The state of the AWK

If communicating with the less dedicated is in the mix, perl loses its luster. Awk is much, much more approachable. If I'm trying to explain to someone who won't be doing a lot of scripting how to munge text, flat files, awk's by far the best option if sed isn't easier. They'll likely be able to extend what they've learned because the marginal costs are low, and if awk's out of steam they're likely to need some guidance for other reasons.

json and xml are big hammers, far too often people swing them for little jobs.