Grep -F for special character


 
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# 1  
Old 12-13-2013
Grep -F for special character

Code:
 
a='CASH$$A'
/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F "$a" *.txt

It is not able to grep CASH$$A string as it contains special character $$.
I also tried with
Code:
 
/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F '$a' *.txt

but still not working.

I have to assign CASH$$A to a variable and serach that variable..i dont want to search the string CASH$$A directly.

Please help.
# 2  
Old 12-13-2013
I think you may need to put in a backslash before each $ character. It is likely that this is being converted to the process id.

Try with:-
Code:
a='CASH\$\$A'
/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F "$a" *.txt

What output do you get from a simple:-
Code:
echo "$a"



Robin
# 3  
Old 12-13-2013
Odd, works perfectly fine on one of my SPARC SunOS 5.10 boxes:

Code:
a='CASH$$A'
/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F "$a" /tmp/*.txt
/tmp/file.txt:CASH$$A

# 4  
Old 12-13-2013
It works for me on Solaris 10:
Code:
$ cat /tmp/file
CASH$$A
CASHSSA
$ a='CASH$$A'; /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F "$a" /tmp/file
CASH$$A

What's actually in the file?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rbatte1
I think you may need to put in a backslash before each $ character. It is likely that this is being converted to the process id.

Try with:-
Code:
a='CASH\$\$A'

Given that it's in single-quotes, surely it won't be evaluating the $s at all? (Which is also why '$a' won't work)
This User Gave Thanks to CarloM For This Post:
# 5  
Old 12-13-2013
try this

grep -F $A *.txt
# 6  
Old 12-13-2013
Actually i want to search EXEC<space>*CASH$$A.
For that i have to assign CASH$$A to a variable a...

Code:
a='CASH$$A'
/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -F "EXEC *$a" *.txt

And as you guys suggested i cannot do a='CASH\$\$A' becos this variable will be used in other part of the program...So is there anyway where i can achieve this.

Thanks in advance.
# 7  
Old 12-13-2013
Remove that -F option if you are using regular expression. It treats each pattern specified as a string instead of a regular expression.
Code:
$ cat file
line 1 EXEC CASH$$A

Code:
$ a='CASH$$A'
$ /usr/xpg4/bin/grep "EXEC *$a" file
line 1 EXEC CASH$$A

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