agrep(1)                                               agrep(1)



NAME
       agrep - print lines approximately matching a pattern

SYNOPSIS
       agrep [OPTION]...  PATTERN [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       Searches for approximate matches of PATTERN in each FILE
       or  standard  input.    Example:  `agrep   -2   optimize
       foo.txt'  outputs all lines in file `foo.txt' that match
       "optimize" within two errors.  E.g. lines which  contain
       "optimise", "optmise", and "opitmize" all match.

OPTIONS
   Regexp selection and interpretation:
       -e PATTERN, --regexp=PATTERN
              Use  PATTERN  as  a regular expression; useful to
              protect patterns beginning with -.

       -i, --ignore-case
              Ignore case distinctions (as defined by the  cur-
              rent locale) in PATTERN and input files.

       -k, --literal
              Treat  PATTERN  as  a  literal string, that is, a
              fixed string with no special characters.

       -w, --word-regexp
              Force PATTERN  to  match  only  whole  words.   A
              "whole  word"  is a substring which either starts
              at the beginning or the record or is preceded  by
              a  non-word  constituent  character.   Similarly,
              the substring must either end at the end  of  the
              record  or  be followed by a non-word constituent
              character.    Word-constituent   characters   are
              alphanumerics  (as defined by the current locale)
              and the underscore character.  Note that the non-
              word  constituent  characters  must  surround the
              match; they cannot be counted as errors.

   Approximate matching settings:
       -D NUM, --delete-cost=NUM
              Set cost of missing characters to NUM.

       -I NUM, --insert-cost=NUM
              Set cost of extra characters to NUM.

       -S NUM, --substitute-cost=NUM
              Set cost of incorrect characters  to  NUM.   Note
              that  a  deletion  (a  missing  character) and an
              insertion (an extra character)  together  consti-
              tute  a  substituted character, but the cost will
              be the that of a deletion and an insertion  added
              together.   Thus,  if the const of a substitution
              is set to be larger than the sum of the costs  of
              deletion and insertion, direct substitutions will
              never be done.

       -E NUM, --max-errors=NUM
              Select records that have at most NUM errors.

       -#     Select records that have at most # errors (# is a
              digit between 0 and 9).

   Miscellaneous:
       -d PATTERN, --delimiter=PATTERN
              Set  the  record  delimiter regular expression to
              PATTERN.  The text between two delimiters, before
              the first delimiter, and after the last delimiter
              is considered to be a record.  The default record
              delimiter  is  the  regexp  "\n", so by default a
              record is a line.  PATTERN  can  be  any  regular
              expression  that does not match the empty string.
              For example, using -d "^From " defines mail  mes-
              sages as records in a Mailbox format file.

       -v, --invert-match
              Select  non-matching  records instead of matching
              records.

       -V, --version
              Print version information and exit.

       -y, --nothing
              Does nothing.  This options exists only for  com-
              patibility with the non-free agrep program.

       --help Display a brief help message and exit.

   Output control:
       -B, --best-match
              Only  output  the best matching records, that is,
              the records with the lowest cost.  This  is  cur-
              rently  implemented by making two passes over the
              input files and cannot be used when reading  from
              standard input.

       --color, --colour
              Highlight the matching strings in the output with
              a color marker.  The color string is  taken  from
              the GREP_COLOR environment variable.  The default
              color is red.

       -c, --count
              Only print a count of matching records  per  each
              input file, suppressing normal output.

       -h, --no-filename
              Suppress  the  prefixing  filename on output when
              multiple files are searched.

       -H, --with-filename
              Prefix each output record with the  name  of  the
              input file where the record was read from.

       -l, --files-with-matches
              Only print the name of each input file which con-
              tains at least one match, suppressing normal out-
              put.  The scanning for each file will stop on the
              first match.

       -n, --record-number
              Prefix each output record with its sequence  num-
              ber  in  the input file.  The number of the first
              record is 1.

       -q, --quiet, --silent
              Do not write anything to standard  output.   Exit
              immediately  with  zero exit status if a match is
              found.

       -s, --show-cost
              Print match cost with output.

       --show-position
              Prefix each output record with the start and  end
              offset of the first match within the record.  The
              offset of the first character of the record is 0.
              The  end  position  is given as the offset of the
              first character after the match.

       -M, --delimiter-after
              By default, the record delimiter is  the  newline
              character   and  is  output  after  the  matching
              record.  If -d is used, the record delimiter will
              be  output  before  the  matching  record.   This
              option causes the delimiter to  be  output  after
              the matching record.

       With  no  FILE, or when FILE is -, reads standard input.
       If less than two FILEs are given -h is  assumed,  other-
       wise -H is the default.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit  status  is  0 if a match is found, 1 for no match,
       and 2 if there were errors.  If -E or -# is  not  speci-
       fied, only exact matches are selected.

       PATTERN  is  a  POSIX  extended regular expression (ERE)
       with the TRE extensions.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report  bugs  to  the   TRE   mailing   list   <tre-gen-
       eral@lists.laurikari.net>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  2002-2004 Ville Laurikari.
       This is free software, and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WAR-
       RANTY.  You are welcome to  redistribute  this  software
       under  certain  conditions;  see the source for the full
       license text.



TRE agrep 0.7.5        November 21, 2004               agrep(1)
