grep ?? can grep us variables?

DaFrEQ · 09-14-2005, 10:15 AM

Hi all,

I was going thru the man page of grep, and didn't see anything regarding variables, so I need to ask, can you use a variable with grep?

i.e. want to grep a file for all lines starting with H and V, but each time the file name will change. Dont want to have to keep re-typing the command line.

ex.

Code:

grep ^H file1.file && grep ^V file1.file >> outputfile
grep ^H file2.file && grep ^V file2.file >> outputfile

...and so on. Is there a way to have a variable so that all i have to do is throw this grep command into a txt file, slap a chmod +x on it so it will run, and then just simply type the script name with new filename to search?

Hope that all made sense.
Tnx.
L8rz

druuna · 09-14-2005, 10:19 AM

Hi,

Why a variable, can't you do something like this:

grep "^[HV]" *.file > outfile

or

grep "^[VH]" file*.file > outfile

Just like you use with ls, the files grep looks in can have wildcards.

Hope this helps.

DaFrEQ · 09-14-2005, 10:45 AM

Yes, I could use a wildcard, but, looking back at what I said, I didn't want to type the entire line out each time.
That's why I wanted to just put it in a txt file, make it executable, so I only have to type the executable filename and the filename to search for... which is alot shorter because actually its just the executable filename and clicking on the filename to search for rather than typing it.
Saves alot of time.

Also, I guess I didnt make this clear, the filename to search for will not always be named similar to the previous files. So wildcards will only work sometimes.

druuna · 09-14-2005, 11:13 AM

Hi,

Code:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ -n $1 ]]
then
  grep -H "^[HV]" $@ >> /tmp/outputfile
else
  echo "no inputfile given!"
  exit 1
fi
exit 0

Safe as hvgrep, run as:

$ hvgrep <filename>
<filename> can be multiple filenames and/or wildcards (ie: hvgrep in in2 or hvgrep in*).

You probably want to change the location/name of the outputfile (atm: /tmp/outputfile).

Hope this is what you wanted

DaFrEQ · 09-14-2005, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by druuna
Hi,

Code:

#!/bin/bash if [[ -n $1 ]] then grep -H "^[HV]" $@ >> /tmp/outputfile else echo "no inputfile given!" exit 1 fi exit 0

Safe as hvgrep, run as:

$ hvgrep <filename>
<filename> can be multiple filenames and/or wildcards (ie: hvgrep in in2 or hvgrep in*).

You probably want to change the location/name of the outputfile (atm: /tmp/outputfile).

Hope this is what you wanted

Cheers mate. That's pretty much what I was going for.
Tnx alot.

L8rz