Last updated 28.09.06

Searching the contents of a file

To search a text file for a string of characters or a regular expression use the command:

   grep pattern filename(s)

Using this command you can check to see if a text file holds specific information. grep is often used to search the output from a command.

Any regular expression containing one or more special characters must be quoted to remove their meaning.

• Examples
• Did You Know?
• Understanding regular expressions
• Using regular expressions

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