Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2014 07:54:43 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: The name "grep" Message-ID: <20140707075443.d47ca06a.freebsd@edvax.de>
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Sometimes I get a "nostalgic seizure", and when I do so, I read one of my older books (which I have plenty of to choose from). Yesterday's choice was "Keine Angst for UNIX" (no fear of UNIX) by Christine Wolfinger, published 1991 by VDI Verlag Duesseldorf. On page 173 I read something that I hadn't noticed yet (translated): grep: global regular expression print (combination of an editor command) So today I checked "man grep", but it doesn't mention it. Therefore here are my questions, primarily aiming at "UNIX dinosaurs" and historians on list - because you probably need to be either old or interested in UNIX history in order to provide a substantial opinion. :-) 1. Is the mentioned interpretation correct or at least acceptable? 2. Should the manpage mention it? In my opinion, "print lines matching a pattern" describes what grep does, but not really what it means (or where the name of the command comes from). Other manpages explain the name of the command or provide background information so you can understand why the particular name has been chosen, for example: sed = (s)tream (e)ditor (section NAME) tar = manipulate (t)ape (ar)chives (section NAME) awk = (A)ho, (W)einberger, (K)ernighan (section SEE ALSO) dd = copy and convert (cc was taken by C compiler, but not mentioned in the manpage; "common knowledge") vi = visual editor (in contrast to ex; not mentioned) Should "man grep" contain a hint about "global regular expression print" or something similar? -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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