Unexpected behaviour with awk exit - bash

Question

I have next code:
process_mem() {
used=`sed -n -e '/^Cpu(s):/p' $temp_data_file | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/\%us,//'`
idle=`sed -n -e '/^Cpu(s):/p' $temp_data_file | awk '{print $5}' | sed 's/\%id,//'`
awk -v used=$used \
-v custom_cpu_thres=$custom_cpu_thres \
'{
if(used>custom_cpu_thres){
exit 1
}else{
exit 0
}
}'
return=$?
echo $return
if [[ $return -eq 1 ]]; then
echo $server_name"- High CPU Usage (Used:"$used".Idle:"$idle"). "
out=1
else
echo $server_name"- Normal CPU Usage (Used:"$used".Idle:"$idle"). "
fi
}
while IFS='' read -r line || [[ -n "$line" ]]; do
server_name=`echo $line | awk '{print $1}'`
custom_cpu_thres=`echo $line | awk '{print $3}'`
if [ "$custom_cpu_thres" = "-" ]; then
custom_cpu_thres=$def_cpu_thres
fi
expect -f "$EXPECT_SCRIPT" "$command" >/dev/null 2>&1
result=$?
if [[ $result -eq 0 ]]; then
process_mem
else
echo $server_name"- Error in Expect Script. "
out=1
fi
echo $server_name
done < $conf_file
exit $out
The problem is that read bash loop should be executed 4 times (one per line readed). However, if I write the awk code with an exit inside, read bash loop exits after first loop.
Why is this happening? In my opinion exit code in awk code shouldn't affect bash script..
Regards.

Answer 1

I believe the statement you make is false.
You stated:
The problem is that read bash loop should be executed 4 times (one per line read). However, if I write the awk code with an exit inside, read bash loop exits after the first loop.
I do not believe that the script exits after the first loop, but is stuck in the first loop. The reason I make this statement is that your awk script is flawed. The way you wrote it is :
awk -v used=$used -v custom_cpu_thres=$custom_cpu_thres \
'{ if(used>custom_cpu_thres){ exit 1 }
else{ exit 0 } }'
The problem here is that Awk did not get an input file. If no input file is proved to awk, it is reading stdin (similar to processing a pipe or keyboard input). Since no information is sent to stdin (unless you pressed a couple of keys and accidentally hit Enter) the script will not move forward and Awk is awaiting input.
The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are specified, or if a file operand is '-', or if a progfile option-argument is '-'; see the INPUT FILES section. If the awk program contains no actions and no patterns, but is otherwise a valid awk program, standard input and any file operands shall not be read and awk shall exit with a return status of zero.
source : Awk POSIX Standard
The following bash-line demonstrates the above statement:
$ while true; do awk '{print "woot!"; exit }'; done
Only when you press some keys followed by Enter, the word "woot!" is printed on the screen!
How to solve your problem:
The easiest way to solve your problem using Awk is by making use of the BEGIN block. This block is executed before it reads any input line (or stdin). If you tell Awk to exit in a begin block, it will terminate Awk without reading any input. Thus:
awk -v used=$used -v custom_cpu_thres=$custom_cpu_thres \
'BEGIN{ if(used>custom_cpu_thres){ exit 1 }
else{ exit 0 } }'
or shorter
awk -v used=$used -v custom_cpu_thres=$custom_cpu_thres \
'BEGIN{ exit (used>custom_cpu_thres) }
However, Awk is a bit of an overkill here. A simple bash test would suffice:
[[ "$used" -le "$custom_cpu_thres" ]]
result=$?
or
(( used <= custom_cpu_thres ))
result=$?