Print paragraph between semicolons containing a pattern

Below two awk snippets can do this for you:

• awk 'function dothis(){ if(v && s==2){ print p} if(s==2)s=v=p="" }{ dothis(); s += /;/ ; v += /XXXX/; s ? p = length(p) ? p ORS $0 : $0 : "" }END{dothis()}' file

   

• awk '($0 ~ /;/){set++;} set{v=v?v ORS $0:$0} (v ~ /XXXX/){value=1} {if(set>1 && value==1){print v;v="";value="";set=""}}'  filename 

Print 3 lines before and 5 lines after pattern match abcd in a file a.txt

In Linux:

awk 'c-->0;$0~s{if(b)for(c=b+1;c>1;c--)print r[(NR-c+1)%b];print;c=a}b{r[NR%b]=$0}' b=3 a=5 s="abcd" a.txt

In SOLARIS:

nawk 'c-->0;$0~s{if(b)for(c=b+1;c>1;c--)print r[(NR-c+1)%b];print;c=a}b{r[NR%b]=$0}' b=3 a=5 s="abcd" a.txt