7 Essential grep command for software engineers

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Hash

I’d like to share a quick review of 7 essential grep commands that every software engineer should know and use in their daily work.

Commands covered:

Recursive search
Display line numbers
Display filenames
Invert match
Multiple Patterns
Context of matching lines
Use regular expressions

1. Search for a pattern in all files recursively:

grep -r "pattern" /path/to/directory

1. Display line numbers along with matching lines:

grep -n "pattern" filename

1. Display only the names of files with matching lines:

grep -l "pattern" *

1. Invert match (display non-matching lines):

grep -v "pattern" filename

1. Search for multiple patterns:

grep -e "pattern1" -e "pattern2" filename

1. Show the context of matching lines (before and after):

grep -C 3 "pattern" filename

1. Use regular expressions for complex patterns:

grep -E "pattern1|pattern2" filename

If you’re interested in viewing the examples, feel free to do so.

Best
HASH

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Hash