NAME

zgrep - search compressed files for a regular expression

SYNOPSIS

zgrep [options] <pattern> [files]

DESCRIPTION

zgrep is a front end to the program grep that allows transparent search on any combination of compressed and uncompressed files. If any file given is compressed, its decompressed content is used. If a file given does not exist, and its name does not end with one of the known extensions, zgrep tries the compressed file names corresponding to the formats supported. If a file fails to decompress, zgrep continues searching the rest of the files.

If a file is specified as '-', data are read from standard input, decompressed if needed, and fed to grep. Data read from standard input must be of the same type; all uncompressed or all in the same compressed format.

If no files are specified, recursive searches examine the current working directory, and nonrecursive searches read standard input.

'zgrep --verbose -V' prints the version of the grep program used.

The formats supported are bzip2, gzip, lzip, xz, and zstd.

Exit status is 0 if match, 1 if no match, 2 if trouble. Some options only work if the grep program used supports them.

OPTIONS

--help: display this help and exit
-V, --version: output version information and exit
-a, --text: treat all files as text
-A, --after-context=<n>: print <n> lines of trailing context
-b, --byte-offset: print the byte offset of each line
-B, --before-context=<n>: print <n> lines of leading context
-c, --count: only print a count of matching lines per file
-C, --context=<n>: print <n> lines of output context
--color[=<when>]: show matched strings in color
-e, --regexp=<pattern>: use <pattern> as the pattern to match
-E, --extended-regexp: <pattern> is an extended regular expression
-f, --file=<file>: obtain patterns from <file>
-F, --fixed-strings: <pattern> is a set of newline-separated strings
-h, --no-filename: suppress the prefixing file name on output
-H, --with-filename: print the file name for each match
-i, --ignore-case: ignore case distinctions
-I: ignore binary files
-l, --files-with-matches: only print names of files containing matches
-L, --files-without-match: only print names of files containing no matches
-m, --max-count=<n>: stop after <n> matches
-M, --format=<list>: process only the formats in <list>
-n, --line-number: print the line number of each line
-N, --no-rcfile: don't read runtime configuration file
-o, --only-matching: show only the part of a line matching <pattern>
-O, --force-format=<fmt>: force the format given (bz2, gz, lz, xz, zst)
-q, --quiet: suppress all messages
-r, --recursive: operate recursively on directories
-R, --dereference-recursive: recursively follow symbolic links
-s, --no-messages: suppress error messages
-v, --invert-match: select non-matching lines
--verbose: verbose mode (show error messages)
-w, --word-regexp: match only whole words
-x, --line-regexp: match only whole lines
--bz2=<command>: set compressor and options for bzip2 format
--gz=<command>: set compressor and options for gzip format
--lz=<command>: set compressor and options for lzip format
--xz=<command>: set compressor and options for xz format
--zst=<command>: set compressor and options for zstd format

Numbers may be followed by a multiplier: k = kB = 10^3 = 1000, Ki = KiB = 2^10 = 1024, M = 10^6, Mi = 2^20, G = 10^9, Gi = 2^30, etc...

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to zutils-bug@nongnu.org
Zutils home page: http://www.nongnu.org/zutils/zutils.html

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