9.6;fpat (find_pattern), revision 9.6, 87/02/02
FPAT (FIND_PATTERN) -- Find a text pattern in an ASCII file.
usage:  FPAT [-A | -X] [-C] [-I] [-L] [-M n] [-LF] [-LM] [-RM n] [-RMF n]
                                        [pathname... -P] reg_expr...
                                        [-OUT pathname]


FORMAT

  FPAT [options] [pathname... -P] reg_expr ...


  FPAT  searches  its  input  file(s)  for  lines matching the specified regular
  expressions and writes them to standard output or the file specified.


ARGUMENTS

  reg_expr...
  (required)         One or more regular expression patterns.    By  default,  a
                     line  that contains any of these expressions matches and is
                     written to standard output.  For a description  of  regular
                     expressions used for pattern matching, type HELP PATTERNS.
                     Patterns  containing  embedded  spaces  or  Shell   special
                     characters must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  pathname -P
  (optional)          Specify  name  of  file  to be searched.  If you specify a
                     pathname with this argument, you must follow it  with  "-P"
                     to separate the pathname(s) from the search patterns on the
                     command line.    Multiple  pathnames  and  wildcarding  are
                     permitted.

                     Default if omitted:  read standard input


OPTIONS

  If  no  options  are  specified,  any line that matches any one of the regular
  expressions is considered a matching line.

  -OUT pathname
                     Write  output  to specified file.  If input file names were
                     specified, output filename can be derived.  If this  option
                     is  not  specified,  matching lines are written to standard
                     output.

  -A                 Select only lines that match ALL  regular  expressions,  in
                     any order.

  -X                   Select   only   lines  containing  NONE  of  the  regular
                     expressions.

  -C                 Write only  a  count  of  matching  lines,  not  the  lines
                     themselves.

  -I                 Ignore cases for search (i.e., become case-insensitive).

  -L                  Write  line number with each line that matches the regular
                     expression.

  -M n               Set the maximum number of search  lines  to  n  (a  decimal
                     value).  FPAT terminates after searching n lines.

  -LF                 Display  the  name  of  the  file  being  examined  before
                     searching its lines.

  -LM                Similar to -LF, but  display  the  name(s)  of  only  those
                     file(s) which contain matches for the regular expression.

  -RM n               Set  maximum  number  of  matches  to be reported for this
                     execution of FPAT.

  -RMF n             Set maximum number of matches to be reported for each  file
                     being searched.



EXAMPLES

  1. Assume the file "text" contains:

     now
     is
     the
     time
     for
     all
     good

     Then the command,

     $ fpat text -p o                produces ...
     now
     for
     good
     $

     ... and the command,

     $ fpat -x -m 5 -l text -p o     produces ...
   (     2) is
   (     3) the
   (     4) time
   $

  2. $ fpat text?* -p the           Search for the string "the" in all files
                                     whose names begin with "text".

  3. $ fpat text?* -p the -out =.out     Search for the string "the" in all
                                         files whose names begin with "text",
                                         (i.e., "text", "text1", "text_file",
                                         etc.) and write the output to the
                                         files "text.out", "text1.out",
                                         "text_file.out", etc.


RELATED TOPICS

  More information is available.  Type:

  - HELP FPATB
   for details about searching for blocks of lines containing text patterns.

  - HELP PATTERNS
   for a description of regular expressions.