Exclude dash in grep


 
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# 1  
Old 01-21-2013
Exclude dash in grep

Hi,

I must be overlooking something, but I don't understand why this doesn't work. I'm trying to grep on a date, excluding all the lines starting with a dash:

testfile:
Code:
#2013-12-31
2013-12-31

code:
Code:
grep '^[^#]2013-12-31' testfile

I'm expecting to see just the second line '2013-12-31' but I don't get any results. grep -v is not an option btw.
# 2  
Old 01-21-2013
[^#] means a single character that is not a hash-sign.
Why not use:
Code:
grep '^2013-12-31'

But perhaps you mean this:
Code:
grep '^[^#]*2013-12-31'

This User Gave Thanks to Scrutinizer For This Post:
# 3  
Old 01-21-2013
Elementary. [^#] will match one character which is not an octothorpe (or hash). So, what you are asking grep to match is one non-hash character (mandatory for the overall pattern to match) at the beginning of a line followed by 2013-12-31.

Get it?
This User Gave Thanks to elixir_sinari For This Post:
# 4  
Old 01-21-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrutinizer
[^#] means a single character that is not a hash-sign.
Why not use:
Code:
grep '^2013-12-31'

But perhaps you mean this:
Code:
grep '^[^#]*2013-12-31'

The problem is that the string doesn't always start with the date. It could be @2013-12-31 for example.

Code:
grep '^[^#]*2013-12-31'

seems to work by the way. Thanks Smilie
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