May 17

Written by: Steve Patterson
5/17/2010 8:00 AM 

This is a very useful function when trying to search through text documents. Many different keyword combinations can be found using the grep function. It will search the document for any text containing the words searched. It is case sensitive but that can be changed with a simple command as well. It is a highly flexible searching function that really comes in handy when programming.

A form of this search command has wound up in MS Dos and Microsoft Windows today. The find command is what runs the searches on these operating systems but it basically does the same thing as the original grep function does. That is why most of us are familiar with grep and it might be a little easier to understand how useful it really is.

Before trying to use this function it is a good idea to learn all of the various rules associated with it. It will also help to learn the commands. Knowing the commands will help you retrieve the search results you want right away. This command is for anyone interested in high quality results without a significant amount of time investment. That is why Windows modeled their search function after it.