Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

Name

grep

Synopsis

                  grep [options] pattern [files]

Search one or more files for lines that match a regular expression pattern. Regular expressions are described in Chapter 9. Exit status is 0 if any lines match, 1 if none match, and 2 for errors. See also egrep and fgrep.

Options

-a, --text

Don’t suppress output lines with binary data; treat as text.

-b, --byte-offset

Print the byte offset within the input file before each line of output.

-c, --count

Print only a count of matched lines. With -v or --revert-match option, count nonmatching lines.

-d action, --directories= action

Define an action for processing directories. Possible actions are:

read

Read directories like ordinary files (default).

skip

Skip directories.

recurse

Recursively read all files under each directory. Same as -r.

-e pattern, --regexp= pattern

Search for pattern. Same as specifying a pattern as an argument, but useful in protecting patterns beginning with -.

-f file, --file= file

Take a list of patterns from file, one per line.

-h, --no-filename

Print matched lines but not filenames (inverse of -l).

-i, --ignore-case

Ignore uppercase and lowercase distinctions.

-l, --files-with-matches

List the names of files with matches but not individual matched lines; scanning per file stops on the first match.

--mmap

Try to use memory mapping (mmap) to read input in order to save time.

-n, --line-number

Print lines and their line numbers.

-q, --quiet, --silent

Suppress normal output in favor of quiet mode; scanning stops on ...