grep

tool, information science tool A Unix command for

searching files for lines matching a given regularexpression (RE). Named after the qed/ed editor

subcommand "g/re/p", where re stands for a regular expression,

to Globally search for the Regular Expression and Print the

lines containing matches to it. There are two other variants,

fgrep which searches only for fixed strings and egrep which

accepts extended REs but is usually the fastest of the three.

Used by extension to mean "to look for something by pattern".

When browsing through a large set of files, one may speak of

"grepping around". "Grep the bulletin board for the system

backup schedule, would you?" See also vgrep.

[Jargon File]