How to use zgrep and regular expression?

Question

I'm trying to do some research in a .gz file so I found out I should use zcat / zgrep now after a bit of research I can't figure out how to use a regex with zgrep

I tried to do it like this zgrep '[\s\S]{10,}' a.gz but nothing comes out even if there are string of minimum 10 characters in the file.

So how could I use zgrep to display string of minimum 10 characters ?

You should not use `\S` and `\s` in a POSIX BRE regex bracket expression. Use `.` instead of `[\s\S]`. Also, in a BRE pattern, `{10,}` looks like `\{10,\}`. So, try `zgrep '.\{10,\}' a.gz` — Wiktor Stribiżew, Oct 16 '19 at 07:31

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 16 '19 at 07:37

You should not use \S and \s in a POSIX BRE regex bracket expression as [\S\s] bracket expression matches either \, S or s. Use . instead of [\s\S] to match any char with a POSIX BRE/ERE regex.

Also, in a BRE pattern, {10,} must be written as \{10,\} as otherwise, when unescaped, {10,} matches a literal {10,} string.

Use

zgrep '.\{10,\}' a.gz

How to use zgrep and regular expression?

1 Answers1