

FIND (1)                    03/03/78                     FIND (1)


NAME
       find - search a file for text patterns

SYNOPSIS
       fffiiinnnddd [-acx] expr [expr ...]

DESCRIPTION
       fffiiinnnddd  searches  the standard input file for lines matching
       the  text  patterns  "expr"  (up  to  9  patterns  may  be
       specified)  according  to the matching criterion specified
       by the switches.   (A  text  pattern  is  a  subset  of  a
       "regular  expression"--see  the  writeup  on  "ed"  for  a
       complete description of regular expressions.)  Unless  the
       -c  option  is  specified, each matching line is copied to
       the standard output. 
       
       By  default,  any  line  which  matches  any  one  of  the
       expressions  is  considered  a  matching  line.  If the -a
       flag is specified, only lines which match all  expressions
       in  any  order are considered to match.  If the -x flag is
       specified,  all  lines  which  don't  satisfy  the   above
       criteria  are  considered matching lines.  And finally, if
       the -c option is specified,  matching  lines  are  counted
       instead  of  being  copied to the standard output, and the
       final count is written to the standard output. 
       
       A text pattern consists of the following elements:
       
       c         literal character
       ?         any character except newline
       %         beginning of line
       $         end of line (null string before newline)
       [...]     character class (any one of these characters)
       [!...]    negated character class (all but these characters)
       *         closure (zero or more occurrences of previous pattern)
       @c        escaped character (e.g., @%, @[, @*)
       
       Any special meaning of characters in  a  text  pattern  is
       lost when escaped, inside [...], or for:
       
       %         not at beginning
       $         not at end
       *         at beginning
       
       A  character  class  consists  of  zero  or  more  of  the
       following elements, surrounded by [ and ]:
       
       c         literal character, including [
       a-b       range of characters (digits, lower or upper case)
       !         negated character class if at beginning
       @c        escaped character (@! @- @ @])
       
       Special meaning of characters  in  a  character  class  is
       lost when escaped or for
       
       !         not at beginning


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FIND (1)                    03/03/78                     FIND (1)


       -         at beginning or end
       
       An  escape  sequence  consists of the character @ followed
       by a single character:
       
       @n        newline
       @t        tab
       @c        c (including @)
       
       For a complete description,  see  "Software  Tools"  pages
       135-154.   Care  should be taken when using the characters
       % $ [ ] ! *  @  and  any  shell  characters  in  the  text
       pattern.  It  is  often  necessary  to  enclose the entire
       substitution pattern in quotes. 

FILES
       None

SEE ALSO
       tr, ed, ch and the UNIX grep command. 

DIAGNOSTICS
       An error message is printed if one of the  patterns  given
       is illegal. 

AUTHORS
       Originally  from  Kernighan  & Plauger's "Software Tools",
       with  major  modifications  by   Joe   Sventek   (Lawrence
       Berkeley Laboratory)





























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