Search for exact string in column [duplicate]

2

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  How to use grep on column?
  
  3 answers
  
  


• 
  How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  
  1 answer
  
  

I have a file with words separated by ',' on lines, every line has the same number of words, say 4. So ther are in the form of:

something1,something2,something3,something4

I want to search for the line that contains on the 4th column exactly something4, but how do i do that if there exists another line that is something like this:

something1,something2,something3,1_something4

with grep I will get both these lines, but I only want the line that has on the 4th element exactly something4 what should I do?

text-processing grep

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

marked as duplicate by thrig, Jeff Schaller, elbarna, JigglyNaga, schily Nov 22 '18 at 17:02

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  – terdon♦
  Nov 22 '18 at 11:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

2

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  How to use grep on column?
  
  3 answers
  
  


• 
  How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  
  1 answer
  
  

I have a file with words separated by ',' on lines, every line has the same number of words, say 4. So ther are in the form of:

something1,something2,something3,something4

I want to search for the line that contains on the 4th column exactly something4, but how do i do that if there exists another line that is something like this:

something1,something2,something3,1_something4

with grep I will get both these lines, but I only want the line that has on the 4th element exactly something4 what should I do?

text-processing grep

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

marked as duplicate by thrig, Jeff Schaller, elbarna, JigglyNaga, schily Nov 22 '18 at 17:02

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  – terdon♦
  Nov 22 '18 at 11:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

2

2

2

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  How to use grep on column?
  
  3 answers
  
  


• 
  How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  
  1 answer
  
  

I have a file with words separated by ',' on lines, every line has the same number of words, say 4. So ther are in the form of:

something1,something2,something3,something4

I want to search for the line that contains on the 4th column exactly something4, but how do i do that if there exists another line that is something like this:

something1,something2,something3,1_something4

with grep I will get both these lines, but I only want the line that has on the 4th element exactly something4 what should I do?

text-processing grep

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  How to use grep on column?
  
  3 answers
  
  


• 
  How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  
  1 answer
  
  

I have a file with words separated by ',' on lines, every line has the same number of words, say 4. So ther are in the form of:

something1,something2,something3,something4

I want to search for the line that contains on the 4th column exactly something4, but how do i do that if there exists another line that is something like this:

something1,something2,something3,1_something4

with grep I will get both these lines, but I only want the line that has on the 4th element exactly something4 what should I do?

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  How to use grep on column?
  
  3 answers
  
  


• 
  How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  
  1 answer
  
  

text-processing grep

text-processing grep

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

share|improve this question

share|improve this question

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

edited Nov 21 '18 at 19:48

Jesse_b

11.9k23064

11.9k23064

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

asked Nov 21 '18 at 19:35

C. CristiC. Cristi

1647

1647

marked as duplicate by thrig, Jeff Schaller, elbarna, JigglyNaga, schily Nov 22 '18 at 17:02

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

marked as duplicate by thrig, Jeff Schaller, elbarna, JigglyNaga, schily Nov 22 '18 at 17:02

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  – terdon♦
  Nov 22 '18 at 11:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
  – terdon♦
  Nov 22 '18 at 11:17
  

  
  
  
  

You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
– terdon♦
Nov 22 '18 at 11:17

You might be interested in my answer here: How can I extract/change lines in a text file whose data are separated into fields?
– terdon♦
Nov 22 '18 at 11:17

add a comment | 

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

10

You can use awk for this:

awk -F, '$4 == "something4"' file.csv

This should print the entire line for any line where the 4th column is exactly something4

---

In order to pass a variable into awk you would need to do the following:

var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,)

awk -F, -vsearch="$var1" '$4 == search' file.csv

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:21
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:22
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  It works, but why?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:26
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:28
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

10

Or, since there's only 4 columns and you want something specific in the last one,

grep ',something4$' < input

(posted in case you're actually OK with grep; awk is a great solution here).

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

add a comment | 

0

Generally, for this type of problem you can use cut to get only the column you want, then grep on that.

echo something1,something2,something3,something4 | cut -d , -f 4 | grep '^something4$'

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
  – Jeff Schaller
  Nov 23 '18 at 12:00
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
  – Lassi
  Nov 23 '18 at 15:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

10

You can use awk for this:

awk -F, '$4 == "something4"' file.csv

This should print the entire line for any line where the 4th column is exactly something4

---

In order to pass a variable into awk you would need to do the following:

var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,)

awk -F, -vsearch="$var1" '$4 == search' file.csv

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:21
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:22
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  It works, but why?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:26
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:28
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

10

You can use awk for this:

awk -F, '$4 == "something4"' file.csv

This should print the entire line for any line where the 4th column is exactly something4

---

In order to pass a variable into awk you would need to do the following:

var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,)

awk -F, -vsearch="$var1" '$4 == search' file.csv

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:21
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:22
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  It works, but why?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:26
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:28
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

10

10

10

You can use awk for this:

awk -F, '$4 == "something4"' file.csv

This should print the entire line for any line where the 4th column is exactly something4

---

In order to pass a variable into awk you would need to do the following:

var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,)

awk -F, -vsearch="$var1" '$4 == search' file.csv

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

You can use awk for this:

awk -F, '$4 == "something4"' file.csv

This should print the entire line for any line where the 4th column is exactly something4

---

In order to pass a variable into awk you would need to do the following:

var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,)

awk -F, -vsearch="$var1" '$4 == search' file.csv

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

edited Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:39

Jesse_bJesse_b

11.9k23064

11.9k23064

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:21
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:22
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  It works, but why?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:26
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:28
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:21
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:22
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  It works, but why?
  – C. Cristi
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:26
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
  – Jesse_b
  Nov 21 '18 at 20:28
  

  
  
  
  

Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:21

Why doesn't this work if I do if with a variable?
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:21

Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:22

Say I have var1=$(echo "something,something4" | cut -f2 -d,) and I try to awk -F, '$4 == "$var1"' file.csv but if I go and ``` echo "$var1"``` I get the good result, and there exits something4 in file.csv
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:22

@C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
– Jesse_b
Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

@C.Cristi: I have updated my answer. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
– Jesse_b
Nov 21 '18 at 20:24

It works, but why?
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:26

It works, but why?
– C. Cristi
Nov 21 '18 at 20:26

1

1

Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
– Jesse_b
Nov 21 '18 at 20:28

Your shell variable won't expand inside the single quotes around the awk command. So awk has the -v option to pass variables into the awk program.
– Jesse_b
Nov 21 '18 at 20:28

 | 
show 1 more comment

10

Or, since there's only 4 columns and you want something specific in the last one,

grep ',something4$' < input

(posted in case you're actually OK with grep; awk is a great solution here).

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

add a comment | 

10

Or, since there's only 4 columns and you want something specific in the last one,

grep ',something4$' < input

(posted in case you're actually OK with grep; awk is a great solution here).

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

add a comment | 

10

10

10

Or, since there's only 4 columns and you want something specific in the last one,

grep ',something4$' < input

(posted in case you're actually OK with grep; awk is a great solution here).

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

Or, since there's only 4 columns and you want something specific in the last one,

grep ',something4$' < input

(posted in case you're actually OK with grep; awk is a great solution here).

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

answered Nov 21 '18 at 19:45

Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

39k1054125

39k1054125

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

0

Generally, for this type of problem you can use cut to get only the column you want, then grep on that.

echo something1,something2,something3,something4 | cut -d , -f 4 | grep '^something4$'

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
  – Jeff Schaller
  Nov 23 '18 at 12:00
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
  – Lassi
  Nov 23 '18 at 15:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

0

Generally, for this type of problem you can use cut to get only the column you want, then grep on that.

echo something1,something2,something3,something4 | cut -d , -f 4 | grep '^something4$'

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
  – Jeff Schaller
  Nov 23 '18 at 12:00
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
  – Lassi
  Nov 23 '18 at 15:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

0

0

0

Generally, for this type of problem you can use cut to get only the column you want, then grep on that.

echo something1,something2,something3,something4 | cut -d , -f 4 | grep '^something4$'

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

Generally, for this type of problem you can use cut to get only the column you want, then grep on that.

echo something1,something2,something3,something4 | cut -d , -f 4 | grep '^something4$'

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:58

LassiLassi

26618

26618

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
  – Jeff Schaller
  Nov 23 '18 at 12:00
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
  – Lassi
  Nov 23 '18 at 15:17
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
  – Jeff Schaller
  Nov 23 '18 at 12:00
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
  – Lassi
  Nov 23 '18 at 15:17
  

  
  
  
  

1

1

The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
– Jeff Schaller
Nov 23 '18 at 12:00

The only problem with this is the assumption that the OP wants to find the line that matches.
– Jeff Schaller
Nov 23 '18 at 12:00

You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
– Lassi
Nov 23 '18 at 15:17

You're right. cut would only be useful for checking for match/no match or counting matches. Or finding all column values that match a regexp.
– Lassi
Nov 23 '18 at 15:17

add a comment | 

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