topic Re: grep meaning in Operating System - HP-UX

grep meaning

Craig A. Sharp — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 19:29:26 GMT

Hello,

I realize that this is a very basic question.
What does "grep" stand for?

In the HP Certified training book grep stands for Global Regular Expression Print.

In the HP Unix users handbook, grep stands for General Regular Expression Parser.

In HP Class, I was taught that grep stands for Gramatical Regular Expression Parser.

Alright, which one is it?

Thanks,

Craig A. Sharp

Re: grep meaning

Madhu Sudhan_1 — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 19:31:21 GMT

I vote for global regualr expression.

......Madhu

Re: grep meaning

Rick Garland — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 19:33:55 GMT

I am thinking that all applies since 'grep' can do all that.

Re: grep meaning

f. halili — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 19:34:53 GMT

It's ----> Global Regular EXpression Print

Re: grep meaning

James R. Ferguson — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 20:46:02 GMT

Hi:

My vote is for: "Global Regular Expression Print".

...JRF...

Re: grep meaning

Denver Osborn — Tue, 07 Nov 2000 21:20:59 GMT

I've also seen it as "global regular expression parser" and variations for the "p" - print, parser, program... It's al the same to me but since it's election day I'll have to vote for "global regular expression/print"

Re: grep meaning

Dan Hetzel — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 08:22:35 GMT

I'll vote for Global Regular Expression Parser

Re: grep meaning

Paula J Frazer-Campbell — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 09:05:53 GMT

Good Morning all

I am voting for:-

G o
R etrieve
E verything I asked for and
P rint it

Although I may be wrong !!!!!

Paula

Re: grep meaning

Ralph Grothe — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 09:36:46 GMT

Gluttonous
Ruthlessly
Expurgatory
Phrasemonger

Re: grep meaning

CHRIS_ANORUO — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 09:42:36 GMT

Ha! Ha!! Ha!!!

I stand with Paula - what are acronym for (Go Retrieve Everything I ask for if it is there and Print it).
Any the right meaning is:"Global Regular Expression Print". The reason being that the parsed expression has to be printed or for an input to an output expression.

Re: grep meaning

Carlos Fernandez Riera — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 10:19:31 GMT

I like Paula's definition.

But maybe:

Gary
Ritchie
Ed
Peter

Also about the last P there is another word not considered yet:

Global
Regular
Expression
PATTERN

See man grep.

Re: grep meaning

Dan Hetzel — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 11:09:36 GMT

Could it be:
Gore's Rave Election Party ?

Dan

Re: grep meaning

Paula J Frazer-Campbell — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 11:23:52 GMT

Hi Guys/Gals,

I have looked it up.

As you know the Unix intuitive command structure was written in the sixties and early seventies by students who were not adverse to a little chemical stimulation!!

It stands for :-

G ee this is
R eally
E xtremely good
P ot.

Paula

Re: grep meaning

Craig A. Sharp — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 12:11:16 GMT

Ok, I see that I opened a keg of worms with this one. ;-)

I will go with Global Regular Expression Print as that is what the HP Cert book says.
It also is the answer that the majority of you came up with although I do like the others.

Thanks for the help.

Craig

Re: grep meaning

Paul Hite — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 14:59:50 GMT

As an ordinary (non-root) user, type "ed /etc/passwd". You will get a character count of the file but no other prompt. Now type "g/ksh/p". You will get a list of all of the lines that contain "ksh". That ends the experiment. Type "q" to exit the editor without changing anything.

In the real olden days, before there was a "grep" that is how it was done. And notice that the "ksh" we used is a regular expression. So the way the command was documented was "g/re/p". Examine the man page for ed and you quickly confirm that the g is short for the global command. The syntax of the global command tells us that the final p is itself a command and the p command is clearly documented as "print".

So, in the context of ed, g/re/p means global regular expression print. This was being done often enough that a seperate command seemed justified. It was called "grep".

Re: grep meaning

Alan Riggs — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 16:58:33 GMT

Leave it to Paul to spoil everyone's fun by actually giving an authoritative (and correct) answer.

I still prefer:

Get
Ready!
Everything's
Printing

Re: grep meaning

Paula J Frazer-Campbell — Wed, 08 Nov 2000 23:16:11 GMT

G osh
R eally
E cstatically
P leased

Re: grep meaning

Tom Danzig — Thu, 09 Nov 2000 14:58:15 GMT

Gotta
Read
Every
Post!

Re: grep meaning

Alan Riggs — Thu, 09 Nov 2000 15:31:24 GMT

G agging!!
R eally
E gregious
P uns

Re: grep meaning

Victor BERRIDGE — Thu, 09 Nov 2000 16:02:14 GMT

G arbidge
R andom
E xtracting
P rintout