#!/usr/bin/awk -f

# rselection
# Select rows (and the header line)
# where the values in a given column
# match a given pattern.
# usage: awk -f rsel.awk column=col pattern=pat input
# - elb 2007-05-15

BEGIN { FS = "\t" }

1 == NR { # Header (column names meta data)
  for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++ ) {
    n = split( $i, a, /: */ )
    if ( 1 < n ) { # then column has a data type.
      columnumber[a[1]] = i # Just get the name.
    }
    else {
      columnumber[$i] = i
    }
  }
  print # Make sure heading is in the output.
  next  # But not twice.
}

$columnumber[column] ~ pattern { print }