Question

how to match PARAM (param=name) word in file.txt and print the lines between

NAMEx and NAMEy, via awk , as the following way :

if PARAM matched in the file.txt , then awk will print only the words between the close NAMES strings while PARAM is one of the names

remark1 PARAM can be any name as Pitter , Bob , etc…..

remark2 awk will get PARAM=(any name)

remark3 we not know how many spaces we have between (# to NAME)

 more file.txt

 #     NAMES1

   Pitter 23
   Bob 75 

 #  NAMES2

   Donald 54
   Josef 85
   Patrick 21  

 #         NAMES3

   Tom 32
   Jennifer 85
   Svetlana 25

 # NAMES4

examples ( regarding file.txt contents )

 In case PARAM=pitter then awk will print the names to out.txt file 

 Pitter 23
 Bob 75 


 In case PARAM=Josef then awk will print the names to out.txt file 


 Donald 54
 Josef 85
 Patrick 21  


 In case PARAM=Jennifer  then awk will print the names to out.txt file 


 Tom 32
 Jennifer 85
 Svetlana 25

Answer 1

using RS of awk would be helpful in this case. see the test below:

testing with example

kent$  cat file
# NAMES1

Pitter 23
Bob 75 

# NAMES2

Donald 54
Josef 85
Patrick 21  

# NAMES3

Tom 32
Jennifer 85
Svetlana 25

# NAMES4

kent$  awk -vPARAM="Pitter" 'BEGIN{RS="# NAMES."} {if($0~PARAM)print}' file               


Pitter 23
Bob 75 

kent$  awk -vPARAM="Josef" 'BEGIN{RS="# NAMES."} {if($0~PARAM)print}' file                


Donald 54
Josef 85
Patrick 21  

kent$  awk -vPARAM="Jennifer" 'BEGIN{RS="# NAMES."} {if($0~PARAM)print}' file             


Tom 32
Jennifer 85
Svetlana 25

note, there are some empty lines in output, because they existed in your input. however it would be easy to remove them from output.

update

if you have spaces between # and NAMES, you can try:

awk -vPARAM="Pitter" 'BEGIN{RS="# *NAMES."} {if($0~PARAM)print}' file