Grep Cheat Sheet
Summary
Cheat sheet with the most common and useful Grep commands. Grep is a GNU/Linux command-line utility for searching plain-text data sets for lines that match a regular expression.
Syntax #
The general grep command syntax:
grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]
Searching #
Basic search in file #
grep 'pattern' file
Case-insensitive search #
grep -i 'pattern' file
Whole word search #
grep -w 'word' file
Recursive search (for directories) #
grep -r 'pattern' directory
Search for multiple external matterns in a file #
grep -f patterns.txt file
Recursive search with line numbers and file names #
grep -rnH 'pattern' directory
Viewing #
Display Line Numbers #
grep -n 'pattern' file
Display Only Matching Part of Lines #
grep -o 'pattern' file
Display Filename with Matches #
grep -H 'pattern' file
Display only filenames with matches #
grep -l 'pattern' file
Display lines matching whole words only #
grep -wo 'word' file
Display lines before/after match #
grep -B 3 'pattern' file # Display 3 lines before the match
grep -A 2 'pattern' file # Display 2 lines after the match
grep -C 1 'pattern' file # Display 1 line before and after the match
Display lines that match multiple patterns #
grep 'pattern1\|pattern2' file
grep -E 'pattern1|pattern2' file # Using Extended Regular Expressions
Display context around matches #
grep -C 2 'pattern' file # Display 2 lines of context around matches
Display lines matching multiple patterns (logical AND) #
grep 'pattern1' file | grep 'pattern2'
Display lines matching either of multiple patterns (logical OR) #
grep -E 'pattern1|pattern2' file
Display lines that do not match multiple patterns #
grep -v -e 'pattern1' -e 'pattern2' file
Invert match (exclude lines) #
grep -v 'pattern' file
Counting #
Count the number of matches #
grep -c 'pattern' file
Counting the occurrence of each matched line #
grep -c 'pattern' file | sort -n
These commands and options should cover a variety of scenarios when using grep to search for patterns in files. Customize them based on your specific needs and preferences.
Further readings #
Sources and recommended, further resources on the topic:
Author
Jonas Jared Jacek (J15k)
Jonas works as project manager, web designer, and web developer since 2001. On top of that, he is a Linux system administrator with a broad interest in things related to programming, architecture, and design. See: https://www.j15k.com/License
License: Grep Cheat Sheet by Jonas Jared Jacek is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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