\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- @c %**start of header @setfilename grep.info @include version.texi @settitle GNU Grep @value{VERSION} @c Combine indices. @syncodeindex ky cp @syncodeindex pg cp @syncodeindex tp cp @defcodeindex op @syncodeindex op cp @syncodeindex vr cp @c %**end of header @copying This manual is for @command{grep}, a pattern matching engine. Copyright @copyright{} 1999-2002, 2005, 2008-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc. @quotation Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''. @end quotation @end copying @dircategory Text creation and manipulation @direntry * grep: (grep). Print lines matching a pattern. @end direntry @titlepage @title GNU Grep: Print lines matching a pattern @subtitle version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED} @author Alain Magloire et al. @page @vskip 0pt plus 1filll @insertcopying @end titlepage @contents @ifnottex @node Top @top grep @command{grep} prints lines that match a pattern. This manual is for version @value{VERSION} of GNU Grep. @insertcopying @end ifnottex @menu * Introduction:: Introduction. * Invoking:: Command-line options, environment, exit status. * Regular Expressions:: Regular Expressions. * Usage:: Examples. * Reporting Bugs:: Reporting Bugs. * Copying:: License terms for this manual. * Index:: Combined index. @end menu @node Introduction @chapter Introduction @cindex searching for a pattern @command{grep} searches the input files for lines containing a match to a given pattern list. When it finds a match in a line, it copies the line to standard output (by default), or produces whatever other sort of output you have requested with options. Though @command{grep} expects to do the matching on text, it has no limits on input line length other than available memory, and it can match arbitrary characters within a line. If the final byte of an input file is not a newline, @command{grep} silently supplies one. Since newline is also a separator for the list of patterns, there is no way to match newline characters in a text. @node Invoking @chapter Invoking @command{grep} The general synopsis of the @command{grep} command line is @example grep @var{options} @var{pattern} @var{input_file_names} @end example @noindent There can be zero or more @var{options}. @var{pattern} will only be seen as such (and not as an @var{input_file_name}) if it wasn't already specified within @var{options} (by using the @samp{-e@ @var{pattern}} or @samp{-f@ @var{file}} options). There can be zero or more @var{input_file_names}. @menu * Command-line Options:: Short and long names, grouped by category. * Environment Variables:: POSIX, GNU generic, and GNU grep specific. * Exit Status:: Exit status returned by @command{grep}. * grep Programs:: @command{grep} programs. @end menu @node Command-line Options @section Command-line Options @command{grep} comes with a rich set of options: some from @sc{posix.2} and some being @sc{gnu} extensions. Long option names are always a @sc{gnu} extension, even for options that are from @sc{posix} specifications. Options that are specified by @sc{posix}, under their short names, are explicitly marked as such to facilitate @sc{posix}-portable programming. A few option names are provided for compatibility with older or more exotic implementations. @menu * Generic Program Information:: * Matching Control:: * General Output Control:: * Output Line Prefix Control:: * Context Line Control:: * File and Directory Selection:: * Other Options:: @end menu Several additional options control which variant of the @command{grep} matching engine is used. @xref{grep Programs}. @node Generic Program Information @subsection Generic Program Information @table @samp @item --help @opindex --help @cindex usage summary, printing Print a usage message briefly summarizing the command-line options and the bug-reporting address, then exit. @item -V @itemx --version @opindex -V @opindex --version @cindex version, printing Print the version number of @command{grep} to the standard output stream. This version number should be included in all bug reports. @end table @node Matching Control @subsection Matching Control @table @samp @item -e @var{pattern} @itemx --regexp=@var{pattern} @opindex -e @opindex --regexp=@var{pattern} @cindex pattern list Use @var{pattern} as the pattern. This can be used to specify multiple search patterns, or to protect a pattern beginning with a @samp{-}. (@samp{-e} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -f @var{file} @itemx --file=@var{file} @opindex -f @opindex --file @cindex pattern from file Obtain patterns from @var{file}, one per line. The empty file contains zero patterns, and therefore matches nothing. (@samp{-f} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -i @itemx -y @itemx --ignore-case @opindex -i @opindex -y @opindex --ignore-case @cindex case insensitive search Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the input files. @samp{-y} is an obsolete synonym that is provided for compatibility. (@samp{-i} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -v @itemx --invert-match @opindex -v @opindex --invert-match @cindex invert matching @cindex print non-matching lines Invert the sense of matching, to select non-matching lines. (@samp{-v} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -w @itemx --word-regexp @opindex -w @opindex --word-regexp @cindex matching whole words Select only those lines containing matches that form whole words. The test is that the matching substring must either be at the beginning of the line, or preceded by a non-word constituent character. Similarly, it must be either at the end of the line or followed by a non-word constituent character. Word-constituent characters are letters, digits, and the underscore. @item -x @itemx --line-regexp @opindex -x @opindex --line-regexp @cindex match the whole line Select only those matches that exactly match the whole line. (@samp{-x} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @end table @node General Output Control @subsection General Output Control @table @samp @item -c @itemx --count @opindex -c @opindex --count @cindex counting lines Suppress normal output; instead print a count of matching lines for each input file. With the @samp{-v}, @samp{--invert-match} option, count non-matching lines. (@samp{-c} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item --color[=@var{WHEN}] @itemx --colour[=@var{WHEN}] @opindex --color @opindex --colour @cindex highlight, color, colour Surround the matched (non-empty) strings, matching lines, context lines, file names, line numbers, byte offsets, and separators (for fields and groups of context lines) with escape sequences to display them in color on the terminal. The colors are defined by the environment variable @var{GREP_COLORS} and default to @samp{ms=01;31:mc=01;31:sl=:cx=:fn=35:ln=32:bn=32:se=36} for bold red matched text, magenta file names, green line numbers, green byte offsets, cyan separators, and default terminal colors otherwise. The deprecated environment variable @var{GREP_COLOR} is still supported, but its setting does not have priority; it defaults to `01;31' (bold red) which only covers the color for matched text. @var{WHEN} is @samp{never}, @samp{always}, or @samp{auto}. @item -L @itemx --files-without-match @opindex -L @opindex --files-without-match @cindex files which don't match Suppress normal output; instead print the name of each input file from which no output would normally have been printed. The scanning of every file will stop on the first match. @item -l @itemx --files-with-matches @opindex -l @opindex --files-with-matches @cindex names of matching files Suppress normal output; instead print the name of each input file from which output would normally have been printed. The scanning of every file will stop on the first match. (@samp{-l} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -m @var{num} @itemx --max-count=@var{num} @opindex -m @opindex --max-count @cindex max-count Stop reading a file after @var{num} matching lines. If the input is standard input from a regular file, and @var{num} matching lines are output, @command{grep} ensures that the standard input is positioned just after the last matching line before exiting, regardless of the presence of trailing context lines. This enables a calling process to resume a search. For example, the following shell script makes use of it: @example while grep -m 1 PATTERN do echo xxxx done < FILE @end example But the following probably will not work because a pipe is not a regular file: @example # This probably will not work. cat FILE | while grep -m 1 PATTERN do echo xxxx done @end example When @command{grep} stops after @var{num} matching lines, it outputs any trailing context lines. Since context does not include matching lines, @command{grep} will stop when it encounters another matching line. When the @samp{-c} or @samp{--count} option is also used, @command{grep} does not output a count greater than @var{num}. When the @samp{-v} or @samp{--invert-match} option is also used, @command{grep} stops after outputting @var{num} non-matching lines. @item -o @itemx --only-matching @opindex -o @opindex --only-matching @cindex only matching Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of matching lines, with each such part on a separate output line. @item -q @itemx --quiet @itemx --silent @opindex -q @opindex --quiet @opindex --silent @cindex quiet, silent Quiet; do not write anything to standard output. Exit immediately with zero status if any match is found, even if an error was detected. Also see the @samp{-s} or @samp{--no-messages} option. (@samp{-q} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -s @itemx --no-messages @opindex -s @opindex --no-messages @cindex suppress error messages Suppress error messages about nonexistent or unreadable files. Portability note: unlike @sc{gnu} @command{grep}, 7th Edition Unix @command{grep} did not conform to @sc{posix}, because it lacked @samp{-q} and its @samp{-s} option behaved like @sc{gnu} @command{grep}'s @samp{-q} option. @sc{usg}-style @command{grep} also lacked @samp{-q} but its @samp{-s} option behaved like @sc{gnu} @command{grep}'s. Portable shell scripts should avoid both @samp{-q} and @samp{-s} and should redirect standard and error output to @file{/dev/null} instead. (@samp{-s} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @end table @node Output Line Prefix Control @subsection Output Line Prefix Control When several prefix fields are to be output, the order is always file name, line number, and byte offset, regardless of the order in which these options were specified. @table @samp @item -b @itemx --byte-offset @opindex -b @opindex --byte-offset @cindex byte offset Print the 0-based byte offset within the input file before each line of output. If @samp{-o} (@samp{--only-matching}) is specified, print the offset of the matching part itself. When @command{grep} runs on @sc{ms-dos} or @sc{ms}-Windows, the printed byte offsets depend on whether the @samp{-u} (@samp{--unix-byte-offsets}) option is used; see below. @item -H @itemx --with-filename @opindex -H @opindex --with-filename @cindex with filename prefix Print the file name for each match. This is the default when there is more than one file to search. @item -h @itemx --no-filename @opindex -h @opindex --no-filename @cindex no filename prefix Suppress the prefixing of file names on output. This is the default when there is only one file (or only standard input) to search. @item --label=@var{LABEL} @opindex --label @cindex changing name of standard input Display input actually coming from standard input as input coming from file @var{LABEL}. This is especially useful when implementing tools like @command{zgrep}; e.g.: @example gzip -cd foo.gz | grep --label=foo -H something @end example @item -n @itemx --line-number @opindex -n @opindex --line-number @cindex line numbering Prefix each line of output with the 1-based line number within its input file. (@samp{-n} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -T @itemx --initial-tab @opindex -T @opindex --initial-tab @cindex tab-aligned content lines Make sure that the first character of actual line content lies on a tab stop, so that the alignment of tabs looks normal. This is useful with options that prefix their output to the actual content: @samp{-H}, @samp{-n}, and @samp{-b}. In order to improve the probability that lines from a single file will all start at the same column, this also causes the line number and byte offset (if present) to be printed in a minimum-size field width. @item -u @itemx --unix-byte-offsets @opindex -u @opindex --unix-byte-offsets @cindex @sc{ms-dos}/@sc{ms}-Windows byte offsets @cindex byte offsets, on @sc{ms-dos}/@sc{ms}-Windows Report Unix-style byte offsets. This option causes @command{grep} to report byte offsets as if the file were a Unix-style text file, i.e., the byte offsets ignore the @code{CR} characters that were stripped. This will produce results identical to running @command{grep} on a Unix machine. This option has no effect unless the @samp{-b} option is also used; it has no effect on platforms other than @sc{ms-dos} and @sc{ms}-Windows. @item -Z @itemx --null @opindex -Z @opindex --null @cindex zero-terminated file names Output a zero byte (the @sc{ascii} @code{NUL} character) instead of the character that normally follows a file name. For example, @samp{grep -lZ} outputs a zero byte after each file name instead of the usual newline. This option makes the output unambiguous, even in the presence of file names containing unusual characters like newlines. This option can be used with commands like @samp{find -print0}, @samp{perl -0}, @samp{sort -z}, and @samp{xargs -0} to process arbitrary file names, even those that contain newline characters. @end table @node Context Line Control @subsection Context Line Control Regardless of how these options are set, @command{grep} will never print any given line more than once. If the @samp{-o} or @samp{--only-matching} option is specified, these options have no effect and a warning is given upon their use. @table @samp @item -A @var{num} @itemx --after-context=@var{num} @opindex -A @opindex --after-context @cindex after context @cindex context lines, after match Print @var{num} lines of trailing context after matching lines. @item -B @var{num} @itemx --before-context=@var{num} @opindex -B @opindex --before-context @cindex before context @cindex context lines, before match Print @var{num} lines of leading context before matching lines. @item -C @var{num} @itemx -@var{num} @itemx --context=@var{num} @opindex -C @opindex --context @opindex -@var{num} @cindex context Print @var{num} lines of leading and trailing output context. @item --group-separator=@var{string} @opindex --group-separator @cindex group separator When @option{-A}, @option{-B} or @option{-C} are in use, print @var{string} instead of @samp{--} around disjoint groups of lines. @item --no-group-separator @opindex --group-separator @cindex group separator When @option{-A}, @option{-B} or @option{-C} are in use, print disjoint groups of lines adjacent to each other. @end table Matching lines normally use @samp{:} as a separator between prefix fields and actual line content. Context (i.e., non-matching) lines use @samp{-} instead. When no context is specified, matching lines are simply output one right after another. When nonzero context is specified, lines that are adjacent in the input form a group and are output one right after another, while a separator appears by default between disjoint groups on a line of its own and without any prefix. The default separator is @samp{--}, however whether to include it and its appearance can be changed with the options above. Each group may contain several matching lines when they are close enough to each other that two otherwise adjacent but divided groups connect and can just merge into a single contiguous one. @node File and Directory Selection @subsection File and Directory Selection @table @samp @item -a @itemx --text @opindex -a @opindex --text @cindex suppress binary data @cindex binary files Process a binary file as if it were text; this is equivalent to the @samp{--binary-files=text} option. @itemx --binary-files=@var{type} @opindex --binary-files @cindex binary files If the first few bytes of a file indicate that the file contains binary data, assume that the file is of type @var{type}. By default, @var{type} is @samp{binary}, and @command{grep} normally outputs either a one-line message saying that a binary file matches, or no message if there is no match. If @var{type} is @samp{without-match}, @command{grep} assumes that a binary file does not match; this is equivalent to the @samp{-I} option. If @var{type} is @samp{text}, @command{grep} processes a binary file as if it were text; this is equivalent to the @samp{-a} option. @emph{Warning:} @samp{--binary-files=text} might output binary garbage, which can have nasty side effects if the output is a terminal and if the terminal driver interprets some of it as commands. @item -D @var{action} @itemx --devices=@var{action} @opindex -D @opindex --devices @cindex device search If an input file is a device, FIFO, or socket, use @var{action} to process it. By default, @var{action} is @samp{read}, which means that devices are read just as if they were ordinary files. If @var{action} is @samp{skip}, devices, FIFOs, and sockets are silently skipped. @item -d @var{action} @itemx --directories=@var{action} @opindex -d @opindex --directories @cindex directory search If an input file is a directory, use @var{action} to process it. By default, @var{action} is @samp{read}, which means that directories are read just as if they were ordinary files (some operating systems and file systems disallow this, and will cause @command{grep} to print error messages for every directory or silently skip them). If @var{action} is @samp{skip}, directories are silently skipped. If @var{action} is @samp{recurse}, @command{grep} reads all files under each directory, recursively; this is equivalent to the @samp{-r} option. @item --exclude=@var{glob} @opindex --exclude @cindex exclude files @cindex searching directory trees Skip files whose base name matches @var{glob} (using wildcard matching). A file-name glob can use @samp{*}, @samp{?}, and @samp{[}...@samp{]} as wildcards, and @code{\} to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. @item --exclude-from=@var{file} @opindex --exclude-from @cindex exclude files @cindex searching directory trees Skip files whose base name matches any of the file-name globs read from @var{file} (using wildcard matching as described under @samp{--exclude}). @item --exclude-dir=@var{dir} @opindex --exclude-dir @cindex exclude directories Exclude directories matching the pattern @var{dir} from recursive directory searches. @item -I Process a binary file as if it did not contain matching data; this is equivalent to the @samp{--binary-files=without-match} option. @item --include=@var{glob} @opindex --include @cindex include files @cindex searching directory trees Search only files whose base name matches @var{glob} (using wildcard matching as described under @samp{--exclude}). @item -r @itemx -R @itemx --recursive @opindex -r @opindex --recursive @cindex recursive search @cindex searching directory trees For each directory mentioned on the command line, read and process all files in that directory, recursively. This is the same as the @samp{--directories=recurse} option. @item -O @itemx --only-files @opindex -O @opindex --only-files @cindex ignoring special files @cindex ignoring symlinked directories Ignore all special files, except for symlinks. When recursing into directories, ignore symlinked directories as well. @end table @node Other Options @subsection Other Options @table @samp @item --line-buffered @opindex --line-buffered @cindex line buffering Use line buffering on output. This can cause a performance penalty. @item --mmap @opindex --mmap @cindex memory mapped input This option is ignored for backwards compatibility. It used to read input with the @code{mmap} system call, instead of the default @code{read} system call. On modern systems, @code{mmap} would rarely if ever yield better performance. @item -U @itemx --binary @opindex -U @opindex --binary @cindex @sc{ms-dos}/@sc{ms}-Windows binary files @cindex binary files, @sc{ms-dos}/@sc{ms}-Windows Treat the file(s) as binary. By default, under @sc{ms-dos} and @sc{ms}-Windows, @command{grep} guesses the file type by looking at the contents of the first 32kB read from the file. If @command{grep} decides the file is a text file, it strips the @code{CR} characters from the original file contents (to make regular expressions with @code{^} and @code{$} work correctly). Specifying @samp{-U} overrules this guesswork, causing all files to be read and passed to the matching mechanism verbatim; if the file is a text file with @code{CR/LF} pairs at the end of each line, this will cause some regular expressions to fail. This option has no effect on platforms other than @sc{ms-dos} and @sc{ms}-Windows. @item -z @itemx --null-data @opindex -z @opindex --null-data @cindex zero-terminated lines Treat the input as a set of lines, each terminated by a zero byte (the @sc{ascii} @code{NUL} character) instead of a newline. Like the @samp{-Z} or @samp{--null} option, this option can be used with commands like @samp{sort -z} to process arbitrary file names. @end table @node Environment Variables @section Environment Variables The behavior of @command{grep} is affected by the following environment variables. The locale for category @w{@code{LC_@var{foo}}} is specified by examining the three environment variables @env{LC_ALL}, @w{@env{LC_@var{foo}}}, and @env{LANG}, in that order. The first of these variables that is set specifies the locale. For example, if @env{LC_ALL} is not set, but @env{LC_MESSAGES} is set to @samp{pt_BR}, then the Brazilian Portuguese locale is used for the @code{LC_MESSAGES} category. The @samp{C} locale is used if none of these environment variables are set, if the locale catalog is not installed, or if @command{grep} was not compiled with national language support (@sc{nls}). @cindex environment variables @table @env @item GREP_OPTIONS @vindex GREP_OPTIONS @r{environment variable} @cindex default options environment variable This variable specifies default options to be placed in front of any explicit options. For example, if @code{GREP_OPTIONS} is @samp{--binary-files=without-match --directories=skip}, @command{grep} behaves as if the two options @samp{--binary-files=without-match} and @samp{--directories=skip} had been specified before any explicit options. Option specifications are separated by whitespace. A backslash escapes the next character, so it can be used to specify an option containing whitespace or a backslash. @item GREP_COLOR @vindex GREP_COLOR @r{environment variable} @cindex highlight markers This variable specifies the color used to highlight matched (non-empty) text. It is deprecated in favor of @code{GREP_COLORS}, but still supported. The @samp{mt}, @samp{ms}, and @samp{mc} capabilities of @code{GREP_COLORS} have priority over it. It can only specify the color used to highlight the matching non-empty text in any matching line (a selected line when the @samp{-v} command-line option is omitted, or a context line when @samp{-v} is specified). The default is @samp{01;31}, which means a bold red foreground text on the terminal's default background. @item GREP_COLORS @vindex GREP_COLORS @r{environment variable} @cindex highlight markers This variable specifies the colors and other attributes used to highlight various parts of the output. Its value is a colon-separated list of capabilities that defaults to @samp{ms=01;31:mc=01;31:sl=:cx=:fn=35:ln=32:bn=32:se=36} with the @samp{rv} and @samp{ne} boolean capabilities omitted (i.e., false). Supported capabilities are as follows. @table @code @item sl= @vindex sl GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for whole selected lines (i.e., matching lines when the @samp{-v} command-line option is omitted, or non-matching lines when @samp{-v} is specified). If however the boolean @samp{rv} capability and the @samp{-v} command-line option are both specified, it applies to context matching lines instead. The default is empty (i.e., the terminal's default color pair). @item cx= @vindex cx GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for whole context lines (i.e., non-matching lines when the @samp{-v} command-line option is omitted, or matching lines when @samp{-v} is specified). If however the boolean @samp{rv} capability and the @samp{-v} command-line option are both specified, it applies to selected non-matching lines instead. The default is empty (i.e., the terminal's default color pair). @item rv @vindex rv GREP_COLORS @r{capability} Boolean value that reverses (swaps) the meanings of the @samp{sl=} and @samp{cx=} capabilities when the @samp{-v} command-line option is specified. The default is false (i.e., the capability is omitted). @item mt=01;31 @vindex mt GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for matching non-empty text in any matching line (i.e., a selected line when the @samp{-v} command-line option is omitted, or a context line when @samp{-v} is specified). Setting this is equivalent to setting both @samp{ms=} and @samp{mc=} at once to the same value. The default is a bold red text foreground over the current line background. @item ms=01;31 @vindex ms GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for matching non-empty text in a selected line. (This is only used when the @samp{-v} command-line option is omitted.) The effect of the @samp{sl=} (or @samp{cx=} if @samp{rv}) capability remains active when this kicks in. The default is a bold red text foreground over the current line background. @item mc=01;31 @vindex mc GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for matching non-empty text in a context line. (This is only used when the @samp{-v} command-line option is specified.) The effect of the @samp{cx=} (or @samp{sl=} if @samp{rv}) capability remains active when this kicks in. The default is a bold red text foreground over the current line background. @item fn=35 @vindex fn GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for file names prefixing any content line. The default is a magenta text foreground over the terminal's default background. @item ln=32 @vindex ln GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for line numbers prefixing any content line. The default is a green text foreground over the terminal's default background. @item bn=32 @vindex bn GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for byte offsets prefixing any content line. The default is a green text foreground over the terminal's default background. @item se=36 @vindex fn GREP_COLORS @r{capability} SGR substring for separators that are inserted between selected line fields (@samp{:}), between context line fields (@samp{-}), and between groups of adjacent lines when nonzero context is specified (@samp{--}). The default is a cyan text foreground over the terminal's default background. @item ne @vindex ne GREP_COLORS @r{capability} Boolean value that prevents clearing to the end of line using Erase in Line (EL) to Right (@samp{\33[K}) each time a colorized item ends. This is needed on terminals on which EL is not supported. It is otherwise useful on terminals for which the @code{back_color_erase} (@code{bce}) boolean terminfo capability does not apply, when the chosen highlight colors do not affect the background, or when EL is too slow or causes too much flicker. The default is false (i.e., the capability is omitted). @end table Note that boolean capabilities have no @samp{=}... part. They are omitted (i.e., false) by default and become true when specified. See the Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) section in the documentation of your text terminal for permitted values and their meaning as character attributes. These substring values are integers in decimal representation and can be concatenated with semicolons. @command{grep} takes care of assembling the result into a complete SGR sequence (@samp{\33[}...@samp{m}). Common values to concatenate include @samp{1} for bold, @samp{4} for underline, @samp{5} for blink, @samp{7} for inverse, @samp{39} for default foreground color, @samp{30} to @samp{37} for foreground colors, @samp{90} to @samp{97} for 16-color mode foreground colors, @samp{38;5;0} to @samp{38;5;255} for 88-color and 256-color modes foreground colors, @samp{49} for default background color, @samp{40} to @samp{47} for background colors, @samp{100} to @samp{107} for 16-color mode background colors, and @samp{48;5;0} to @samp{48;5;255} for 88-color and 256-color modes background colors. @item LC_ALL @itemx LC_COLLATE @itemx LANG @vindex LC_ALL @r{environment variable} @vindex LC_COLLATE @r{environment variable} @vindex LANG @r{environment variable} @cindex character type @cindex national language support @cindex NLS These variables specify the locale for the @code{LC_COLLATE} category, which determines the collating sequence used to interpret range expressions like @samp{[a-z]}. @item LC_ALL @itemx LC_CTYPE @itemx LANG @vindex LC_ALL @r{environment variable} @vindex LC_CTYPE @r{environment variable} @vindex LANG @r{environment variable} These variables specify the locale for the @code{LC_CTYPE} category, which determines the type of characters, e.g., which characters are whitespace. @item LC_ALL @itemx LC_MESSAGES @itemx LANG @vindex LC_ALL @r{environment variable} @vindex LC_MESSAGES @r{environment variable} @vindex LANG @r{environment variable} @cindex language of messages @cindex message language @cindex national language support @cindex translation of message language These variables specify the locale for the @code{LC_MESSAGES} category, which determines the language that @command{grep} uses for messages. The default @samp{C} locale uses American English messages. @item POSIXLY_CORRECT @vindex POSIXLY_CORRECT @r{environment variable} If set, @command{grep} behaves as @sc{posix.2} requires; otherwise, @command{grep} behaves more like other @sc{gnu} programs. @sc{posix.2} requires that options that follow file names must be treated as file names; by default, such options are permuted to the front of the operand list and are treated as options. Also, @code{POSIXLY_CORRECT} disables special handling of an invalid bracket expression. @xref{invalid-bracket-expr}. @item _@var{N}_GNU_nonoption_argv_flags_ @vindex _@var{N}_GNU_nonoption_argv_flags_ @r{environment variable} (Here @code{@var{N}} is @command{grep}'s numeric process ID.) If the @var{i}th character of this environment variable's value is @samp{1}, do not consider the @var{i}th operand of @command{grep} to be an option, even if it appears to be one. A shell can put this variable in the environment for each command it runs, specifying which operands are the results of file name wildcard expansion and therefore should not be treated as options. This behavior is available only with the @sc{gnu} C library, and only when @code{POSIXLY_CORRECT} is not set. @end table @node Exit Status @section Exit Status @cindex exit status @cindex return status Normally, the exit status is 0 if selected lines are found and 1 otherwise. But the exit status is 2 if an error occurred, unless the @option{-q} or @option{--quiet} or @option{--silent} option is used and a selected line is found. Note, however, that @sc{posix} only mandates, for programs such as @command{grep}, @command{cmp}, and @command{diff}, that the exit status in case of error be greater than 1; it is therefore advisable, for the sake of portability, to use logic that tests for this general condition instead of strict equality with@ 2. @node grep Programs @section @command{grep} Programs @cindex @command{grep} programs @cindex variants of @command{gerp} @command{grep} searches the named input files (or standard input if no files are named, or the file name @file{-} is given) for lines containing a match to the given pattern. By default, @command{grep} prints the matching lines. There are four major variants of @command{grep}, controlled by the following options. @table @samp @item -G @itemx --basic-regexp @opindex -G @opindex --basic-regexp @cindex matching basic regular expressions Interpret the pattern as a basic regular expression (BRE). This is the default. @item -E @itemx --extended-regexp @opindex -E @opindex --extended-regexp @cindex matching extended regular expressions Interpret the pattern as an extended regular expression (ERE). (@samp{-E} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -F @itemx --fixed-strings @opindex -F @opindex --fixed-strings @cindex matching fixed strings Interpret the pattern as a list of fixed strings, separated by newlines, any of which is to be matched. (@samp{-F} is specified by @sc{posix}.) @item -P @itemx --perl-regexp @opindex -P @opindex --perl-regexp @cindex matching Perl regular expressions Interpret the pattern as a Perl regular expression. This is highly experimental and @samp{grep@ -P} may warn of unimplemented features. @end table In addition, two variant programs @command{egrep} and @command{fgrep} are available. @command{egrep} is the same as @samp{grep@ -E}. @command{fgrep} is the same as @samp{grep@ -F}. Direct invocation as either @command{egrep} or @command{fgrep} is deprecated, but is provided to allow historical applications that rely on them to run unmodified. @node Regular Expressions @chapter Regular Expressions @cindex regular expressions A @dfn{regular expression} is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using various operators to combine smaller expressions. @command{grep} understands three different versions of regular expression syntax: ``basic,'' (BRE) ``extended'' (ERE) and ``perl''. In @sc{gnu} @command{grep}, there is no difference in available functionality between basic and extended syntaxes. In other implementations, basic regular expressions are less powerful. The following description applies to extended regular expressions; differences for basic regular expressions are summarized afterwards. Perl regular expressions give additional functionality, and are documented in pcresyntax(3) and pcrepattern(3), but may not be available on every system. @menu * Fundamental Structure:: * Character Classes and Bracket Expressions:: * The Backslash Character and Special Expressions:: * Anchoring:: * Back-references and Subexpressions:: * Basic vs Extended:: @end menu @node Fundamental Structure @section Fundamental Structure The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular expressions that match themselves. Any meta-character with special meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. A regular expression may be followed by one of several repetition operators: @table @samp @item . @opindex . @cindex dot @cindex period The period @samp{.} matches any single character. @item ? @opindex ? @cindex question mark @cindex match expression at most once The preceding item is optional and will be matched at most once. @item * @opindex * @cindex asterisk @cindex match expression zero or more times The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. @item + @opindex + @cindex plus sign @cindex match expression one or more times The preceding item will be matched one or more times. @item @{@var{n}@} @opindex @{@var{n}@} @cindex braces, one argument @cindex match expression @var{n} times The preceding item is matched exactly @var{n} times. @item @{@var{n},@} @opindex @{@var{n},@} @cindex braces, second argument omitted @cindex match expression @var{n} or more times The preceding item is matched @var{n} or more times. @item @{,@var{m}@} @opindex @{,@var{m}@} @cindex braces, first argument omitted @cindex match expression at most @var{m} times The preceding item is matched at most @var{m} times. @item @{@var{n},@var{m}@} @opindex @{@var{n},@var{m}@} @cindex braces, two arguments @cindex match expression from @var{n} to @var{m} times The preceding item is matched at least @var{n} times, but not more than @var{m} times. @end table Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular expression matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that respectively match the concatenated expressions. Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator @samp{|}; the resulting regular expression matches any string matching either alternalte expression. Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence over alternation. A whole expression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules and form a subexpression. @node Character Classes and Bracket Expressions @section Character Classes and Bracket Expressions @cindex bracket expression @cindex character class A @dfn{bracket expression} is a list of characters enclosed by @samp{[} and @samp{]}. It matches any single character in that list; if the first character of the list is the caret @samp{^}, then it matches any character @strong{not} in the list. For example, the regular expression @samp{[0123456789]} matches any single digit. @cindex range expression Within a bracket expression, a @dfn{range expression} consists of two characters separated by a hyphen. It matches any single character that sorts between the two characters, inclusive, using the locale's collating sequence and character set. For example, in the default C locale, @samp{[a-d]} is equivalent to @samp{[abcd]}. Many locales sort characters in dictionary order, and in these locales @samp{[a-d]} is typically not equivalent to @samp{[abcd]}; it might be equivalent to @samp{[aBbCcDd]}, for example. To obtain the traditional interpretation of bracket expressions, you can use the @samp{C} locale by setting the @env{LC_ALL} environment variable to the value @samp{C}. Finally, certain named classes of characters are predefined within bracket expressions, as follows. Their interpretation depends on the @code{LC_CTYPE} locale; the interpretation below is that of the @samp{C} locale, which is the default if no @code{LC_CTYPE} locale is specified. @cindex classes of characters @cindex character classes @table @samp @item [:alnum:] @opindex alnum @r{character class} @cindex alphanumeric characters Alphanumeric characters: @samp{[:alpha:]} and @samp{[:digit:]}. @item [:alpha:] @opindex alpha @r{character class} @cindex alphabetic characters Alphabetic characters: @samp{[:lower:]} and @samp{[:upper:]}. @item [:blank:] @opindex blank @r{character class} @cindex blank characters Blank characters: space and tab. @item [:cntrl:] @opindex cntrl @r{character class} @cindex control characters Control characters. In @sc{ascii}, these characters have octal codes 000 through 037, and 177 (@code{DEL}). In other character sets, these are the equivalent characters, if any. @item [:digit:] @opindex digit @r{character class} @cindex digit characters @cindex numeric characters Digits: @code{0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}. @item [:graph:] @opindex graph @r{character class} @cindex graphic characters Graphical characters: @samp{[:alnum:]} and @samp{[:punct:]}. @item [:lower:] @opindex lower @r{character class} @cindex lower-case letters Lower-case letters: @code{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z}. @item [:print:] @opindex print @r{character class} @cindex printable characters Printable characters: @samp{[:alnum:]}, @samp{[:punct:]}, and space. @item [:punct:] @opindex punct @r{character class} @cindex punctuation characters Punctuation characters: @code{!@: " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - .@: / : ; < = > ?@: @@ [ \ ] ^ _ ` @{ | @} ~}. @item [:space:] @opindex space @r{character class} @cindex space characters @cindex whitespace characters Space characters: tab, newline, vertical tab, form feed, carriage return, and space. @xref{Usage}, for more discussion of matching newlines. @item [:upper:] @opindex upper @r{character class} @cindex upper-case letters Upper-case letters: @code{A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z}. @item [:xdigit:] @opindex xdigit @r{character class} @cindex xdigit class @cindex hexadecimal digits Hexadecimal digits: @code{0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F a b c d e f}. @end table For example, @samp{[[:alnum:]]} means @samp{[0-9A-Za-z]}, except the latter depends upon the @samp{C} locale and the @sc{ascii} character encoding, whereas the former is independent of locale and character set. (Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket expression.) @anchor{invalid-bracket-expr} If you mistakenly omit the outer brackets, and search for say, @samp{[:upper:]}, GNU @command{grep} prints a diagnostic and exits with status 2, on the assumption that you did not intend to search for the nominally equivalent regular expression: @samp{[:epru]}. Set the @code{POSIXLY_CORRECT} environment variable to disable this feature. Most meta-characters lose their special meaning inside bracket expressions. @table @samp @item ] ends the bracket expression if it's not the first list item. So, if you want to make the @samp{]} character a list item, you must put it first. @item [. represents the open collating symbol. @item .] represents the close collating symbol. @item [= represents the open equivalence class. @item =] represents the close equivalence class. @item [: represents the open character class symbol, and should be followed by a valid character class name. @item :] represents the close character class symbol. @item - represents the range if it's not first or last in a list or the ending point of a range. @item ^ represents the characters not in the list. If you want to make the @samp{^} character a list item, place it anywhere but first. @end table @node The Backslash Character and Special Expressions @section The Backslash Character and Special Expressions @cindex backslash The @samp{\} character, when followed by certain ordinary characters, takes a special meaning: @table @samp @item @samp{\b} Match the empty string at the edge of a word. @item @samp{\B} Match the empty string provided it's not at the edge of a word. @item @samp{\<} Match the empty string at the beginning of word. @item @samp{\>} Match the empty string at the end of word. @item @samp{\w} Match word constituent, it is a synonym for @samp{[[:alnum:]]}. @item @samp{\W} Match non-word constituent, it is a synonym for @samp{[^[:alnum:]]}. @item @samp{\s} Match whitespace, it is a synonym for @samp{[[:space:]]}. @item @samp{\S} Match non-whitespace, it is a synonym for @samp{[^[:space:]]}. @end table For example, @samp{\brat\b} matches the separate word @samp{rat}, @samp{\Brat\B} matches @samp{crate} but not @samp{furry rat}. @node Anchoring @section Anchoring @cindex anchoring The caret @samp{^} and the dollar sign @samp{$} are meta-characters that respectively match the empty string at the beginning and end of a line. @node Back-references and Subexpressions @section Back-references and Subexpressions @cindex subexpression @cindex back-reference The back-reference @samp{\@var{n}}, where @var{n} is a single digit, matches the substring previously matched by the @var{n}th parenthesized subexpression of the regular expression. For example, @samp{(a)\1} matches @samp{aa}. When used with alternation, if the group does not participate in the match then the back-reference makes the whole match fail. For example, @samp{a(.)|b\1} will not match @samp{ba}. When multiple regular expressions are given with @samp{-e} or from a file (@samp{-f file}), back-references are local to each expression. @node Basic vs Extended @section Basic vs Extended Regular Expressions @cindex basic regular expressions In basic regular expressions the meta-characters @samp{?}, @samp{+}, @samp{@{}, @samp{|}, @samp{(}, and @samp{)} lose their special meaning; instead use the backslashed versions @samp{\?}, @samp{\+}, @samp{\@{}, @samp{\|}, @samp{\(}, and @samp{\)}. @cindex interval specifications Traditional @command{egrep} did not support the @samp{@{} meta-character, and some @command{egrep} implementations support @samp{\@{} instead, so portable scripts should avoid @samp{@{} in @samp{grep@ -E} patterns and should use @samp{[@{]} to match a literal @samp{@{}. @sc{gnu} @command{grep@ -E} attempts to support traditional usage by assuming that @samp{@{} is not special if it would be the start of an invalid interval specification. For example, the command @samp{grep@ -E@ '@{1'} searches for the two-character string @samp{@{1} instead of reporting a syntax error in the regular expression. @sc{posix.2} allows this behavior as an extension, but portable scripts should avoid it. @node Usage @chapter Usage @cindex usage, examples Here is an example command that invokes @sc{gnu} @command{grep}: @example grep -i 'hello.*world' menu.h main.c @end example @noindent This lists all lines in the files @file{menu.h} and @file{main.c} that contain the string @samp{hello} followed by the string @samp{world}; this is because @samp{.*} matches zero or more characters within a line. @xref{Regular Expressions}. The @samp{-i} option causes @command{grep} to ignore case, causing it to match the line @samp{Hello, world!}, which it would not otherwise match. @xref{Invoking}, for more details about how to invoke @command{grep}. @cindex using @command{grep}, Q&A @cindex FAQ about @command{grep} usage Here are some common questions and answers about @command{grep} usage. @enumerate @item How can I list just the names of matching files? @example grep -l 'main' *.c @end example @noindent lists the names of all C files in the current directory whose contents mention @samp{main}. @item How do I search directories recursively? @example grep -r 'hello' /home/gigi @end example @noindent searches for @samp{hello} in all files under the @file{/home/gigi} directory. For more control over which files are searched, use @command{find}, @command{grep}, and @command{xargs}. For example, the following command searches only C files: @example find /home/gigi -name '*.c' -print0 | xargs -0r grep -H 'hello' @end example This differs from the command: @example grep -rH 'hello' *.c @end example which merely looks for @samp{hello} in all files in the current directory whose names end in @samp{.c}. Here the @option{-r} is probably unnecessary, as recursion occurs only in the unlikely event that one of @samp{.c} files is a directory. The @samp{find ...} command line above is more similar to the command: @example grep -rH --include='*.c' 'hello' /home/gigi @end example @item What if a pattern has a leading @samp{-}? @example grep -e '--cut here--' * @end example @noindent searches for all lines matching @samp{--cut here--}. Without @samp{-e}, @command{grep} would attempt to parse @samp{--cut here--} as a list of options. @item Suppose I want to search for a whole word, not a part of a word? @example grep -w 'hello' * @end example @noindent searches only for instances of @samp{hello} that are entire words; it does not match @samp{Othello}. For more control, use @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} to match the start and end of words. For example: @example grep 'hello\>' * @end example @noindent searches only for words ending in @samp{hello}, so it matches the word @samp{Othello}. @item How do I output context around the matching lines? @example grep -C 2 'hello' * @end example @noindent prints two lines of context around each matching line. @item How do I force @command{grep} to print the name of the file? Append @file{/dev/null}: @example grep 'eli' /etc/passwd /dev/null @end example gets you: @example /etc/passwd:eli:x:2098:1000:Eli Smith:/home/eli:/bin/bash @end example Alternatively, use @samp{-H}, which is a @sc{gnu} extension: @example grep -H 'eli' /etc/passwd @end example @item Why do people use strange regular expressions on @command{ps} output? @example ps -ef | grep '[c]ron' @end example If the pattern had been written without the square brackets, it would have matched not only the @command{ps} output line for @command{cron}, but also the @command{ps} output line for @command{grep}. Note that on some platforms, @command{ps} limits the output to the width of the screen; @command{grep} does not have any limit on the length of a line except the available memory. @item Why does @command{grep} report ``Binary file matches''? If @command{grep} listed all matching ``lines'' from a binary file, it would probably generate output that is not useful, and it might even muck up your display. So @sc{gnu} @command{grep} suppresses output from files that appear to be binary files. To force @sc{gnu} @command{grep} to output lines even from files that appear to be binary, use the @samp{-a} or @samp{--binary-files=text} option. To eliminate the ``Binary file matches'' messages, use the @samp{-I} or @samp{--binary-files=without-match} option. @item Why doesn't @samp{grep -lv} print non-matching file names? @samp{grep -lv} lists the names of all files containing one or more lines that do not match. To list the names of all files that contain no matching lines, use the @samp{-L} or @samp{--files-without-match} option. @item I can do @sc{or} with @samp{|}, but what about @sc{and}? @example grep 'paul' /etc/motd | grep 'franc,ois' @end example @noindent finds all lines that contain both @samp{paul} and @samp{franc,ois}. @item How can I search in both standard input and in files? Use the special file name @samp{-}: @example cat /etc/passwd | grep 'alain' - /etc/motd @end example @item @cindex palindromes How to express palindromes in a regular expression? It can be done by using back-references; for example, a palindrome of 4 characters can be written with a BRE: @example grep -w -e '\(.\)\(.\).\2\1' file @end example It matches the word "radar" or "civic". Guglielmo Bondioni proposed a single RE that finds all palindromes up to 19 characters long using @w{9 subexpressions} and @w{9 back-references}: @smallexample grep -E -e '^(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?)(.?).?\9\8\7\6\5\4\3\2\1$' file @end smallexample Note this is done by using @sc{gnu} ERE extensions; it might not be portable to other implementations of @command{grep}. @item Why is this back-reference failing? @example echo 'ba' | grep -E '(a)\1|b\1' @end example This gives no output, because the first alternate @samp{(a)\1} does not match, as there is no @samp{aa} in the input, so the @samp{\1} in the second alternate has nothing to refer back to, meaning it will never match anything. (The second alternate in this example can only match if the first alternate has matched---making the second one superfluous.) @item How can I match across lines? Standard grep cannot do this, as it is fundamentally line-based. Therefore, merely using the @code{[:space:]} character class does not match newlines in the way you might expect. However, if your grep is compiled with Perl patterns enabled, the Perl @samp{s} modifier (which makes @code{.} match newlines) can be used: @example printf 'foo\nbar\n' | grep -P '(?s)foo.*?bar' @end example With the GNU @command{grep} option @code{-z} (@pxref{File and Directory Selection}), the input is terminated by null bytes. Thus, you can match newlines in the input, but the output will be the whole file, so this is really only useful to determine if the pattern is present: @example printf 'foo\nbar\n' | grep -z -q 'foo[[:space:]]\+bar' @end example Failing either of those options, you need to transform the input before giving it to @command{grep}, or turn to @command{awk}, @command{sed}, @command{perl}, or many other utilities that are designed to operate across lines. @item What do @command{grep}, @command{fgrep}, and @command{egrep} stand for? The name @command{grep} comes from the way line editing was done on Unix. For example, @command{ed} uses the following syntax to print a list of matching lines on the screen: @example global/regular expression/print g/re/p @end example @command{fgrep} stands for Fixed @command{grep}; @command{egrep} stands for Extended @command{grep}. @end enumerate @node Reporting Bugs @chapter Reporting bugs @cindex bugs, reporting Email bug reports to @email{bug-grep@@gnu.org}, a mailing list whose web page is @url{http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-grep}. The Savannah bug tracker for @command{grep} is located at @url{http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=grep}. @section Known Bugs @cindex Bugs, known Large repetition counts in the @samp{@{n,m@}} construct may cause @command{grep} to use lots of memory. In addition, certain other obscure regular expressions require exponential time and space, and may cause @command{grep} to run out of memory. Back-references are very slow, and may require exponential time. @node Copying @chapter Copying @cindex copying GNU grep is licensed under the GNU GPL, which makes it @dfn{free software}. The ``free'' in ``free software'' refers to liberty, not price. As some GNU project advocates like to point out, think of ``free speech'' rather than ``free beer''. In short, you have the right (freedom) to run and change grep and distribute it to other people, and---if you want---charge money for doing either. The important restriction is that you have to grant your recipients the same rights and impose the same restrictions. This general method of licensing software is sometimes called @dfn{open source}. The GNU project prefers the term ``free software'' for reasons outlined at @url{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html}. This manual is free documentation in the same sense. The documentation license is included below. The license for the program is available with the source code, or at @url{http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html}. @menu * GNU Free Documentation License:: @end menu @node GNU Free Documentation License @section GNU Free Documentation License @include fdl.texi @node Index @unnumbered Index @printindex cp @bye