grep meaning

[Craig A. Sharp]

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

[Madhu Sudhan_1 · Accepted solution]

I vote for global regualr expression.

......Madhu

[Rick Garland]

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

[f. halili]

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

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

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

...JRF...

[Denver Osborn]

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"

[Dan Hetzel]

I'll vote for Global Regular Expression Parser

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

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

[Ralph Grothe]

Gluttonous
Ruthlessly
Expurgatory
Phrasemonger

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

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.

[Carlos Fernandez Riera]

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.

[Dan Hetzel]

Could it be:
Gore's Rave Election Party ?

Dan

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

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

[Craig A. Sharp]

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

[Paul Hite]

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".

[Alan Riggs]

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

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

G osh
R eally
E cstatically
P leased

[Tom Danzig]

Gotta
Read
Every
Post!

[Alan Riggs]

G agging!!
R eally
E gregious
P uns

[Victor BERRIDGE]

G arbidge
R andom
E xtracting
P rintout

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

F inish
I nstantly
N eedless
D iscussion
.
|
C ease
P roducing
I nnocuous
O pinions

- (and do not)

P roduce
U nderlying
D amaging
V erbose
M essages

/ITRC/Fun


Paula

----Next !!!!!!!!

[James R. Ferguson]

G ather
R elevant
E ntities
P rominently