Linux grep Command

The grep command syntax

The syntax is as follows:

 grep 'word' filename

grep 'word' file1 file2 file3

grep 'string1 string2'  filename

cat otherfile | grep 'something'

command | grep 'something'

command option1 | grep 'data'

grep --color 'data' fileName

How do I use grep command to search a file?

Search /etc/passwd file for boo user, enter:

$ grep boo /etc/passwd

Sample outputs:

foo:x:1000:1000:foo,,,:/home/foo:/bin/ksh

You can force grep to ignore word case i.e match boo, Boo, BOO and all other combination with the -

i option:

$ grep -i "boo" /etc/passwd

Use grep recursively

You can search recursively i.e. read all files under each directory for a string "192.168.1.5"

$ grep -r "192.168.1.5" /etc/
OR

$ grep -R "192.168.1.5" /etc/

Sample outputs:

/etc/ppp/options:# ms-wins 192.168.1.50

/etc/ppp/options:# ms-wins 192.168.1.51

/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wired connection 1:addresses1=192.168.1.5;24;192.168.1.2;

You will see result for 192.168.1.5 on a separate line preceded by the name of the file (such as /etc/ppp/options) in which it was found. The inclusion of the file names in the output data can be suppressed by using the -h option as follows:

$ grep -h -R "192.168.1.5" /etc/
OR

$ grep -hR "192.168.1.5" /etc/

Sample outputs:

# ms-wins 192.168.1.50

# ms-wins 192.168.1.51

addresses1=192.168.1.5;24;192.168.1.2;

Use grep to search words only

When you search for boo, grep will match fooboo, boo123, barfoo35 and more. You can force the grep command to select only those lines containing matches that form whole words i.e. match only boo word:

$ grep -w "boo" file

Use grep to search 2 different words

Use the egrep command as follows:

$ egrep -w 'word1|word2' /path/to/file

Count line when words has been matched

The grep can report the number of times that the pattern has been matched for each file using-c (count) option:

$ grep -c 'word' /path/to/file

Pass the -n option to precede each line of output with the number of the line in the text file from which it was obtained:

$ grep -n 'root' /etc/passwd

Sample outputs:

1:root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

1042:rootdoor:x:0:0:rootdoor:/home/rootdoor:/bin/csh

3319:initrootapp:x:0:0:initrootapp:/home/initroot:/bin/ksh

Grep invert match

You can use -v option to print inverts the match; that is, it matches only those lines that do not contain the given word. For example print all line that do not contain the word bar:

$ grep -v bar /path/to/file

UNIX / Linux pipes and grep command

grep command often used with shell pipes. In this example, show the name of the hard disk devices:

# dmesg | egrep '(s|h)d[a-z]'

Display cpu model name:

# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i 'Model'

However, above command can be also used as follows without shell pipe:

# grep -i 'Model' /proc/cpuinfo

Sample outputs:

model          : 30

model name     : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       Q 820  @ 1.73GHz

model          : 30

model name     : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       Q 820  @ 1.73GHz

How do I list just the names of matching files?

Use the -l option to list file name whose contents mention main():

$ grep -l 'main' *.c

Finally, you can force grep to display output in colors, enter:

$ grep --color vivek /etc/passwd

Sample outputs:

UNIX Basic commands: grep

The grep command allows you to search one file or multiple files for lines that contain a pattern. Exit status is 0 if matches were found, 1 if no matches were found, and 2 if errors occurred.

The syntax for the grep command is:

grep [options] pattern [files]

Options

Option	Description
-b	Display the block number at the beginning of each line.
-c	Display the number of matched lines.
-h	Display the matched lines, but do not display the filenames.
-i	Ignore case sensitivity.
-l	Display the filenames, but do not display the matched lines.
-n	Display the matched lines and their line numbers.
-s	Silent mode.
-v	Display all lines that do NOT match.
-w	Match whole word.

Examples

grep -c tech file1

* Please note that there are many flavors of UNIX, so if in doubt, consult your man pages.