bash - How do I fix this code that should match fields between two files, and output various fields from each file? (awk) -

answered many before, i'm struggling somewhere here...

code:

awk '{ofs="\t"}nr==fnr{a[$1]=$1;a[$2]=$3;a[$3]=$4;next} $1 in a{print a[$1],a[$2],a[$3],$1,$3}' file1 file2 > output.txt 

file1:

spot dog black male  felix cat white male 

file 2:

spot dog tall  felix cat bad small 

output desired:

spot black male spot  felix white male felix bad 

actual output:

spot black spot  felix white felix bad 

a[$3] not being printed, or wasn't assigned properly...

you want more this

awk 'nr==fnr {     # don't need value presence in array '$1 in a' check.     a[$1]=""     # value of $3 may not unique can't key '$1,3' since $1 unique.     a[$1,3]=$3     # same here $3 above.     a[$1,4]=$4     next } $1 in {     print $1, a[$1,3], a[$1,4], $1, $3 }' file1 file2 

the key here can use $1 unique (and unique-fying) key , have use relevant fields.