END' prints to happen last -- the order that I programmmed them.
If it is a simple matter of the right 'close' statement, then please
let me know what it is; I've tried 'close(1)' and 'close(stdout)'.

Computer: IRIS 4D/70GT workstation.
OP/SYS  : IRIX 4.0.1
Program : nawk


-- 
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John H. Merritt --> merritt@climate.gsfc.nasa.gov
"I am generally intolerant of ignorance,
but I have made an exception in your case."