fgrep-original(1)

search a file for a character string

From the original Amiga UNIX 2.1 manual. Some things it mentions may not be in this release.

With the grep package (with the extra set), see fgrep(1) instead.

NAME

fgrep - search a file for a character string

SYNOPSIS

fgrep [options] string [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

fgrep (fast grep) seaches files for a character string and prints all lines that contain that string. fgrep is different from grep(1) and egrep(1) because it searches for a string, instead of searching for a pattern that matches an expression. It uses a fast and compact algorithm.

The characters $, *, [, ^, |, (, ), and  \  are  interpreted
literally  by  fgrep, that is, fgrep does not recognize full
regular expressions as does egrep.  Since  these  characters
have  special  meaning to the shell, it is safest to enclose
the entire string in single quotes '...'.

If no files are specified, fgrep assumes standard input. Normally, each line found is copied to the standard output. The file name is printed before each line found if there is more than one input file.

Command line options are:

-b    Precede each line by the block number on which it  was
      found.   This  can be useful in locating block numbers
      by context (first block is 0).
-c    Print only a count of the lines that contain the  pat-
      tern.
-h    Suppress printing of filenames when searching multiple
      files.
-i    Ignore upper/lower case distinction  during  comparis-
      ons.
-l    Print the names of files  with  matching  lines  once,
      separated  by new-lines.  Does not repeat the names of
      files when the pattern is found more than once.
-n    Precede each line by  its  line  number  in  the  file
      (first line is 1).
-v    Print all lines except those that contain the pattern.
-x    Print only lines matched entirely.
-e special_string
      Search for a special string (string begins with a -).
-f file
      Take the list of strings from file.

DIAGNOSTICS

Exit status is 0 if any matches are found, 1 if none, 2 for syntax errors or inaccessible files (even if matches were found).

NOTES