grep exact syntax with some spaces in front

[yc_2]

Hi,

How to grep the exact syntax with some spaces in front of the syntax?

eg: grep only abc from the following in a text file:
:
abcde
abc
:



Rgds,
YC

[Con O'Kelly]

Hi

Use the following syntax:

$ grep "^abc "

OR

$ grep " abc "

The '^' greps for any line begining with 'abc'

Cheers
Con

[yc_2]

Hi Con O'Kelly,

There is 3 to 4 spaces in front of abc after the line abcde. No result from your 1st solution.

Both abcde and abc will be output. Could it just output abc only.

[Donald Kok]

grep "abc$" filename

[Eknath · Accepted solution]

Hi Leong,

I think you can try following...
#grep " abc " filename

here give exact no of spaces before and after abc in codes.

This should help

Cheers!!!
eknath

[Ermin Borovac]

$ grep -E "^[ ]+abc"

or

$ grep -w abc

[Ermin Borovac]

First grep from my last post should have a space character inside square brackets.

$ grep -E "^[]+abc"

It can be also written as

$ grep -E "^[[:space:]]+abc" testfile