For short AWK programs, it is most convenient to execute them on the command line. This is done by enclosing AWK commands in single quotes. Yet at times, the AWK commands that you want to execute on the command line are longer than one line. In these situations, you can extend the AWK commands to multiple lines using  as the last element on each line. It is also mandatory at that time to enclose AWK commands in single quotes. For example:

$ awk  'BEGIN { print "***Emp Info***" } 
> { print } 
> END { print "***Ends Here***" } '    empinfo.txt

It is the same as if we have executed the AWK command on a single line, as follows:

$ awk 'BEGIN { print "***Emp Info***" } { print } END{ print "***Ends Here***" }' empinfo.txt

The output of the previous executed AWK command is:

***Emp Info***
Jack 9857532312 [email protected] hr 2000 5
Jane 9837432312 [email protected] hr 1800 5
Eva 8827232115 [email protected] lgs 2100 6
amit 9911887766 [email protected] lgs 2350 6
Julie 8826234556 [email protected] hr 2500 5
***Ends Here***