•Arnošt Havelka
Searching Text with grep
Master grep to search for patterns in files.
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Searching Text with grep
The grep command searches for patterns inside files. It's your detective tool for finding specific content.
Search for Text
Use grep 'pattern' file to find all lines containing that pattern.
Usage:grep'pattern'file
grep
Global Regular Expression Print - searches for text patterns in files.
Find matching lines:
Command Prompt
Buy milk
Call dentist
Buy groceries
Remember meeting
C:\Users\User>cat notes.txt
Case-Insensitive Search: grep -i
The -i flag ignores uppercase/lowercase differences.
Usage:grep-i'pattern'file
-i
Ignore case - finds pattern regardless of capitalization.
Match any case:
Command Prompt
ERROR: file not found
error: connection timeout
Error handling complete
C:\Users\User>cat log.txt
Show Line Numbers: grep -n
The -n flag displays which line numbers contain the matches.
Usage:grep-n'pattern'file
-n
Line numbers - shows the line number of each match.
Locate by line number:
Command Prompt
host=localhost
port=8080
host=192.168.1.1
debug=false
C:\Users\User>cat config.txt
Knowledge Check
1 / 3What does grep do?
References
These Microsoft Learn and Windows documentation links provide authoritative details for the commands used in this article.