#!/usr/bin/awk -f BEGIN { curpos = 5 # predefined cursor position for testing z = 0 len = 0 # the current length arg = "hans im glueck" orig = arg #while ( z < ARGC || ( len < curpos )) { arg = substr(arg, curpos); if ( substr(arg, 1, 1) == " " ) arg = substr(arg, 2); curpos += index(arg, " "); print curpos; print orig; while ( z < curpos ) { printf("%d", z); z++; } print "\n"; }