What -n and -p do is wrap something like the following around your code (no, it's not the exact code; just a rough facsimile) 

while( <> ) {
  # -e goes here
} continue {
  print;
}

[download]

If you have a BEGIN {} or END {} in awk the code in those is run before or after the first line of input is read. So it's in effect saying you get: 

## code that was in BEGIN block
while( <> ) {
  ## -e code
} continue {
  print;
}
## code that was in END block

[download]

In reply to Re: BEGIN and END with -p or -n by Fletch
in thread BEGIN and END with -p or -n by QM

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