Bash filter text content with strings from another text

Question

Untill now I used everytime to filter, grep command

[root@host tests]# cat e
1
2
3
4
5
[root@host tests]# cat e | grep -Ev '2|3' > filtered.txt

[root@host tests]# cat filtered.txt
1
4
5
[root@host tests]#

But right now I have a large file that needs to be filtered with hundred of strings from another file. How can I do it?

grep -f another_file large_file maybe? – choroba Aug 12 '19 at 18:46 — choroba, Aug 12 '19 at 18:46

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 12 '19 at 19:07

3

Sounds like you could just use grep with the following option

   -f FILE, --file=FILE
          Obtain patterns from FILE, one per line.  If this option is used multiple times or is combined with the -e (--regexp) option, search for all patterns given.  The empty file contains zero patterns, and therefore matches
          nothing.

You will also want to use both -F (use patterns as plain strings in the comparisons, not regular as expressions) and -x (compare complete lines, not substrings). If not -x, then -w (compare only whole words).

edited Aug 12 '19 at 19:07

Kusalananda

333,661

answered Aug 12 '19 at 18:47

Paul Burrows

339

1

cat e | grep -Evf strings > filtered.txt ; I used this and it works. – John Doe Aug 12 '19 at 18:58
2

@JohnDoe grep -v -f strings e would look better. The -E is not needed. The cat is not needed. You probably want -x and -F too though. – Kusalananda Aug 12 '19 at 19:03
@Kusalananda I will check that too. Thankyou. – John Doe Aug 12 '19 at 19:04

Bash filter text content with strings from another text

1 Answers1