# run for example as: # echo '3 1 4 2 3 5 # 4 9 0 6 2 3 85 ' | awk -f trim_list.awk { i = $1 printf "Input = %-18s- i = %d => result = ", $0, $1 for (j = 2; j <= NF; j++) { if ( $j > i) { printf "%d ", $j } } print "" }