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finding text in a file

 
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# 1  
Old 12-20-2007
finding text in a file
How do i find text string in a file if i have no idea where the file is?
What I am trying to do is find an email address in a file and have no idea where the file is.
Thanks
# 2  
Old 12-20-2007
Code:
find . -type f | xargs grep "email@addr"

# 3  
Old 12-20-2007
Quote:
Originally Posted by porter
Code:
find . -type f | xargs grep "email@addr"

I suspect that won't give you the filename it found it in...
Try:
Code:
find . -type f -exec grep "email@addr" {} /dev/null \;

The /dev/null causes grep to see that it has multiple files to look through so it lists the filename along with any matches.
# 4  
Old 12-20-2007
Thanks Ill give it a try..Lots of places it could be hiding
# 5  
Old 12-25-2007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smiling Dragon
I suspect that won't give you the filename it found it in...

Try:
Code:
find . -type f -exec grep "email@addr" {} /dev/null \;

The /dev/null causes grep to see that it has multiple files to look through so it lists the filename along with any matches.
I don't understand why you think it does not give you the file name.
It should work fine as well as the below code.
# 6  
Old 01-06-2008
It depends on the version of grep.
As an example, the grep that comes with solaris doesn't:
Code:
[10 T2K:~]$ grep localhost /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1       localhost
[10 T2K:~]$ grep localhost /etc/hosts /dev/null
/etc/hosts:127.0.0.1    localhost

 
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