BEGIN { # Set the correct value as any other AWK variable: # # khatus_actuate_alert_to_notify_send -v Display="$CORRECT_DISPLAY" # Display = Display ? Display : ":0" } $1 == "OK" && \ $2 == "alert" { priority = $3 subject = $4 # Not just using $5 for body - because body might contain a character # identical to FS len_line = length($0) len_head = length($1 FS $2 FS $3 FS $4 FS $5 FS) len_body = len_line - len_head body = substr($0, len_head + 1, len_body) urgency = priority sub("hi" , "critical", urgency) sub("med", "normal" , urgency) cmd = \ sprintf(\ "DISPLAY=%s notify-send -u %s %s \" %s\"", Display, urgency, subject, body \ ) system(cmd) next }