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12 .TH EGREP 1 "Mar 24, 2006"
13 .SH NAME
14 egrep \- search a file for a pattern using full regular expressions
15 .SH SYNOPSIS
16 .LP
17 .nf
18 \fB/usr/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnsv\fR] \fB-e\fR \fIpattern_list\fR [\fIfile...\fR]
19 .fi
20
21 .LP
22 .nf
23 \fB/usr/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnsv\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR [\fIfile...\fR]
24 .fi
25
26 .LP
27 .nf
28 \fB/usr/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnsv\fR] \fIpattern\fR [\fIfile...\fR]
29 .fi
30
31 .LP
32 .nf
33 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnqsvx\fR] \fB-e\fR \fIpattern_list\fR [\fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR]
34 [\fIfile...\fR]
35 .fi
36
37 .LP
38 .nf
39 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnqsvx\fR] [\fB-e\fR \fIpattern_list\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR
40 [\fIfile...\fR]
41 .fi
42
43 .LP
44 .nf
45 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR [\fB-bchilnqsvx\fR] \fIpattern\fR [\fIfile...\fR]
46 .fi
47
48 .SH DESCRIPTION
49 .sp
50 .LP
51 The \fBegrep\fR (\fIexpression grep\fR) utility searches files for a pattern of
52 characters and prints all lines that contain that pattern. \fBegrep\fR uses
53 full regular expressions (expressions that have string values that use the full
54 set of alphanumeric and special characters) to match the patterns. It uses a
55 fast deterministic algorithm that sometimes needs exponential space.
56 .sp
57 .LP
58 If no files are specified, \fBegrep\fR assumes standard input. Normally, each
59 line found is copied to the standard output. The file name is printed before
60 each line found if there is more than one input file.
61 .SS "/usr/bin/egrep"
62 .sp
63 .LP
64 The \fB/usr/bin/egrep\fR utility accepts full regular expressions as described
65 on the \fBregexp\fR(5) manual page, except for \fB\e(\fR and \fB\e)\fR,
66 \fB\e(\fR and \fB\e)\fR, \fB\e{\fR and \fB\e}\fR, \fB\e<\fR and \fB\e>\fR, and
67 \fB\en\fR, and with the addition of:
68 .RS +4
69 .TP
70 1.
71 A full regular expression followed by \fB+\fR that matches one or more
72 occurrences of the full regular expression.
73 .RE
74 .RS +4
75 .TP
76 2.
77 A full regular expression followed by \fB?\fR that matches 0 or 1
78 occurrences of the full regular expression.
79 .RE
80 .RS +4
81 .TP
82 3.
83 Full regular expressions separated by | or by a \fBNEWLINE\fR that match
84 strings that are matched by any of the expressions.
85 .RE
86 .RS +4
87 .TP
88 4.
89 A full regular expression that can be enclosed in parentheses \fB()\fRfor
90 grouping.
91 .RE
92 .sp
93 .LP
94 Be careful using the characters \fB$\fR, \fB*\fR, \fB[\fR, \fB^\fR, |, \fB(\fR,
95 \fB)\fR, and \fB\e\fR in \fIfull regular expression\fR, because they are also
96 meaningful to the shell. It is safest to enclose the entire \fIfull regular
97 expression\fR in single quotes (\fBa\'\fR\fBa\'\fR).
98 .sp
99 .LP
100 The order of precedence of operators is \fB[\|]\fR, then \fB*\|?\|+\fR, then
101 concatenation, then | and NEWLINE.
102 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep"
103 .sp
104 .LP
105 The \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR utility uses the regular expressions described in
106 the \fBEXTENDED REGULAR EXPRESSIONS\fR section of the \fBregex\fR(5) manual
107 page.
108 .SH OPTIONS
109 .sp
110 .LP
111 The following options are supported for both \fB/usr/bin/egrep\fR and
112 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR:
113 .sp
114 .ne 2
115 .na
116 \fB\fB-b\fR\fR
117 .ad
118 .RS 19n
119 Precede each line by the block number on which it was found. This can be useful
120 in locating block numbers by context (first block is 0).
121 .RE
122
123 .sp
124 .ne 2
125 .na
126 \fB\fB-c\fR\fR
127 .ad
128 .RS 19n
129 Print only a count of the lines that contain the pattern.
130 .RE
131
132 .sp
133 .ne 2
134 .na
135 \fB\fB-e\fR \fIpattern_list\fR\fR
136 .ad
137 .RS 19n
138 Search for a \fIpattern_list\fR (\fIfull regular expression\fR that begins with
139 a \fB\(mi\fR).
140 .RE
141
142 .sp
143 .ne 2
144 .na
145 \fB\fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR\fR
146 .ad
147 .RS 19n
148 Take the list of \fIfull\fR \fIregular\fR \fIexpressions\fR from \fIfile\fR.
149 .RE
150
151 .sp
152 .ne 2
153 .na
154 \fB\fB-h\fR\fR
155 .ad
156 .RS 19n
157 Suppress printing of filenames when searching multiple files.
158 .RE
159
160 .sp
161 .ne 2
162 .na
163 \fB\fB-i\fR\fR
164 .ad
165 .RS 19n
166 Ignore upper/lower case distinction during comparisons.
167 .RE
168
169 .sp
170 .ne 2
171 .na
172 \fB\fB-l\fR\fR
173 .ad
174 .RS 19n
175 Print the names of files with matching lines once, separated by NEWLINEs. Does
176 not repeat the names of files when the pattern is found more than once.
177 .RE
178
179 .sp
180 .ne 2
181 .na
182 \fB\fB-n\fR\fR
183 .ad
184 .RS 19n
185 Precede each line by its line number in the file (first line is 1).
186 .RE
187
188 .sp
189 .ne 2
190 .na
191 \fB\fB-s\fR\fR
192 .ad
193 .RS 19n
194 Work silently, that is, display nothing except error messages. This is useful
195 for checking the error status.
196 .RE
197
198 .sp
199 .ne 2
200 .na
201 \fB\fB-v\fR\fR
202 .ad
203 .RS 19n
204 Print all lines except those that contain the pattern.
205 .RE
206
207 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep"
208 .sp
209 .LP
210 The following options are supported for \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR only:
211 .sp
212 .ne 2
213 .na
214 \fB\fB-q\fR\fR
215 .ad
216 .RS 6n
217 Quiet. Does not write anything to the standard output, regardless of matching
218 lines. Exits with zero status if an input line is selected.
219 .RE
220
221 .sp
222 .ne 2
223 .na
224 \fB\fB-x\fR\fR
225 .ad
226 .RS 6n
227 Consider only input lines that use all characters in the line to match an
228 entire fixed string or regular expression to be matching lines.
229 .RE
230
231 .SH OPERANDS
232 .sp
233 .LP
234 The following operands are supported:
235 .sp
236 .ne 2
237 .na
238 \fB\fIfile\fR\fR
239 .ad
240 .RS 8n
241 A path name of a file to be searched for the patterns. If no \fIfile\fR
242 operands are specified, the standard input is used.
243 .RE
244
245 .SS "/usr/bin/egrep"
246 .sp
247 .ne 2
248 .na
249 \fB\fIpattern\fR\fR
250 .ad
251 .RS 11n
252 Specify a pattern to be used during the search for input.
253 .RE
254
255 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep"
256 .sp
257 .ne 2
258 .na
259 \fB\fIpattern\fR\fR
260 .ad
261 .RS 11n
262 Specify one or more patterns to be used during the search for input. This
263 operand is treated as if it were specified as \fB-e\fR\fIpattern_list.\fR.
264 .RE
265
266 .SH USAGE
267 .sp
268 .LP
269 See \fBlargefile\fR(5) for the description of the behavior of \fBegrep\fR when
270 encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
271 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
272 .sp
273 .LP
274 See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
275 that affect the execution of \fBegrep\fR: \fBLC_COLLATE\fR, \fBLC_CTYPE\fR,
276 \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR.
277 .SH EXIT STATUS
278 .sp
279 .LP
280 The following exit values are returned:
281 .sp
282 .ne 2
283 .na
284 \fB\fB0\fR\fR
285 .ad
286 .RS 5n
287 If any matches are found.
288 .RE
289
290 .sp
291 .ne 2
292 .na
293 \fB\fB1\fR\fR
294 .ad
295 .RS 5n
296 If no matches are found.
297 .RE
298
299 .sp
300 .ne 2
301 .na
302 \fB\fB2\fR\fR
303 .ad
304 .RS 5n
305 For syntax errors or inaccessible files (even if matches were found).
306 .RE
307
308 .SH ATTRIBUTES
309 .sp
310 .LP
311 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
312 .SS "/usr/bin/egrep"
313 .sp
314
315 .sp
316 .TS
317 box;
318 c | c
319 l | l .
320 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
321 _
322 CSI Not Enabled
323 .TE
324
325 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep"
326 .sp
327
328 .sp
329 .TS
330 box;
331 c | c
332 l | l .
333 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
334 _
335 CSI Enabled
336 .TE
337
338 .SH SEE ALSO
339 .sp
340 .LP
341 \fBfgrep\fR(1), \fBgrep\fR(1), \fBsed\fR(1), \fBsh\fR(1), \fBattributes\fR(5),
342 \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBlargefile\fR(5), \fBregex\fR(5), \fBregexp\fR(5),
343 \fBXPG4\fR(5)
344 .SH NOTES
345 .sp
346 .LP
347 Ideally there should be only one \fBgrep\fR command, but there is not a single
348 algorithm that spans a wide enough range of space-time trade-offs.
349 .sp
350 .LP
351 Lines are limited only by the size of the available virtual memory.
352 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep"
353 .sp
354 .LP
355 The \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/egrep\fR utility is identical to \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/grep\fR
356 \fB-E\fR. See \fBgrep\fR(1). Portable applications should use
357 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/grep\fR \fB-E\fR.