diff --git a/.github/scripts/extract-refstyle-badges/extract-refstyle-badges.sh b/.github/scripts/extract-refstyle-badges/extract-refstyle-badges.sh
index aecb727..e1bdf95 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/extract-refstyle-badges/extract-refstyle-badges.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/extract-refstyle-badges/extract-refstyle-badges.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 # get a reference to the current directory
 DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 READMEFILE="${DIR}/../../../README.md"
+OUTFILE="${DIR}/../../../docs/REFERENCE_STYLE.md"
 
 # extract the table rows from README.md, sort them, and pass them to 
 #  the awk script to generate the reference-style link for each row.
@@ -22,9 +23,9 @@ readmerows=$(
 )
 
 # add a newline before processing with awk
-printf "%s\n" "$readmerows" \
-  | awk -F '|' -f "${DIR}/extract-refstyle-badges.awk" \
-> md-badges.md
+printf "%s\n\n" "$readmerows" \
+  | gawk --posix -F '|' -f "${DIR}/extract-refstyle-badges.awk" \
+> "${DIR}/md-badges.md"
 
 # now insert the generated md-badges.md content into README.md
 
@@ -34,11 +35,9 @@ tail='^<\!-- ### END GENERATED CONTENT -->'
 sed -e "/$lead/,/$tail/{
   /$lead/{
     p;
-    r md-badges.md
+    r $DIR/md-badges.md
   };
   /$tail/p;
   d
-}" "${READMEFILE}" > "${READMEFILE}.tmp"
-mv "${READMEFILE}.tmp" "${READMEFILE}"
-
-# echo "${READMEFILE}"
\ No newline at end of file
+}" "${READMEFILE}" > "${OUTFILE}.tmp"
+mv "${OUTFILE}.tmp" "${OUTFILE}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/extract-refstyle-badges.yml b/.github/workflows/extract-refstyle-badges.yml
index efd4779..2a2f7f0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/extract-refstyle-badges.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/extract-refstyle-badges.yml
@@ -7,8 +7,23 @@ on:
       - feature/reference-style-table
 jobs:
   extract-refstyle-badges:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v5.0.0
+      - name: update apt
+        run:  apt-get update
+      - name: install gawk and git
+        run:  apt-get install -y gawk git
       - name: extract refstyle badges
         run: ${{github.workspace}}/.github/scripts/extract-refstyle-badges/extract-refstyle-badges.sh
+      - name: display modified README in GH action logs
+        run: cat ${{github.workspace}}/docs/REFERENCE_STYLE.md
+      - name: commit changes
+        run: |
+          # Note: the following account information will not work on GHES
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git add ${{github.workspace}}/docs/REFERENCE_STYLE.md
+          git commit -m "[bot] update reference-style table"
+          git status
+          git push