grep

[icu812]

I'd like to be able to search the first colon delimited field in a file that has the following lines in it(file name is nfs.lis):
sp30:sp16:/stage:/stage
sp30:sp13:/mksysb:/mksysb1
sp16:sp13:/mksysb:/mksysb

For example: I want to grep sp16 nfs.lis and I want it to return just the sp16:sp13:/mksysb:/mksysb line. I do not want the sp30:sp16:/stage:/stage line to come up int the search. How can I accomplish this??????

 

[bi]

how about grep sp16:s nfs.ls?

 

[icu812]

I was trying to complicate matters using the cut command when all I needed was what you suggested. Thank you. I truly appreciate your suggestion.

 

[Einstein47]

You can instruct the grep command to only look at the beginning of each line of the file by using the ^ (carat). Like this
grep "^sp16" nfs.lis

When you use special characters in a grep it is usually best to use the double quotes. If you want to look a the end of each line in a file use the dollar size (ie "search$" ).

Anything more complex, and I would suggest using awk. Einstein47
(Love is like PI - natural, irrational, endless, and very important.)