I think this has to do with the quoting, I just feel I've been looking at it too long. Thanks ~T prompt> cat my.awk BEGIN{"date +%d%b%Y.%H%M%S" | getline sDate} { if (substr($0,151,1) ~ /6/ ) print >> sDate".NEW_ORDER.dat" # print >> sDate # note this works to output the contents to sDate, but want filename with the date like the print statement above else print >> sDate."OLD_ORDER.dat" } prompt> nawk -f my.awk Testfile Desired output is two files: 21Apr2009.184534.NEW_ORDER.dat 21Apr2009.184534.OLD_ORDER.dat This is what I am getting: prompt> nawk -f my.awk Testfile > nawk: syntax error at source line 7 context is print >> sDate >>> ".NEW_ORDER.dat" <<< nawk: illegal statement at source line 7

Sorry, but awk is too brain dead to do what you want. The print command can only be redirected to a file name surrounded by double quotes - essentially a constant. You can not do this: print >> sDate".NEW_ORDER.dat" but you can do this: print >> "NEW_ORDER.dat" You can change your awk logic to maybe use the system command to do a rename or mv command. Check out this awk stub: echo ""|nawk ' BEGIN{"date +%d%b%Y.%H%M%S" | getline sDate} { print "mystuff" >> "NEW_ORDER.dat" str="mv NEW_ORDER.dat "sDate ".NEW_ORDER.dat" system(str) } ' Or you might consider performing the mv outside the awk script.

Actually, the targeted filename does not have to be a simple quoted constant, but in fact can be a variable or even the concatenation of a variable and constant like TCStuff is attempting. His first print statement is correct, but his second print statement has the dot incorrectly placed: wrong: print >> sDate."OLD_ORDER.dat" correct: print >> sDate".OLD_ORDER.dat"

I removed the else from the awk this is what I had - it was causing the error: prompt> cat my.awk2 BEGIN{"date +%d%b%Y.%H%M%S" | getline sDate} { if (substr($0,151,1) ~ /6/ ) print >> sDate".NEW_ORDER.dat" } prompt> nawk -f my.awk2 Testfile /usr/bin/nawk: syntax error at source line 4 context is print >> >>> sDate".NEW_ORDER.dat" <<< /usr/bin/nawk: illegal statement at source line 4