1.\" $FreeBSD$ 2.\" $OpenBSD: grep.1,v 1.38 2010/04/05 06:30:59 jmc Exp $ 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)grep.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94 31.\" 32.Dd July 28, 2010 33.Dt GREP 1 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm grep , egrep , fgrep , 37.Nm zgrep , zegrep , zfgrep 38.Nd file pattern searcher 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm grep 41.Bk -words 42.Op Fl abcdDEFGHhIiJLlmnOopqRSsUVvwxZ 43.Op Fl A Ar num 44.Op Fl B Ar num 45.Op Fl C Ns Op Ar num 46.Op Fl e Ar pattern 47.Op Fl f Ar file 48.Op Fl Fl binary-files Ns = Ns Ar value 49.Op Fl Fl color Ns Op = Ns Ar when 50.Op Fl Fl colour Ns Op = Ns Ar when 51.Op Fl Fl context Ns Op = Ns Ar num 52.Op Fl Fl label 53.Op Fl Fl line-buffered 54.Op Fl Fl null 55.Op Ar pattern 56.Op Ar 57.Ek 58.Sh DESCRIPTION 59The 60.Nm grep 61utility searches any given input files, 62selecting lines that match one or more patterns. 63By default, a pattern matches an input line if the regular expression 64(RE) in the pattern matches the input line 65without its trailing newline. 66An empty expression matches every line. 67Each input line that matches at least one of the patterns is written 68to the standard output. 69.Pp 70.Nm grep 71is used for simple patterns and 72basic regular expressions 73.Pq BREs ; 74.Nm egrep 75can handle extended regular expressions 76.Pq EREs . 77See 78.Xr re_format 7 79for more information on regular expressions. 80.Nm fgrep 81is quicker than both 82.Nm grep 83and 84.Nm egrep , 85but can only handle fixed patterns 86(i.e. it does not interpret regular expressions). 87Patterns may consist of one or more lines, 88allowing any of the pattern lines to match a portion of the input. 89.Pp 90.Nm zgrep , 91.Nm zegrep , 92and 93.Nm zfgrep 94act like 95.Nm grep , 96.Nm egrep , 97and 98.Nm fgrep , 99respectively, but accept input files compressed with the 100.Xr compress 1 101or 102.Xr gzip 1 103compression utilities. 104.Pp 105The following options are available: 106.Bl -tag -width indent 107.It Fl A Ar num , Fl Fl after-context Ns = Ns Ar num 108Print 109.Ar num 110lines of trailing context after each match. 111See also the 112.Fl B 113and 114.Fl C 115options. 116.It Fl a , Fl Fl text 117Treat all files as ASCII text. 118Normally 119.Nm 120will simply print 121.Dq Binary file ... matches 122if files contain binary characters. 123Use of this option forces 124.Nm 125to output lines matching the specified pattern. 126.It Fl B Ar num , Fl Fl before-context Ns = Ns Ar num 127Print 128.Ar num 129lines of leading context before each match. 130See also the 131.Fl A 132and 133.Fl C 134options. 135.It Fl b , Fl Fl byte-offset 136The offset in bytes of a matched pattern is 137displayed in front of the respective matched line. 138.It Fl C Ns Op Ar num , Fl Fl context Ns = Ns Ar num 139Print 140.Ar num 141lines of leading and trailing context surrounding each match. 142The default is 2 and is equivalent to 143.Fl A 144.Ar 2 145.Fl B 146.Ar 2 . 147Note: 148no whitespace may be given between the option and its argument. 149.It Fl c , Fl Fl count 150Only a count of selected lines is written to standard output. 151.It Fl Fl colour Ns = Ns Op Ar when , Fl Fl color Ns = Ns Op Ar when 152Mark up the matching text with the expression stored in 153.Ev GREP_COLOR 154environment variable. 155The possible values of when can be `never', `always' or `auto'. 156.It Fl D Ar action , Fl Fl devices Ns = Ns Ar action 157Specify the demanded action for devices, FIFOs and sockets. 158The default action is `read', which means, that they are read 159as if they were normal files. 160If the action is set to `skip', devices will be silently skipped. 161.It Fl d Ar action , Fl Fl directories Ns = Ns Ar action 162Specify the demanded action for directories. 163It is `read' by default, which means that the directories 164are read in the same manner as normal files. 165Other possible values are `skip' to silently ignore the 166directories, and `recurse' to read them recursively, which 167has the same effect as the 168.Fl R 169and 170.Fl r 171option. 172.It Fl E , Fl Fl extended-regexp 173Interpret 174.Ar pattern 175as an extended regular expression 176(i.e. force 177.Nm grep 178to behave as 179.Nm egrep ) . 180.It Fl e Ar pattern , Fl Fl regexp Ns = Ns Ar pattern 181Specify a pattern used during the search of the input: 182an input line is selected if it matches any of the specified patterns. 183This option is most useful when multiple 184.Fl e 185options are used to specify multiple patterns, 186or when a pattern begins with a dash 187.Pq Sq - . 188.It Fl Fl exclude 189If specified, it excludes files matching the given 190filename pattern from the search. 191Note that 192.Fl Fl exclude 193patterns take priority over 194.Fl Fl include 195patterns, and if no 196.Fl Fl include 197pattern is specified, all files are searched that are 198not excluded. 199Patterns are matched to the full path specified, 200not only to the filename component. 201.It Fl Fl exclude-dir 202If 203.Fl R 204is specified, it excludes directories matching the 205given filename pattern from the search. 206Note that 207.Fl Fl exclude-dir 208patterns take priority over 209.Fl Fl include-dir 210patterns, and if no 211.Fl Fl include-dir 212pattern is specified, all directories are searched that are 213not excluded. 214.It Fl F , Fl Fl fixed-strings 215Interpret 216.Ar pattern 217as a set of fixed strings 218(i.e. force 219.Nm grep 220to behave as 221.Nm fgrep ) . 222.It Fl f Ar file , Fl Fl file Ns = Ns Ar file 223Read one or more newline separated patterns from 224.Ar file . 225Empty pattern lines match every input line. 226Newlines are not considered part of a pattern. 227If 228.Ar file 229is empty, nothing is matched. 230.It Fl G , Fl Fl basic-regexp 231Interpret 232.Ar pattern 233as a basic regular expression 234(i.e. force 235.Nm grep 236to behave as traditional 237.Nm grep ) . 238.It Fl H 239Always print filename headers with output lines. 240.It Fl h , Fl Fl no-filename 241Never print filename headers 242.Pq i.e. filenames 243with output lines. 244.It Fl Fl help 245Print a brief help message. 246.It Fl I 247Ignore binary files. 248This option is equivalent to 249.Fl Fl binary-file Ns = Ns Ar without-match 250option. 251.It Fl i , Fl Fl ignore-case 252Perform case insensitive matching. 253By default, 254.Nm grep 255is case sensitive. 256.It Fl Fl include 257If specified, only files matching the 258given filename pattern are searched. 259Note that 260.Fl Fl exclude 261patterns take priority over 262.Fl Fl include 263patterns. 264Patterns are matched to the full path specified, 265not only to the filename component. 266.It Fl Fl include-dir 267If 268.Fl R 269is specified, only directories matching the 270given filename pattern are searched. 271Note that 272.Fl Fl exclude-dir 273patterns take priority over 274.Fl Fl include-dir 275patterns. 276.It Fl J, Fl Fl bz2decompress 277Decompress the 278.Xr bzip2 1 279compressed file before looking for the text. 280.It Fl L , Fl Fl files-without-match 281Only the names of files not containing selected lines are written to 282standard output. 283Pathnames are listed once per file searched. 284If the standard input is searched, the string 285.Dq (standard input) 286is written. 287.It Fl l , Fl Fl files-with-matches 288Only the names of files containing selected lines are written to 289standard output. 290.Nm grep 291will only search a file until a match has been found, 292making searches potentially less expensive. 293Pathnames are listed once per file searched. 294If the standard input is searched, the string 295.Dq (standard input) 296is written. 297.It Fl Fl mmap 298Use 299.Xr mmap 2 300instead of 301.Xr read 2 302to read input, which can result in better performance under some 303circumstances but can cause undefined behaviour. 304.It Fl m Ar num, Fl Fl max-count Ns = Ns Ar num 305Stop reading the file after 306.Ar num 307matches. 308.It Fl n , Fl Fl line-number 309Each output line is preceded by its relative line number in the file, 310starting at line 1. 311The line number counter is reset for each file processed. 312This option is ignored if 313.Fl c , 314.Fl L , 315.Fl l , 316or 317.Fl q 318is 319specified. 320.It Fl Fl null 321Prints a zero-byte after the file name. 322.It Fl O 323If 324.Fl R 325is specified, follow symbolic links only if they were explicitly listed 326on the command line. 327The default is not to follow symbolic links. 328.It Fl o, Fl Fl only-matching 329Prints only the matching part of the lines. 330.It Fl p 331If 332.Fl R 333is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 334This is the default. 335.It Fl q , Fl Fl quiet , Fl Fl silent 336Quiet mode: 337suppress normal output. 338.Nm grep 339will only search a file until a match has been found, 340making searches potentially less expensive. 341.It Fl R , Fl r , Fl Fl recursive 342Recursively search subdirectories listed. 343.It Fl S 344If 345.Fl R 346is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 347The default is not to follow symbolic links. 348.It Fl s , Fl Fl no-messages 349Silent mode. 350Nonexistent and unreadable files are ignored 351(i.e. their error messages are suppressed). 352.It Fl U , Fl Fl binary 353Search binary files, but do not attempt to print them. 354.It Fl V , Fl Fl version 355Display version information and exit. 356.It Fl v , Fl Fl invert-match 357Selected lines are those 358.Em not 359matching any of the specified patterns. 360.It Fl w , Fl Fl word-regexp 361The expression is searched for as a word (as if surrounded by 362.Sq [[:<:]] 363and 364.Sq [[:>:]] ; 365see 366.Xr re_format 7 ) . 367.It Fl x , Fl Fl line-regexp 368Only input lines selected against an entire fixed string or regular 369expression are considered to be matching lines. 370.It Fl y 371Equivalent to 372.Fl i . 373Obsoleted. 374.It Fl Z , Fl z , Fl Fl decompress 375Force 376.Nm grep 377to behave as 378.Nm zgrep . 379.It Fl Fl binary-files Ns = Ns Ar value 380Controls searching and printing of binary files. 381Options are 382.Ar binary , 383the default: search binary files but do not print them; 384.Ar without-match : 385do not search binary files; 386and 387.Ar text : 388treat all files as text. 389.Sm off 390.It Fl Fl context Op = Ar num 391.Sm on 392Print 393.Ar num 394lines of leading and trailing context. 395The default is 2. 396.It Fl Fl line-buffered 397Force output to be line buffered. 398By default, output is line buffered when standard output is a terminal 399and block buffered otherwise. 400.Pp 401.El 402If no file arguments are specified, the standard input is used. 403.Sh EXIT STATUS 404The 405.Nm grep 406utility exits with one of the following values: 407.Pp 408.Bl -tag -width flag -compact 409.It Li 0 410One or more lines were selected. 411.It Li 1 412No lines were selected. 413.It Li \*(Gt1 414An error occurred. 415.El 416.Sh EXAMPLES 417To find all occurrences of the word 418.Sq patricia 419in a file: 420.Pp 421.Dl $ grep 'patricia' myfile 422.Pp 423To find all occurrences of the pattern 424.Ql .Pp 425at the beginning of a line: 426.Pp 427.Dl $ grep '^\e.Pp' myfile 428.Pp 429The apostrophes ensure the entire expression is evaluated by 430.Nm grep 431instead of by the user's shell. 432The caret 433.Ql ^ 434matches the null string at the beginning of a line, 435and the 436.Ql \e 437escapes the 438.Ql \&. , 439which would otherwise match any character. 440.Pp 441To find all lines in a file which do not contain the words 442.Sq foo 443or 444.Sq bar : 445.Pp 446.Dl $ grep -v -e 'foo' -e 'bar' myfile 447.Pp 448A simple example of an extended regular expression: 449.Pp 450.Dl $ egrep '19|20|25' calendar 451.Pp 452Peruses the file 453.Sq calendar 454looking for either 19, 20, or 25. 455.Sh SEE ALSO 456.Xr ed 1 , 457.Xr ex 1 , 458.Xr gzip 1 , 459.Xr sed 1 , 460.Xr re_format 7 461.Sh STANDARDS 462The 463.Nm 464utility is compliant with the 465.St -p1003.1-2008 466specification. 467.Pp 468The flags 469.Op Fl AaBbCDdGHhIJLmoPRSUVwZ 470are extensions to that specification, and the behaviour of the 471.Fl f 472flag when used with an empty pattern file is left undefined. 473.Pp 474All long options are provided for compatibility with 475GNU versions of this utility. 476.Pp 477Historic versions of the 478.Nm grep 479utility also supported the flags 480.Op Fl ruy . 481This implementation supports those options; 482however, their use is strongly discouraged. 483.Sh HISTORY 484The 485.Nm grep 486command first appeared in 487.At v6 . 488