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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

grep.

A program which selects lines in a file which match a given pattern.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ɡɹɛp/UK
  1. A program which selects lines in a file which match a given pattern.

Where this word comes from

From an idiomatic command sequence in the qed and ed text editors: ‘g/re/p’, meaning: globally search for a regular expression and print.

verb/ɡɹɛp/UK
  1. To use a program such as grep to search in a file.

    You can't grep dead trees.
  2. To search anything (perhaps a paper document by eye).

    broadly
Where this word comes from

From an idiomatic command sequence in the qed and ed text editors: ‘g/re/p’, meaning: globally search for a regular expression and print.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.