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To double the number of backslashes in a string using awk, you can use one of the following commands:

1. Using gsub function:

echo "this is\\a string\\with backslashes" | awk '{gsub(/\\/,"\\\\")};1' 

Output:

this is\\a string\\with backslashes

1. Using gensub function:

echo "this is\\a string\\with backslashes" | awk '{print gensub(/\\/,"\\\\\\","g")}'

Output:

this is\\a string\\with backslashes

1. Using sub function:

echo "this is\\a string\\with backslashes" | awk '{sub(/\\/,"\\\\")}1'

Output:

this is\\a string\\with backslashes

All of these commands use regular expressions to match a single backslash and replace it with two backslashes. The gsub and gensub functions replace all occurrences of the pattern, while the sub function replaces only the first occurrence.