3.4. grep with Options

The grep command has a number of options that control its behavior. Not all versions of UNIX support exactly the same options, so be sure to check your man pages for a complete list.

% cat datafile
				northwest          NW   Charles Main      3.0    .98    3    34
				western            WE   Sharon Gray       53     .97    5    23
				southwest          SW   Lewis Dalsass     2.7    .8     2    18
				southern           SO   Suan Chin         5.1    .95    4    15
				southeast          SE   Patricia Hemenway 4.0    .7     4    17
				eastern            EA   TB Savage         4.4    .84    5    20
				northeast          NE   AM Main Jr.       5.1    .94    3    13
				north              NO   Margot Weber      4.5    .89    5     9
				central            CT   Ann Stephens      5.7    .94    5    13
Example 3.23. 
					grep –n '^south' datafile
					3:southwest      SW     Lewis Dalsass       2.7   .8    2   18
					4:southern       SO     Suan Chin           5.1   .95   4   15
					5:southeast      SE     Patricia Hemenway   4.0   .7    4   17

EXPLANATION

The –n option precedes ...

Get UNIX® Shells by Example, Third Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial