awk ' # date-month -- convert mm/dd/yy or mm-dd-yy to month day, year # build list of months and put in array. BEGIN { # the 3-step assignment is done for printing in book listmonths = "January,February,March,April,May,June," listmonths = listmonths "July,August,September," listmonths = listmonths "October,November,December" split(listmonths, month, ",") } # check that there is input $1 != "" { # split on "/" the first input field into elements of array sizeOfArray = split($1, date, "/") # check that only one field is returned if (sizeOfArray == 1) # try to split on "-" sizeOfArray = split($1, date, "-") # must be invalid if (sizeOfArray == 1) exit # add 0 to number of month to coerce numeric type date[1] += 0 # print month day, year print month[date[1]], (date[2] ", 19" date[3]) }'