BEGIN { ARGV[1] = 20; print "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"; delete NF; print "NF[1]=", NF[1]; NF[1] = 20; // this line should not be allowed print "AWK IMPLEMENTATION ERROR: hey... NF[1] = 20 has succeeded in the BEGIN block. your interpreter must be wrong"; print "NF[1]=", NF[1]; } { NF = 30; }