The grep command – one of the most popular Linux commands, and definitely deserving of a feature video in the Linux Essentials series. In this video, Jay goes over the basics of the grep command, along with some useful examples.

Colorized Output in grep

If you’re at all curious why grep in my video shows colorized output, you can achieve the same by adding the following to your .bashrc file:

alias grep='grep --color=auto'

characters.txt (Example file for practicing grep)

Name: Alan Grant    Occupation: Paleontologist   Species: Human
Name: Batman        Occupation: Vigilante        Species: Human
Name: Dalek         Occupation: Dalek            Species: Dalek
Name: Doctor        Occupation: Time Traveler    Species: Time Lord
Name: Donatello     Occupation: Ninja            Species: Mutant Turtle
Name: Kefka         Occupation: Court Mage       Species: Human
Name: Kirby         Occupation: Cute Pink Puff   Species: Kirby
Name: Leonardo      Occupation: Ninja            Species: Mutant Turtle
Name: Michelangelo  Occupation: Ninja            Species: Mutant Turtle
Name: Raphael       Occupation: Ninja            Species: Mutant Turtle
Name: Riddler       Occupation: Super Villian    Species: Human
Name: Samus         Occupation: Bounty Hunger    Species: Human
Name: Terra         Occupation: Hero             Species: Esper