"awk manipulates an ad hoc database stored as text, e.g. CSV files."
I love awk and use it on a daily basis, but it's biggest weakness is CSV files, since data so often contains commas. Please don't use CSV as an example of what awk is good at!
[edit]
Easiest workaround if you do need to do something quickly with a CSV is to just use sed to replace unquoted commas with a string not in your data; for non throwaway uses, there is a CSV library for awk.
I love awk and use it on a daily basis, but it's biggest weakness is CSV files, since data so often contains commas. Please don't use CSV as an example of what awk is good at!
[edit] Easiest workaround if you do need to do something quickly with a CSV is to just use sed to replace unquoted commas with a string not in your data; for non throwaway uses, there is a CSV library for awk.