problem with grep command

thodo · 10-25-2007, 05:17 AM

Hi guys,

I have the following problem when using the grep command:

I want to select some entries from a file (source_file.cat),
using as a reference a one-column file (ref_file.cat)
with entries (I call them "ID") common in both files, such as

75963
71903
-20486

the grep command will work fine for the first two entries, but it will complain
for the third one as grep does not like the "-" sign. It will only work if I convert
the - sign to '\-' in my do loop. Is there a smart way of doing that?

Thanks in advance,

Thodo

acid_kewpie · 10-25-2007, 05:20 AM

check the grep manpage...

Code:

       -e PATTERN, --regexp=PATTERN
              Use PATTERN as the pattern; useful to protect patterns beginning
              with -.