How to Extract Last Field/Value from a Value Separated by backslashes in Bash (using awk)

The aim of this page📝 is to explain extracting values after the last backslash in a string based on the particular example of a user-provided dataset.

• Use awk command in bash to extract values after the last backslash.
• awk is a powerful text-processing tool in Unix/Linux.
• -F option in awk sets the field separator.
• / is used as the field separator in this example.
• $NF in awk represents the last field in the current record.
• NF stands for Number of Fields.
• awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' input_file extracts the last field from each line in a file.
• echo "your_data_here" | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' processes data directly from a variable or pipe.
• Example input: project/xyz_company/target_system/output/description:Data loader - system1.
• Example output: description:Data loader - system1.

User’s Code Example:

project/xyz_company/target_system/output/description:Data loader - system1
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/label:LOADER
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/last_applied_stack_version:0.1.0
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_account:xyz-system
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_callback_iam:
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_cloud:aws
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_database:datastore
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_folder_monitoring_stage:
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_folder_monitoring_stage_path:
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_jdbc_host:xyz-system.computing.com
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_region:us-west-1
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_role:loader_role
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_schema:atomic
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_transformed_stage:
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_transformed_stage_path:
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_username:LOADER_USER
project/xyz_company/target_system/output/system_warehouse:loader_wh

Command to Extract Values:

awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' input_file

Alternative Command for Direct Data Processing:

echo "your_data_here" | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}'

LINKS

• https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/gawk.html
• https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/01/awk-introduction-tutorial/

ANKI

Question: What does NF stand for in `awk`?

Answer: NF stands for Number of Fields.

Question: How do you set the field separator in `awk`?

Answer: Use the `-F` option to set the field separator.

Question: What does `$NF` represent in `awk`?

Answer: $NF represents the last field in the current record.

Question: How do you extract the last field from each line in a file using `awk`?

Answer: Use the command `awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' input_file`.

Question: How can you process data directly from a variable or pipe using `awk`?

Answer: Use the command `echo "your_data_here" | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}'.