How can I use grep to search for line with either 'res' or 'rep'?
I tried grep -e res|rep and grep -e "rep|rep" but neither worked.
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5 Answers
You can also use -E option with grep, so there's no need to escape |, for example:
grep -E 'res|rep' file Or, you can use egrep, which is the same thing as grep -E:
egrep 'res|rep' file 
- This did not work for me on OS X when I did
pmset -g sched | grep -E "shutdown|restart|sleep". (Neither did usingegrep.)2rs2ts– 2rs2ts2013-06-18 19:29:12 +00:00Commented Jun 18, 2013 at 19:29
You need to escape the pipe character:
grep 'res\|rep' file or use multiple -e options:
grep -e 'res' -e 'rep' file answered May 20, 2010 at 4:58
Dennis Williamson
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The regex sort of way is:
EDIT
grep -nis "re[sp]" <FILENAME>This way you will be presented with all lines containing either "res" or "rep"
also note that
-nisis in no way important here, I just like it that way... :)
- 1Probably you want to escape
re[sp]so that it is not accidentally expanded by the shell should there be files named res or rep.hlovdal– hlovdal2010-05-20 18:32:00 +00:00Commented May 20, 2010 at 18:32 - This is not necessary since it is first after the options list, and as such s interpreted as a pattern.Dlf– Dlf2010-05-21 10:38:37 +00:00Commented May 21, 2010 at 10:38
- 2hlovdal's comment is correct. The given answer will break if files called 'res' and 'rep' exist, because the shell will convert the command-line into "grep -nis rep res <FILENAME>". Hence you will not find any occurences of 'res' - instead you will search for 'rep' in files 'res' and <FILENAME>.Jonathan Hartley– Jonathan Hartley2012-03-18 20:44:10 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2012 at 20:44
- Added double quotes to ensure pattern being interpreted well.Dlf– Dlf2012-09-24 23:43:11 +00:00Commented Sep 24, 2012 at 23:43
Multiple patterns can be specified by using the -e pattern or --regexp=pattern option instead of specifying the pattern inline.
grep -e res -e rep or
grep --regexp=res --regexp=rep Per the Linux grep man page (with formatting added):
-e PATTERNS,--regexp=PATTERNSUse
PATTERNSas the patterns. If this option is used multiple times […], search for all patterns given.
The pattern string used by grep treats the newline character as a pattern separator. Therefore, using a newline is one way to search for multiple patterns.
grep $'res\nrep' Per the Linux grep man page (with formatting added):
grep [OPTION...] PATTERNS [FILE...][…]
grepsearches forPATTERNSin eachFILE.PATTERNSis one or more patterns separated by newline characters, and grep prints each line that matches a pattern.