Unix grep file name

Combine as many options as necessary to get the results you need. Below are the most common grep commands with examples. Note: Grep is case-sensitive. Make sure to use the correct case when running grep commands. To print any line from a file that contains a specific pattern of characters, in our case phoenix in the file sample2 , run the command:. Grep will display every line where there is a match for the word phoenix.

When executing this command, you do not get exact matches. Instead, the terminal prints the lines with words containing the string of characters you entered. Here is an example:. Tip: If your search pattern includes characters other than alphanumeric, use quotation marks. This includes blank spaces or any symbol. To search multiple files with the grep command, insert the filenames you want to search, separated with a space character.

In our case, the grep command to match the word phoenix in three files sample , sample2 , and sample3 looks like this example:. The terminal prints the name of every file that contains the matching lines, and the actual lines that include the required string of characters.

You can append as many filenames as needed. The terminal prints a new line with the filename for every match it finds in the listed files. Tip: Refer to our article Xargs Commands to learn how to use xargs with grep to search for a string in the list of files. To search all files in the current directory, use an asterisk instead of a filename at the end of a grep command.

The output shows the name of the file with nix and returns the entire line. Grep allows you to find and print the results for whole words only. To search for the word phoenix in all files in the current directory, append -w to the grep command.

This option only prints the lines with whole-word matches and the names of the files it found them in:. When -w is omitted, grep displays the search pattern even if it is a substring of another word. If you would like to search for multiple strings and word patterns, check out our article on how to grep for multiple strings, patterns or words. As grep commands are case sensitive, one of the most useful operators for grep searches is -i.

Instead of printing lowercase results only, the terminal displays both uppercase and lowercase results. Grep to display file name along with content in Solaris. Am using the following grep to match a particular patter in grep. Grep a pattern given in one file at other file and display its corresponding contents as output. I have two files say xxx. Grep pattern from different file and display if it exists in the required file. Hi, I have two files say xxx.

Write a KSH script called cleanse which displays the name of each file in a given directory and allows the user to interactively decide whether or not to keep or delete the specific file.

Notes: Again, please check for errors. Hi All, I need to grep few files which has words like the below in the file name , which i want to put it in a file and and grep for the files which contain these names and move it to a new directory , full file name -C I have to grep on a few words in a file and then display the line containing those words and the line above it.

For ex - File1. Hi, I have a. RedHat Commands. OpenSolaris Commands. Linux Commands. SunOS Commands. FreeBSD Commands. Full Man Repository. I actually started using this to open a list of files returned by grep in Vim. You cannot list files using grep command, it is basically used to fetch desired text from a file or a list. Add a comment.

Active Oldest Votes. The standard option grep -l that is a lowercase L could do this. From the Unix standard : -l The letter ell. Write only the names of files containing selected lines to standard output. Pathnames are written once per file searched. If the standard input is searched, a pathname of standard input will be written, in the POSIX locale. In other locales, standard input may be replaced by something more appropriate in those locales.

You also do not need -H in this case. Improve this answer. Random Random The documentation of this option is as often in most man files so unclear! Pfff… Amazing how man can be a pain in the ass. The question was for just filenames. Hauke And my answer was -l. I mentioned -H only because the user's command in the question included -H and it is redundant when -l is given.

Nice, I personally like using this with other flags grep -nrl "some text". What's the mnemonic for ell? Show 3 more comments. From the grep 1 man page: -l, --files-with-matches Suppress normal output; instead print the name of each input file from which output would normally have been printed. The scanning will stop on the first match. Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams k gold badges silver badges bronze badges.

Stopping at the first match is necessary and nature.