searching ofr tab characters

angel_tsankov · 04-29-2006, 05:42 PM

How can I search a file for a string that contains a tab character?

burninGpi · 04-29-2006, 06:29 PM

using grep. Type this in a console:

Code:

grep "\t" filename

or to say if it has a tab character:

Code:

grep -q "\t" filename && echo true || echo false

angel_tsankov · 04-30-2006, 02:56 AM

Well, the following code produces no output on terminal:

echo -e "a\tb" > f
grep "a\tb" f

Where do I go wrong?

ioerror · 04-30-2006, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angel_tsankov

Well, the following code produces no output on terminal:

echo -e "a\tb" > f
grep "a\tb" f

Where do I go wrong?

grep doesn't understand \t == tab, (pcregrep does though). Either use pcregrep or just use e.g. 'a[[:space:]]b', though that will catch spaces as well as tabs.