# usage: awk -v list1="i ii iii" -v list2="1 2 3" -f hash2.awk BEGIN { if(!list1) list1="one two three" if(!list2) list2="1 2 3" split(list1, a); split(list2, b); for(i=1;i in a;i++) { c[a[i]] = b[i] }; for(i in c) print i,c[i] }