Re: How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends?

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From	Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.unix.misc
Subject	Re: How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends?
Date	Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:52:50 -0700
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Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> writes:
> Sorry for the convoluted title, but let's say I am looking for all the
> occurrences of "keep on *ing" in a file, so that it catches:
>
> keep on running
> keep on doing
> keep on walking
>
>
> I tried:
>
> $ grep -i "keep on *ing" file

The " *" matches zero or more spaces.

> and
>
> $ grep -i "keep on [a-zA-Z0-9_]ing" file

The "[a-zA-Z0-9_]" matches exactly one character from the set, so it
will match "keep on xing".

> but it obviously didn't work.

$ grep -i "keep on [a-zA-Z0-9_]*ing" file

That will match "keep on ing".  If you want to match at least one
alphanumeric before the "ing:

$ grep -E -i "keep on [a-zA-Z0-9_]+ing" file

This doesn't handle accented letters.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
Working, but not speaking, for Medtronic
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

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How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends? Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> - 2024-04-24 16:20 +0100
  Re: How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2024-04-24 08:52 -0700
    Re: How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2024-04-24 08:58 -0700
  Re: How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how it ends? Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2024-04-24 20:19 -0500
    How do you "grep" in a string when you know how it starts and how i Amessyroom@f10.n1.z38.fidonet.org (Amessyroom) - 2024-07-11 23:25 +1300

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