[SOLVED] How to match a unique patter using awk?

Issue

I have a text file called 'file.txt' with the content like,

test:one
test_test:two
test_test_test:three

If the pattern is test, then the expected output should be one and similarly for the other two lines.

This is what I have tried.

pattern=test && awk '{split($0,i,":"); if (i[1] ~ /'"$pattern"'$/) print i[2]}'

This command gives the output like,

one
two
three

and pattern=test_test && awk '{split($0,i,":"); if (i[1] ~ /'"$pattern"'$/) print i[2]}'

two
three

How can I match the unique pattern being "test" for "test" and not for "test_test" and so on.

Solution

How can I match the unique pattern being test for test and not for test_test and so on.

Don't use a regex for comparing the value, just use equality:

awk -F: -v pat='test' '$1 == pat {print $2}' file
one

awk -F: -v pat='test_test' '$1 == pat {print $2}' file
two

If you really want to use regex, then use it like this with anchors:

awk -F: -v pat='test' '$1 ~ "^" pat "$" {print $2}' file

one

Answered By - anubhava

Answer Checked By - Marilyn (WPSolving Volunteer)