grep in windows batch file

Question

I am trying to write a Windows batch file that will look through a specific html index file that looks something like this (simplified)

<a href=emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EmeRgency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=Emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EMERGENCY.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=E911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=e911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>

and print all links whose filenames contain any uppercase letters so that they may be corrected not to so include any.

The following works in unix:

$ grep -v '^<a href=[^A-Z]*\.htm' helpindex.htm
<a href=EmeRgency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=Emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EMERGENCY.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=E911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>

(the -v reverses the match)

But using the UnxUtils grep under Windows, which is a direct port of unix grep, I can't come up with a way of quoting the regex that works. This would be necessary to use it in a batch file. I've tried ', " with no joy and also the -E switch. Is there any way to do this using this particular toolset?

@janos led me to the findstr command in Windows but it still doesn't work. Looking at the findstr help I see:

FINDSTR [/B] [/E] [/L] [/R] [/S] [/I] [/X] [/V] [/N] [/M] [/O] [/P] [/F:file] [/C:string] [/G:file] [/D:dir list] [/A:color attributes] [/OFF[LINE]] strings [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

...
/V Prints only lines that do not contain a match. ...
/C:string Uses specified string as a literal search string. ...

Use spaces to separate multiple search strings unless the argument is prefixed with /C. For example, 'FINDSTR "hello there" x.y' searches for "hello" or "there" in file x.y. 'FINDSTR /C:"hello there" x.y' searches for "hello there" in file x.y.

However, this doesn't work either:

C:\home\sftp>findstr /V  /C:"^<a href=[^A-Z]*\.htm" helpindex.htm
<a href=emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EmeRgency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=Emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EMERGENCY.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=E911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=e911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>

Either findstr is garbage or there is some subtle difference from grep.

This works for me in the version that comes with Git Bash. You could also try the native windows commands `find.exe` and `findstr.exe`. They are similar to `grep` (nothing to do with the UNIX `find`) — janos, Sep 27 '13 at 18:45
findstr looks like it should work but it doesn't : findstr /V '^ — Steve Cohen, Sep 27 '13 at 18:52
I don't have a windows now to test it, but one of them needs the patterns enclosed within double quotes, even if it looks unnecessary, like `"simpleterm"`. I don't remember if it was `find` or `findstr`, watch our for that. — janos, Sep 27 '13 at 18:59

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

This works fine for me in Windows command console:

grep -v "^<a href=[^A-Z]*\.htm" helpindex.htm

FINDSTR does not work with [^A-Z] because it uses a non-standard collation sequence: See Why does findstr not handle case properly (in some circumstances)?

You can use FINDSTR to get your desired output using:

findstr /rvc:"^<a href=[^ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ]*\.htm" helpindex.htm

The /C option is needed to force the entire string to be considered one search term.

The /R option is needed to force interpretation of the search term as a regex. The default for the /C option is a string literal.

You might want to have a look at What are the undocumented features and limitations of the Windows FINDSTR command?. There is a long list of "gotchas"

Edit

UnxUtils is an old, outdated distribution of GNU unix utilities for Windows. You should get newer releases from GNU Coreutils: see Difference between UnxUtils and GNU CoreUtils

I believe I got my distribution of GNU Coreutils from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm. I'm not sure if that is the most up-to-date package, but it should solve your grep problem. It provides a convenient package of many utilities.

Another option is to get individual GNU utilities for Windows from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages.html

grep didn't work for me. Are you using the unxutils version? But adding the /R switch to findstr and spelling out the alphabet did. THANKS! — Steve Cohen, Sep 27 '13 at 20:54

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 22:07

You may use my FindRepl.bat program that works as you want. For example:

> type helpindex.htm
<a href=emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EmeRgency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=Emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EMERGENCY.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=E911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=e911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>

> FindRepl /V "^<a href=[^A-Z]*\.htm" < helpindex.htm
<a href=EmeRgency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=Emergency.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=EMERGENCY.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>
<a href=E911.htm>Emergency Calls</a><br>

You may download FindRepl.bat from this site

grep in windows batch file

2 Answers2

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