# awk appears to be guessing the type of an inputted scalar based on usage, so
# if we read-in a number, but did not use it in any numeric operations, but did
# use as a string (even in just a format string!) - it will be treated as a
# awk appears to be guessing the type of an inputted scalar based on usage, so
# if we read-in a number, but did not use it in any numeric operations, but did
# use as a string (even in just a format string!) - it will be treated as a