% cat try.awk
{print $1}
% a2p try.awk > try.perl
% cat try.perl
#!/usr/shell/bin/perl
eval 'exec perl -S $0 "$@"'
    if $running_under_some_shell;
                        # this emulates #! processing on NIH machines.
                        # (remove #! line above if indigestible)

eval '$'.$1.'$2;' while $ARGV[0] =~ /^([A-Za-z_0-9]+=)(.*)/ && shift;
                        # process any FOO=bar switches

$, = ' ';               # set output field separator
$\ = "\n";              # set output record separator

while (<>) {
    ($Fld1) = split(' ', $_, 9999);
    print $Fld1;
}