Powerful text search utility for pattern matching using regular expressions across files and streams.
grep {extended-regexp} {fixed-strings} {basic-regexp} {perl-regexp} {regexp} 📎 extended-regexp 📎 fixed-strings 📎 basic-regexp 📎 perl-regexp 📎 regexp grep {extended-regexp} {fixed-strings} {basic-regexp} {perl-regexp} {regexp}Sandbox: execFile · Timeout: 60s
text.search.regex text.search.fixed text.search.recursive text.search.invert text.search.context data.extract.pattern | Name | Type | Required | Default | Description | Aliases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
extended-regexp | string | No | - | PATTERNS are extended regular expressions | -E, --extended-regexp |
fixed-strings | string | No | - | PATTERNS are strings | -F, --fixed-strings |
basic-regexp | string | No | - | PATTERNS are basic regular expressions | -G, --basic-regexp |
perl-regexp | string | No | - | PATTERNS are Perl regular expressions | -P, --perl-regexp |
regexp | string | No | - | use PATTERNS for matching | -e, --regexp |
file | file | No | - | take PATTERNS from FILE | -f, --file |
ignore-case | string | No | - | ignore case distinctions in patterns and data | -i, --ignore-case |
no-ignore-case | string | No | - | do not ignore case distinctions (default) | --no-ignore-case |
word-regexp | string | No | - | match only whole words | -w, --word-regexp |
line-regexp | string | No | - | match only whole lines | -x, --line-regexp |
null-data | string | No | - | a data line ends in 0 byte, not newline | -z, --null-data |
no-messages | string | No | - | suppress error messages | -s, --no-messages |
invert-match | string | No | - | select non-matching lines | -v, --invert-match |
version | string | No | - | display version information and exit | -V, --version |
help | string | No | - | display this help text and exit | --help |
max-count | integer | No | - | stop after NUM selected lines | -m, --max-count |
byte-offset | string | No | - | print the byte offset with output lines | -b, --byte-offset |
line-number | string | No | - | print line number with output lines | -n, --line-number |
line-buffered | string | No | - | flush output on every line | --line-buffered |
with-filename | string | No | - | print file name with output lines | -H, --with-filename |
no-filename | string | No | - | suppress the file name prefix on output | -h, --no-filename |
label | file | No | - | use LABEL as the standard input file name prefix | --label |
only-matching | string | No | - | show only nonempty parts of lines that match | -o, --only-matching |
quiet | string | No | - | suppress all normal output | -q, --quiet, --silent |
binary-files | string | No | - | assume that binary files are TYPE | --binary-files |
text | string | No | - | equivalent to --binary-files=text | -a, --text |
directories | string | No | - | ACTION is 'read', 'recurse', or 'skip' | -d, --directories |
devices | string | No | - | how to handle devices, FIFOs and sockets | -D, --devices |
recursive | string | No | - | like --directories=recurse | -r, --recursive |
dereference-recursive | string | No | - | --include=GLOB search only files that match GLOB (a file pattern) --exclude=GLOB skip files that match GLOB --exclude-from=FILE skip files that match any file pattern from FILE --exclude-dir=GLOB s... | -R, --dereference-recursive |
NUM | boolean | No | - | -NUM, --context | |
after-context | integer | No | - | print NUM lines of trailing context | -A, --after-context |
before-context | integer | No | - | -B, --before-context | |
binary | string | No | - | do not strip CR characters at EOL (MSDOS/Windows) | -U, --binary |
colour | boolean | No | - | use markers to highlight the matching strings; | --colour |
context | integer | No | - | print NUM lines of output context | -C, --context |
count | string | No | - | print only a count of selected lines per FILE | -c, --count |
exclude_dir | boolean | No | - | skip directories that match GLOB | --exclude-dir |
exclude_from | boolean | No | - | skip files that match any file pattern from FILE | --exclude-from |
files-with-matches | string | No | - | -l, --files-with-matches | |
files-without-match | string | No | - | -L, --files-without-match | |
flag-N | string | No | - | same as --context=NUM | -N |
group-separator | string | No | - | --no-group-separator do not print separator for matches with context --color[=WHEN], --colour[=WHEN] use markers to highlight the matching strings; WHEN is 'always', 'never', or 'auto' | --group-separator |
initial-tab | string | No | - | make tabs line up (if needed) | -T, --initial-tab |
no_group_separator | boolean | No | - | do not print separator for matches with context | --no-group-separator |
null | string | No | - | print 0 byte after FILE name | -Z, --null |
| Type | Description | MIME | Schema | Trust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
text.search.result | Lines matching the search pattern | text/plain | - | verified |
text.search.count | Count of matching lines | text/plain | - | verified |
Inputs
text.plain Text input to search through
text.regex.pattern Regular expression or fixed string pattern
Outputs
text.search.result Lines matching the search pattern
Produces
text.search.resultConsumes
text.plaintext.regex.pattern| Resource | Value |
|---|---|
| CPU | low |
| Memory | 16 MB |
| Network | none |
| Disk I/O | medium |
Search for a pattern in a file
grep 'error' logfile.txtCase-insensitive recursive search
grep -ri 'TODO' src/Show context lines around matches
grep -C 3 'Exception' app.logCount matches per file
grep -c 'function' *.pyInvert match (lines not containing pattern)
grep -v '^#' config.confExtract IP addresses with regex
grep -oE '\b([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}\b' access.logDarkiros UTILS: Extract md5 hash ({32})
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{32}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' [file] | egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{32}' > md5-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract sha1 hash ({40})
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{40}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' [file] | egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{40}' > sha1-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract sha256 hash ({64})
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{64}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' [file] | egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{64}' > sha256-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract sha512 hash ({128})
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{128}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' [file] | egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{128}' > sha512-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract valid MySQL-old hash
grep -e "[0-7][0-9a-f]{7}[0-7][0-9a-f]{7}" [file] > mysql-old-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract valid blowfish hash
grep -e "$2a\\$\\08\\$(.){75}" [file] > blowfish-hashes.txtDarkiros UTILS: Extract emails from file
grep -E -o "\\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,6}\\b" [file]Darkiros UTILS: Extract IP from file
grep -E -o "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)" file.txtNetRunners usefull/shell
grep -r --color=always 'password' .Grep is one of the essential Unix tools. It searches files and streams for lines matching a pattern, making it invaluable for log analysis, code searching, and data extraction pipelines.
# Basic regex (default): + and ? are literal
grep 'foo\+' file.txt
# Extended regex: + and ? are metacharacters
grep -E 'foo+' file.txt
# Fixed strings (no regex, faster)
grep -F 'foo+' file.txt
# Lines starting with a pattern
grep '^error' file.txt
# Lines ending with a pattern
grep 'done$' file.txt
# Word boundaries
grep -w 'class' file.txt
# Character classes
grep '[0-9]\{3\}-[0-9]\{4\}' file.txt
# Chain with other tools
ps aux | grep python | grep -v grep
# Extract and count unique matches
grep -oP 'https?://[^\s"]+' file.txt | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
# Find files containing pattern
grep -rl 'main' --include='*.py' src/
| Situation | Best Tool |
|---|---|
| Single file | grep is fast enough |
| Large codebase | ripgrep (rg) is 5-10x faster |
| Binary search | grep -a or strings | grep |
| Compressed files | zgrep for .gz files |