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 September 19, 2009 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 190.Fl R 191is specified, it excludes files matching the given 192filename pattern. 193.It Fl Fl exclude-dir 194If 195.Fl R 196is specified, it excludes directories matching the 197given filename pattern. 198.It Fl F , Fl Fl fixed-strings 199Interpret 200.Ar pattern 201as a set of fixed strings 202(i.e. force 203.Nm grep 204to behave as 205.Nm fgrep ) . 206.It Fl f Ar file , Fl Fl file Ns = Ns Ar file 207Read one or more newline separated patterns from 208.Ar file . 209Empty pattern lines match every input line. 210Newlines are not considered part of a pattern. 211If 212.Ar file 213is empty, nothing is matched. 214.It Fl G , Fl Fl basic-regexp 215Interpret 216.Ar pattern 217as a basic regular expression 218(i.e. force 219.Nm grep 220to behave as traditional 221.Nm grep ) . 222.It Fl H 223Always print filename headers with output lines. 224.It Fl h , Fl Fl no-filename 225Never print filename headers 226.Pq i.e. filenames 227with output lines. 228.It Fl Fl help 229Print a brief help message. 230.It Fl I 231Ignore binary files. 232This option is equivalent to 233.Fl Fl binary-file Ns = Ns Ar without-match 234option. 235.It Fl i , Fl Fl ignore-case 236Perform case insensitive matching. 237By default, 238.Nm grep 239is case sensitive. 240.It Fl Fl include 241If 242.Fl R 243is specified, it includes the files matching the 244given filename pattern. 245.It Fl Fl include-dir 246If 247.Fl R 248is specified, it includes the directories matching the 249given filename pattern. 250.It Fl J, Fl Fl bz2decompress 251Decompress the 252.Xr bzip2 1 253compressed file before looking for the text. 254.It Fl L , Fl Fl files-without-match 255Only the names of files not containing selected lines are written to 256standard output. 257Pathnames are listed once per file searched. 258If the standard input is searched, the string 259.Dq (standard input) 260is written. 261.It Fl l , Fl Fl files-with-matches 262Only the names of files containing selected lines are written to 263standard output. 264.Nm grep 265will only search a file until a match has been found, 266making searches potentially less expensive. 267Pathnames are listed once per file searched. 268If the standard input is searched, the string 269.Dq (standard input) 270is written. 271.It Fl Fl mmap 272Use 273.Xr mmap 2 274instead of 275.Xr read 2 276to read input, which can result in better performance under some 277circumstances but can cause undefined behaiour. 278.It Fl m Ar num, Fl Fl max-count Ns = Ns Ar num 279Stop reading the file after 280.Ar num 281matches. 282.It Fl n , Fl Fl line-number 283Each output line is preceded by its relative line number in the file, 284starting at line 1. 285The line number counter is reset for each file processed. 286This option is ignored if 287.Fl c , 288.Fl L , 289.Fl l , 290or 291.Fl q 292is 293specified. 294.It Fl Fl null 295Prints a zero-byte after the file name. 296.It Fl O 297If 298.Fl R 299is specified, follow symbolic links only if they were explicitly listed 300on the command line. 301The default is not to follow symbolic links. 302.It Fl o, Fl Fl only-matching 303Prints only the matching part of the lines. 304.It Fl p 305If 306.Fl R 307is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 308This is the default. 309.It Fl q , Fl Fl quiet , Fl Fl silent 310Quiet mode: 311suppress normal output. 312.Nm grep 313will only search a file until a match has been found, 314making searches potentially less expensive. 315.It Fl R , Fl r , Fl Fl recursive 316Recursively search subdirectories listed. 317.It Fl S 318If 319.Fl R 320is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 321The default is not to follow symbolic links. 322.It Fl s , Fl Fl no-messages 323Silent mode. 324Nonexistent and unreadable files are ignored 325(i.e. their error messages are suppressed). 326.It Fl U , Fl Fl binary 327Search binary files, but do not attempt to print them. 328.It Fl V , Fl Fl version 329Display version information and exit. 330.It Fl v , Fl Fl invert-match 331Selected lines are those 332.Em not 333matching any of the specified patterns. 334.It Fl w , Fl Fl word-regexp 335The expression is searched for as a word (as if surrounded by 336.Sq [[:<:]] 337and 338.Sq [[:>:]] ; 339see 340.Xr re_format 7 ) . 341.It Fl x , Fl Fl line-regexp 342Only input lines selected against an entire fixed string or regular 343expression are considered to be matching lines. 344.It Fl y 345Equivalent to 346.Fl i . 347Obsoleted. 348.It Fl Z , Fl z , Fl Fl decompress 349Force 350.Nm grep 351to behave as 352.Nm zgrep . 353.It Fl Fl binary-files Ns = Ns Ar value 354Controls searching and printing of binary files. 355Options are 356.Ar binary , 357the default: search binary files but do not print them; 358.Ar without-match : 359do not search binary files; 360and 361.Ar text : 362treat all files as text. 363.Sm off 364.It Fl Fl context Op = Ar num 365.Sm on 366Print 367.Ar num 368lines of leading and trailing context. 369The default is 2. 370.It Fl Fl line-buffered 371Force output to be line buffered. 372By default, output is line buffered when standard output is a terminal 373and block buffered otherwise. 374.Pp 375.El 376If no file arguments are specified, the standard input is used. 377.Sh EXIT STATUS 378The 379.Nm grep 380utility exits with one of the following values: 381.Pp 382.Bl -tag -width flag -compact 383.It Li 0 384One or more lines were selected. 385.It Li 1 386No lines were selected. 387.It Li \*(Gt1 388An error occurred. 389.El 390.Sh EXAMPLES 391To find all occurrences of the word 392.Sq patricia 393in a file: 394.Pp 395.Dl $ grep 'patricia' myfile 396.Pp 397To find all occurrences of the pattern 398.Ql .Pp 399at the beginning of a line: 400.Pp 401.Dl $ grep '^\e.Pp' myfile 402.Pp 403The apostrophes ensure the entire expression is evaluated by 404.Nm grep 405instead of by the user's shell. 406The caret 407.Ql ^ 408matches the null string at the beginning of a line, 409and the 410.Ql \e 411escapes the 412.Ql \&. , 413which would otherwise match any character. 414.Pp 415To find all lines in a file which do not contain the words 416.Sq foo 417or 418.Sq bar : 419.Pp 420.Dl $ grep -v -e 'foo' -e 'bar' myfile 421.Pp 422A simple example of an extended regular expression: 423.Pp 424.Dl $ egrep '19|20|25' calendar 425.Pp 426Peruses the file 427.Sq calendar 428looking for either 19, 20, or 25. 429.Sh SEE ALSO 430.Xr ed 1 , 431.Xr ex 1 , 432.Xr gzip 1 , 433.Xr sed 1 , 434.Xr re_format 7 435.Sh STANDARDS 436The 437.Nm 438utility is compliant with the 439.St -p1003.1-2008 440specification. 441.Pp 442The flags 443.Op Fl AaBbCDdGHhIJLmoPRSUVwZ 444are extensions to that specification, and the behaviour of the 445.Fl f 446flag when used with an empty pattern file is left undefined. 447.Pp 448All long options are provided for compatibility with 449GNU versions of this utility. 450.Pp 451Historic versions of the 452.Nm grep 453utility also supported the flags 454.Op Fl ruy . 455This implementation supports those options; 456however, their use is strongly discouraged. 457.Sh HISTORY 458The 459.Nm grep 460command first appeared in 461.At v6 . 462