Most common grep commands

Here are some of the most common grep commands used in the Unix/Linux command line:

Basic Text Search:

grep 'pattern' file

Case-Insensitive Search:

grep -i 'pattern' file

Recursive Search:

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

Search for Whole Words:

grep -w 'pattern' file

ow Line Numbers:

grep -n 'pattern' file

Invert Match (ow Lines That Do Not Match):

grep -v 'pattern' file

Count Matching Lines:

grep -c 'pattern' file

Only Matching Part of the Line:

grep -o 'pattern' file

Search Multiple Patterns:

grep -e 'pattern1' -e 'pattern2' file

File Names with Matches:

grep -l 'pattern' file1 file2

Exclude Certain Files:

grep --exclude=*.log 'pattern' /path/to/directory/*

Use Extended Regular Expressions:

grep -E 'pattern' file

Suppress Errors for Non-Existent or Unreadable Files:

grep -s 'pattern' file

Print n Lines of Context Around Matches:

Before matches:

grep -B n 'pattern' file

After matches:

grep -A n 'pattern' file

Both before and after matches:

grep -C n 'pattern' file

Only File Names (No Duplicate Names):

grep -L 'pattern' file1 file2