Shell scripting: Testing empty variables

$V="xNotEmpty"

if [ x$V = "xNotEmpty" ]
then
       echo "\$V not empty"
else
       echo"\$V is empty"
fi

Or:

if [ "$V" = "" ]
then
      echo "\$V is empty
fi

awk

Using shell variables with awk.

1. awk "/$func/"'{print $0}' filename

2. awk -v pat=$func '/pat/{print $0}' filename

Using fields in search pattern

For a similar match:

1. awk '$1~/pattern/{print $0}' filename

For a precise match:

2.  awk -F":" -v user=$U '$1 == user {print $0}' filename