Re: regexp---remove comments---simplification

[Gary Turner <kk5st@sbcglobal.net>]

Colin Watson wrote:

>On Fri, Feb 21, 2003 at 07:18:48AM -0600, Gary Turner wrote:
[...]
>> 
>> grep -v '^\ *#' some.conf | grep -v '^\ $' > condensed.file
>> 
>> How would you combine these regexp's to remove a commented line (even if
>> indented) and a blank line?  My various permutations and combinations
>> have resulted in errors.
>
>You'll want something like this:
>
>  grep -v '^\( *#\| $\)' some.conf > condensed.file
>
>or:
>
>  egrep -v '^( *#| $)' some.conf > condensed.file

Thanks.  I wasn't escaping ()|.  However as given, blank lines were not
deleted.  grep -v '^\( *#\| *$\)  or egrep -v ^( *#| *$) work fine.  I
may have mistyped my example above.

>
>The spaces don't need to be escaped in either case; (|) need to be
>escaped for basic grep but not for egrep.

I escaped <space> for clarity.

--
gt                  kk5st@sbcglobal.net
 If someone tells you---
 "I have a sense of humor, but that's not funny." 
                                  ---they don't.