batch awk print from multiple input file to multiple output file

Question

I have multiple text files, and I wish to extract specific columns from these files and save them to *_2.txt files.

awk '{print $(NF-3), $5}' *.txt > *_2.txt 

But this command is not working. How can I achieve this batch column extraction using awk?

Input:

a.txt
aaa bbb ccc          109.6136     93.1900      1.0000    269.7332  35703.1790
ddd eee fff            48.8760     34.2100      1.0000    215.0926  35918.2717
ggg hhh iii                     17.3588    -65.4900      0.7000  14008.0228  49926.2945
...

b.txt 
qq ss rr         105     71.6239     68.1500      3.0000      1.3408   4329.5373
aa bb nn         110    271.3443    231.4200     10.0000     15.9395   4345.4768
rr uu ii         115    338.2163    415.6700     25.0000      9.5985   4355.0753
zz xx yy         120    536.0957    584.7900     50.0000      0.9485   4356.0238
...

Target output:

a_2.txt
109.6136     93.1900      1.0000
 48.8760     34.2100      1.0000
 17.3588    -65.4900      0.7000
...

b_2.txt
105     71.6239     68.1500
110    271.3443    231.4200
115    338.2163    415.6700
120    536.0957    584.7900
...

I wish to extract specific columns from each text file and save them to each text file with _2 added to the name. Target column is $(NF-5), $(NF-4), $(NF-3)

Answer 1

You have to do this within AWK script like that:

awk 'FNR == 1 { sub(/\.txt$/, "_2.txt", FILENAME) }  { print $(NF-3), $5 > FILENAME }' *.txt