UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,

We used to use the below commands often.

Code:

ps -ef|grep [a]bc
ps -ef|grep abc|grep -v grep

Both fairly returns the same result.
For example, the process name is dynamic and we are having the process name in a variable, how we can apply the above trick.

For example "a" is the variable which contains the process name abc, then

Code:

ps -ef|grep $a|grep -v grep

This will work.
But how we can implement the other trick ,using [] in this case.
Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks.

One way to do this:

Code:

a="abc"
a=`echo $a | sed "s/^\(.\)/[\1]/"`
ps -ef | grep $a

Thanks!It's awesome!

Code:

$ export a=sched
$  ps -ef|grep `echo $a | sed "s/^\(.\)/[\1]/"`
    root     0     0  0   Oct 23 ?        0:26 sched

But, is this really necessary? Wouldn't it rather be easier to just type ps -ef | grep $a | grep -v grep?

Yes.But just for a learning.
Nothing wrong in learning i feel.

Thanks

Definitely not :-) Cheers

As you say, learning is great, so why don't you just look at the ps man page? You're wasting your time with grep.

Code:

ps -fC sched