Finding two strings in a file within n lines of each other

Question

I'm trying to find how to search for two strings in a text file within n lines of each other. For example, given the file:

abc def
ssssss
ssssss
ssssss
ssssss
ssssss
pqr xyz

I want "myscript abc pqr 5" to return nothing but "myscript abc pqr 7 (or greater)" to return the filename in which it was found and (bonus) the matching lines and the intervening ones. It should work with any strings.

Just to make it interesting, I'm working on Solaris 10 and do not have access to any gnu commands or extensions. It's like swimming in treacle.

TIA

Nigel.

I'm afraid the offered solution didn't really help. The most pertinent part is the "within 'n' lines of each other. The rest of it is simple. — prosmart, Apr 29 '14 at 04:27

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

0

This script gets you almost all the way there:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ $(pcregrep -M "$1.*(\n|.)*$2" test.txt | wc -l) == $3 ]]
then
  echo "found"
else
  echo "not found"
fi

You can modify this to find the name of the file instead of just printing "found".

This script was inspired by this answer.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

Community

1
1

answered Apr 24 '14 at 05:30

msound

445
3
7

Did you miss the part about Solaris? I wish I had pcregrep. – prosmart Apr 24 '14 at 05:36
Sorry. The link has other interesting answers using sed, awk even perl. – msound Apr 24 '14 at 05:37

Finding two strings in a file within n lines of each other

1 Answers1