How to match exact sting in linux and avoid many possibilities

dr.x · 07-04-2021, 05:35 PM

Hello Folks ,

If I use :

ps aux | grep X

it will match all services including X and match too like X1 , X12 , X13 , X14

My question is how only match X and nothing more ? like exclude the other possibilities ?

Thanks

syg00 · 07-04-2021, 06:25 PM

Start by reading the manpage. If "-o" isn't sufficient, you'll have to get to know regex - word bounding anchors would be handy. And by co-incidence they are mentioned in the manpage.

TB0ne · 07-04-2021, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dr.x

Hello Folks ,

If I use :
ps aux | grep X

it will match all services including X and match too like X1 , X12 , X13 , X14 My question is how only match X and nothing more ? like exclude the other possibilities ?

Seems to be a recurring thing:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ng-4175695075/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...er-4175694196/

As with several of your previous threads, you've not shown any effort of your own, despite having similar threads (with solutions) to draw on. Show us what you have done/tried on your own first, do basic research, and read the documentation.

GentleThotSeaMonkey · 07-04-2021, 08:05 PM

+1 #3 (-1 #2 -o

)

I would be embarrassed to ask, IF I hadn't first:
web-searched: grep match only exact word
(hint: switch underlined)

Web-search: .pdf linux book
will find lots of books you could study.

pan64 · 07-05-2021, 02:46 AM

not to speak about pgrep. You need to use pgrep instead of ps ... | grep ...

JJJCR · 07-05-2021, 09:28 AM

Not tested:

ps aux | grep '^X'

ps aux | grep '^X{3}'

or pgrep '^X'