Searching for text in file

1337

If you have a text file that looks like this:

start_folder='/folder1/abc.txt'
iterations='123'
passphrase='xyz'
last_command='invoke'
return_value='0'

How can you pick out just xyz when looking for "passphrase"?

I know grep will get me the line but what should I use if I want just a part of the line?
Can it be done in one command or do I have to pipe several together?

dafyre

@Pete-S said in Searching for text in file:

If you have a text file that looks like this:
start_folder='/folder1/abc.txt'
iterations='123'
passphrase='xyz'
last_command='invoke'
return_value='0'
How can you pick out just xyz when looking for "passphrase"?

I know grep will get me the line but what should I use if I want just a part of the line?
Can it be done in one command or do I have to pipe several together?

If you the text has a character that would be a good delimiter, you can pipe grep to cut... ie:

cat myfile.txt|grep "iterations"|cut -d '=' -f 2
Output:
'123'

the -f # is which column you want.

There may be other ways to do it, but that's the first way I can think of.

1337

@dafyre said in Searching for text in file:

@Pete-S said in Searching for text in file:
If you have a text file that looks like this:
start_folder='/folder1/abc.txt'
iterations='123'
passphrase='xyz'
last_command='invoke'
return_value='0'
How can you pick out just xyz when looking for "passphrase"?

I know grep will get me the line but what should I use if I want just a part of the line?
Can it be done in one command or do I have to pipe several together?
If you the text has a character that would be a good delimiter, you can pipe grep to cut... ie:
cat myfile.txt|grep "iterations"|cut -d '=' -f 2
Output:
'123'
the -f # is which column you want.

There may be other ways to do it, but that's the first way I can think of.

I also need to exclude the ' from the end result. So 123 and not '123'.
So the first and the last character has to be removed as well.

stacksofplates

@Pete-S said in Searching for text in file:

grep "iterations"|cut -d '=' -f 2

Just use trim.

grep "passphrase" file.txt |cut -d '=' -f 2 | tr -d \'

1337

Thanks @dafyre @stacksofplates !

Obsolesce

@dafyre said in Searching for text in file:

@Pete-S said in Searching for text in file:
If you have a text file that looks like this:
start_folder='/folder1/abc.txt'
iterations='123'
passphrase='xyz'
last_command='invoke'
return_value='0'
How can you pick out just xyz when looking for "passphrase"?

I know grep will get me the line but what should I use if I want just a part of the line?
Can it be done in one command or do I have to pipe several together?
If you the text has a character that would be a good delimiter, you can pipe grep to cut... ie:
cat myfile.txt|grep "iterations"|cut -d '=' -f 2
Output:
'123'
the -f # is which column you want.

There may be other ways to do it, but that's the first way I can think of.

You can specify a file with grep, no need to pipe in from cat.

dafyre

@Obsolesce said in Searching for text in file:

@dafyre said in Searching for text in file:
@Pete-S said in Searching for text in file:
If you have a text file that looks like this:
start_folder='/folder1/abc.txt'
iterations='123'
passphrase='xyz'
last_command='invoke'
return_value='0'
How can you pick out just xyz when looking for "passphrase"?

I know grep will get me the line but what should I use if I want just a part of the line?
Can it be done in one command or do I have to pipe several together?
If you the text has a character that would be a good delimiter, you can pipe grep to cut... ie:
cat myfile.txt|grep "iterations"|cut -d '=' -f 2
Output:
'123'
the -f # is which column you want.

There may be other ways to do it, but that's the first way I can think of.
You can specify a file with grep, no need to pipe in from cat.

This is true! I always seem to get it backwards when I do that, so i just cat $thefile | grep | blah ... Cuts down on frustration, ha ha.

Solved Searching for text in file