FGREP(1)                                                              FGREP(1)


NAME
     fgrep - search a file for a character string

SYNOPSIS
     fgrep [options] string [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     fgrep (fast grep) searches files for a character string and prints all
     lines that contain that string.  fgrep is different from grep(1) and
     egrep(1) because it searches for a string, instead of searching for a
     pattern that matches an expression.  It uses a fast and compact
     algorithm.

     The characters $, *, [, ^, |, (, ), and \ are interpreted literally by
     fgrep, that is, fgrep does not recognize full regular expressions as does
     egrep.  Since these characters have special meaning to the shell, it is
     safest to enclose the entire string in single quotes '...'.

     If no files are specified, fgrep assumes standard input.  Normally, each
     line found is copied to the standard output.  The file name is printed
     before each line found if there is more than one input file.

     Command line options are:

     -b    Precede each line by the block number on which it was found.  This
           can be useful in locating block numbers by context (blocks are 512
           bytes long and number from 0).
     -c    Print only a count of the lines that contain the pattern.
     -i    Ignore upper/lower case distinction during comparisons.
     -l    Print the names of files with matching lines once, separated by
           new-lines.  Does not repeat the names of files when the pattern is
           found more than once.
     -n    Precede each line by its line number in the file (first line is 1).
     -s    Silent mode.  No pattern matches or error messages are printed.
           This option allows command expressions to check fgrep's exit status
           without having to deal with output.
     -v    Print all lines except those that contain the pattern.
     -x    Print only lines matched entirely.
     -e special_string
           Search for a special string (string begins with a -).
     -f file
           Take the list of strings from file.

SEE ALSO
     ed(1), egrep(1), grep(1), sed(1), sh(1).

DIAGNOSTICS
     Exit status is 0 if any matches are found, 1 if none, 2 for syntax errors
     or inaccessible files (even if matches were found).


BUGS
     Ideally there should be only one grep command, but there is not a single
     algorithm that spans a wide enough range of space-time tradeoffs.  Lines
     are limited to BUFSIZ characters; longer lines are truncated.  BUFSIZ is
     defined in /usr/include/stdio.h.


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