romwa@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Royal Ontario Museum) (06/05/89)
In article <25249@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> glass@mica.berkeley.edu () writes: >What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this >has come up in comp.unix.questions before, but the relevant articles are >no longer on my news server. I'd also be interested in knowing what the >acronyms for the other flavors of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to. grep < global regular expression Mark T. Dornfeld Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queens Park Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 2C6 mark@utgpu!rom - or - romwa@utgpu
glass@mica.berkeley.edu (06/05/89)
What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this
has come up in comp.unix.questions before, but the relevant articles are
no longer on my news server. I'd also be interested in knowing what the
acronyms for the other flavors of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to.
--Brett
============================================================================
"One of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might
care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are."
Norton Juster, "The Phantom Tollbooth"
============================================================================tim@crackle.amd.com (Tim Olson) (06/05/89)
In article <1989Jun4.185134.13185@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> romwa@gpu.utcs.UUCP (Royal Ontario Museum) writes: | grep < global regular expression Almost. "grep" comes from a (once) commonly-used ed command: g/RE/p which meant to globally search for a Regular Expression and print each occurance. As for the other "greps", there is: fgrep - "fixed-string grep": grep optimized for fixed strings instead of regular expressions. egrep - "extended grep": grep with full regular expression parsing instead of just the REs allowed in ed. -- Tim Olson Advanced Micro Devices (tim@amd.com)
badri@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu (Badri Lokanathan) (06/05/89)
>In article <1989Jun4.185134.13185@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>, romwa@gpu.utcs.UUCP (Royal Ontario Museum) writes: >| grep < global regular expression > In article <25849@amdcad.AMD.COM> tim@amd.com (Tim Olson) writes: >"grep" comes from a (once) commonly-used ed command: > > g/RE/p > I like to call it "Global REcognize Pattern" for novices, since it is kind of difficult to explain the notion of a regular expression. -- "We will fight for the right to be free {) badri@ee.rochester.edu We will build our own society //\\ {ames,cmcl2,columbia,cornell, And we will sing, we will sing ///\\\ garp,harvard,ll-xn,rutgers}! We will sing our own song." -UB40 _||_ rochester!ur-valhalla!badri
benji@hpfcdq.HP.COM (Jeff Benjamin) (06/06/89)
> What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this > has come up in comp.unix.questions before, but the relevant articles are > no longer on my news server. I'd also be interested in knowing what the > acronyms for the other flavors of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to. I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." "Egrep," then, might be "extended grep", and "fgrep" might be "fast grep." Note that if this is the correct acronym for fgrep, it is a misnomer, since fgrep doesn't do regular expressions -- only strings. ----- Jeff Benjamin {ucbvax,hplabs}!hpfcla!benji Graphics Technology Division benji%hpfcla@hplabs.HP.COM Hewlett Packard Co. Fort Collins, Colorado
phile@lgnp1.LS.COM (Phil Eschallier) (06/06/89)
In article <1989Jun4.185134.13185@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>, romwa@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Royal Ontario Museum) writes: > In article <25249@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> glass@mica.berkeley.edu () writes: > >What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this > >has come up in comp.unix.questions before, but the relevant articles are > >no longer on my news server. I'd also be interested in knowing what the > >acronyms for the other flavors of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to. > > grep < global regular expression > actually -- grep ==> global regular expression parser fgrep ==> fixed-string global regular expression parser egrep ==> extended global regular expression parser Phil Eschallier \ E-mail: phile@LS.Com \ Lagniappe Systems \ or: ...!uunet!lgnp1!phile \ Custom Computer Services
kemnitz@mitisft.Convergent.COM (Gregory Kemnitz) (06/07/89)
I read in a UNIX book (I forgot which one) at some time that "grep"
stands for the commands from the ed(1) editor that can be used to approximate
it:
g/re/p
which is read as get /regular_expression/ print.
egrep is extended grep with more general regular expressions than those in
ed(1)
fgrep is fast grep with literal strings only.
--
----------------------------------+--------------------------------------
Greg Kemnitz | "He who does not understand baseball
kemnitz@Convergent.COM | will never understand America"
| --Tocquevilleram@nebulus.UUCP (Richard Meesters) (06/07/89)
In article <8170003@hpfcdq.HP.COM>, benji@hpfcdq.HP.COM (Jeff Benjamin) writes: > > What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this > > I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." I thought it stood for "global regular expression parser". Regards, Richard Meesters
pete@escher.intel.com (Peter Johnson ~) (06/07/89)
In article <25249@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, glass@mica writes: >What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this >has come up in comp.unix.questions before, but the relevant articles are >no longer on my news server. I'd also be interested in knowing what the >acronyms for the other flavors of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to. > >--Brett "grep" stands for "global regular expression print". It got it's name from the documentation for ed, which gave the syntax for the print command as "g/re/p", where g is the line specifier, re is the regular expression (in slashes) and p is the print command. "fgrep" gets its name from "fast grep", and it only supports searching for strings (so the re in its name is a misnomer.) "egrep" means extended grep because it supports extended regular expressions. (ie. | and grouping, but not tagging) -Pete Peter Johnson pete@escher.intel.COM {amdcad,decwrl,hplabs,oliveb,pur-ee,qantel}!intelca!mipos3!pete
andrew@alice.UUCP (Andrew Hume) (06/07/89)
i know i ought not add to the cloud of confusion but i'm in a bad mood. as some people have observed, grep comes from the ed idiom g/re/p al aho coined egrep for an extended grep which handled alternation amongst other things he also coind fgrep for the special case of looking for fixed strings. it has never NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER stood for fast grep (as anyone with a clock could tell). if you don't believe me, mail ava@research.att.com and ask al aho yourself.
cliff@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Cliff Marcellus) (06/07/89)
In article <883@nebulus.UUCP>, ram@nebulus.UUCP (Richard Meesters) writes: > > > What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this > > > > I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." > > I thought it stood for "global regular expression parser". > sorry guys, it was its' roots in "ed" "grep" comes from the expression "g/re/p" meaning Global Regular Expression Print. Cheers Cliff Marcellus UUCP : {any backbone}!calgary!ssg-vax-a!cliff Institute for Space Research DOMAIN : cliff@ssg-vax-a.phys.UCalgary.CA Dept of Physics and Astronomy SPAN : CANCAL::CLIFF The University of Calgary "If it's not fun, don't do it!"
rsilvers@palladium.UUCP (rsilvers) (06/07/89)
In article <883@nebulus.UUCP> ram@nebulus.UUCP (Richard Meesters) writes: >In article <8170003@hpfcdq.HP.COM>, benji@hpfcdq.HP.COM (Jeff Benjamin) writes: >> > What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this >> I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." >I thought it stood for "global regular expression parser". >Richard Meesters I thought it was "Grab Regular ExPression." --Rob. -- Robert S. Silvers Epoch Systems, Inc., 313 Boston Post Rd. West, Marlborough, MA 01752 ...!linus!alliant!palladium!rsilvers -or- ...!harvard!cfisun!palladium!rsilvers (508)481-3717
janm@eliot.UUCP (Jan Morales) (06/08/89)
In article <8170003@hpfcdq.HP.COM> benji@hpfcdq.HP.COM (Jeff Benjamin) writes: >I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." I heard it comes from how you do the same thing in `ed' or `vi': g/<regular expression>/p ^ ^ ^ ^ -- {uunet,pyramid}!pyrdc!eliot!janm
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (06/09/89)
In article <219@mipos3.intel.com> pete@escher.intel.com (Peter Johnson ~) writes: >"fgrep" gets its name from "fast grep", and it only supports searching >for strings (so the re in its name is a misnomer.) (So is the "fast".) There are numerous implementations of various flavors of the "grep" tool. Some people have even merged all the variants into a single tool.
childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) (06/10/89)
glass@mica.berkeley.edu () writes: >What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? grep == Global Regular Expression Pattern >I'd also be interested in knowing what the acronyms for the other flavors >of grep (e.g. egrp) expand to. egrep == extended grep additional pattern metacharacters fgrep == fast grep optimized for fast pattern searches >--Brett -- richard -- * "We must hang together, gentlemen ... else, we shall most assuredly * * hang separately." Benjamin Franklin, 1776 * * * * ..{amdahl|decwrl|octopus|pyramid|ucbvax}!avsd.UUCP!childers@tycho *
guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (06/10/89)
> actually -- > grep ==> global regular expression parser > fgrep ==> fixed-string global regular expression parser > egrep ==> extended global regular expression parser Actually, no. Everybody curious about what "grep" stands for - and *especially* everybody tempted to post their guess about what it stands for - should go read Andrew Hume's posting once it arrives on their machine. It speaks the truth. (We now see again why the Frequently Asked Questions posting is a Good Idea.)
jms@hcx.uucp (Michael Stanley) (06/10/89)
In article <709@palladium.UUCP>, rsilvers@palladium.UUCP (rsilvers) writes: > In article <883@nebulus.UUCP> ram@nebulus.UUCP (Richard Meesters) writes: > >In article <8170003@hpfcdq.HP.COM>, benji@hpfcdq.HP.COM (Jeff Benjamin) writes: > >> > What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this I heard a long time ago that the origin of the word grep was the following old 'ed' command: g/re/p where 'g' was a command meaning global (search through whole file), 're' stood for a regular expression, and 'p' meant print. Basically, this command accomplished the same thing (in the editor) that grep accomplishes at the shell level. If anyone can confirm this, I'd definitely be interested to hear if it is correct. I believe I read this in an old UNIX manual. Michael Stanley
friedl@vsi.COM (Stephen J. Friedl) (06/10/89)
> >> > What is the correct expansion of the acronym "grep"? I'm told that this > >> I have heard that "grep" stands for "general regular expression parser." > >I thought it stood for "global regular expression parser". > >Richard Meesters > > I thought it was "Grab Regular ExPression." How many of these can people come up with? Please stop posting these silly answers, because each is wrong. S/tev/e -- Stephen J. Friedl / V-Systems, Inc. / Santa Ana, CA / +1 714 545 6442 3B2-kind-of-guy / friedl@vsi.com / {attmail, uunet, etc}!vsi!friedl "Friends don't let friends run Xenix" - me
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (06/11/89)
In article <1261@avsd.UUCP> childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: > grep == Global Regular Expression Pattern No! GREP is an acronym for Go Read Every Paragraph of the "Life With UNIX", where you can find out what "grep" is an acronym for, as well as many other things better gotten from a book than by burning large amounts of network bandwidth. One wonders why people who don't know the correct answer are nonetheless so confident in their notions that they go ahead and post misinformation. Not that it really matters in this case; what do we care where the name "grep" came from, so long as we know what it does and how to employ it.
jim@syteke.UUCP (Jim Sanchez) (06/12/89)
Hey it is great to hear somebody who REALLY knows the story. The g/re/p
is what I had read years ago when I first got started with UN*X and
considering the source I believe it is authoritative. Good to hear a
fellow Arkie(Ark Polytech U 1967) with the right answers.
--
Jim Sanchez {sun,hplabs}!sun!sytek!syteke!jim OR
Hughes LAN Systems, Brussels mcvax!prlb2!sunbim!syteke!jimpss@unh.UUCP (Paul S. Sawyer) (06/15/89)
In article <9447@alice.UUCP>, andrew@alice.UUCP (Andrew Hume) writes:
...
:> al aho coined egrep for an extended grep which handled alternation amongst
:> other things
:> he also coind fgrep for the special case of looking for fixed strings.
:> it has never NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER stood for fast grep
:> (as anyone with a clock could tell).
Then why does TFM, direct from AT&T, say "fgrep (fast grep) searches [etc.]..."
(Paper manual, System V.2.1)
:> if you don't believe me, mail ava@research.att.com and ask al aho yourself.
I might, but mail to that company seems to do funny things unless postage is
attached (i.e., sent thru attmail...)
--
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Paul S. Sawyer uunet!unh!unhtel!paul paul@unhtel.UUCP
UNH Telecommunications
Durham, NH 03824-3523 VOX: 603-862-3262 FAX: 603-862-2030andrew@alice.UUCP (Andrew Hume) (06/19/89)
In article <1246@unh.UUCP>, pss@unh.UUCP (Paul S. Sawyer) writes: > Then why does TFM, direct from AT&T, say "fgrep (fast grep) searches [etc.]..." > the manual is the result of some (probably professional) copyediting, particularly as it is now three manual pages, not one. the Ninth Edition manual says "fgrep searches for fixed strings; it uses a fast and compact algorithm." note that for the case of multiple keywords it is within a constant of the optimal algorithm, so ``fast'' is justified.
jpr@dasys1.UUCP (Jean-Pierre Radley) (07/23/89)
In article <2555@cveg.uucp> jms@hcx.uucp (Michael Stanley) writes: > >I heard a long time ago that the origin of the word grep was the following >old 'ed' command: > >'re' stood for a regular expression, and 'p' meant print. Basically, >this command accomplished the same thing (in the editor) that grep >accomplishes at the shell level. If anyone can confirm this, I'd >definitely be interested to hear if it is correct. I believe I read >this in an old UNIX manual. > You can confirm this on page 18 of the first edition of Kernighan & Pike, "The UNIX Programming Environment" They say explicitly that grep was named from g/regular-expression/p Q.E.D. -- Jean-Pierre Radley CIS: 72160,1341 jpr@jpradley.UUCP