[SOLVED] GREP: search special characters

carolflb · 02-10-2010, 03:22 AM

Hi all,

I need to search for the following pattern with GREP in a text file:

word1->word2

So I tried already:

grep -n -m 1 -i -o -w -l "word1-[>]word2" <file
grep -n -m 1 -i -o -w -l "word1-\>word2" <file

But none of those works...I think probably because GREP doens't like the special character > in the middle of the serach pattern. Would somebody know how I can serach for it?

At the end I just need to now if GREP found the pattern in the file or not, so it should give me a 0 or a 1 back, once I check the value of the variable "?" after using the grep command.

colucix · 02-10-2010, 03:40 AM

Embedding in double quotes should work. What I don't get is why you used so many options if the requirement is just to test the presence of the string. The following should work:

Code:

grep -q "word1->word2" testfile && echo found it

where the && echo part is just for testing. Even the usage of a character list (square brackets in your first example) should work. If not you have to investigate a little more.

catkin · 02-10-2010, 03:46 AM

Works OK for me (with zero or minimal options)

Code:

c:/tmp$ cat trash
word1->word2
word3
c:/tmp$ grep 'word1->word2' trash
word1->word2
c:/tmp$ grep -v 'word1->word2' trash
word3

carolflb · 02-10-2010, 04:06 AM

Hi colucix, hi catkin,

thanks for the solutions, both of them work and the flag "-q" is exactly what I needed!

I think before I ended up lost with all those flags... I'm just a beginner and I don't know how to use all that very well..next time I will try to keep it simple.

colucix · 02-10-2010, 04:11 AM

You're welcome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolflb

I think before I ended up lost with all those flags... I'm just a beginner and I don't know how to use all that very well..

He he.. that's one of the reasons why LinuxQuestions exists!