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I miss egrep - stuck in a Windows world

By nlscb (Mon May 05, 2008 at 10:50:20 AM EST) Windows, UNIX, scripting, egrep, find (all tags)

I do a lot of scripting for data processing and presentation work. I used to work in UNIX, primarily using SAS, perl, and various UNIX scripts in born shell. I now work in a much more limited Windows environment. I am having trouble getting used to the Window command prompt having a much more limited set of commands.

Currently, I need to adjust some files used to automatically create tables. The files are ordinary text files, but they do have extensions that are not .txt. I am looking for certain words, and sometimes the "find" command will find those words in files, and sometimes it misses them. Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? Also, could anyone point me to a good online resource for windows command prompt batch files and windows scripting in general? Usually, the ones I find are for network administrators, covering stuff that I do not even have access to, let alone a professional need.

One thing. I cannot install any new software on my computer. It's not allowed where I work. So cygwin and the like is out of the question.

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I miss egrep - stuck in a Windows world | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)

When you say Find by TheophileEscargot (4.00 / 2) #1 Mon May 05, 2008 at 11:01:14 AM EST

Do you mean FINDSTR? Command-line only, installed by default on Win2k or later. Equivalent of grep (though it has different options and syntax) allows regular expressions.

The default Windows Find only seems to work erratically for text in files: I try not to use it.

Sounds like your in Mordac-type hell. If you're able to copy EXES you might be able to install UnxUtils since you can just run them without an installer IIRC. If you can't change the environment variables you might have to put in the full path to the EXE each time.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

: ooh, nice. by gzt (2.00 / 0) #2 Mon May 05, 2008 at 11:21:10 AM EST

I'm stuck with the same problem as the diarist.

[ Parent ]
: Thanks! by nlscb (2.00 / 0) #3 Mon May 05, 2008 at 11:45:27 AM EST

I will definitely use Findstr. I really can't take the risk with unixutils stuff, as tempting as it looks.

[ Parent ]

You poor, lost, soul. by ObviousTroll (2.00 / 0) #4 Mon May 05, 2008 at 12:25:46 PM EST

Quick! Grab this. It's your only hope. It provides a full UNIX shell with the expected commands.

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.

Dude-- by ammoniacal (4.00 / 2) #5 Mon May 05, 2008 at 02:17:45 PM EST

Did you even read what (s)he wrote?

"To this day that was the most bullshit caesar salad I have every experienced..." - triggerfinger

[ Parent ]

LUNIX LOGIC by Rogerborg (4.00 / 3) #6 Mon May 05, 2008 at 02:54:40 PM EST

Just keep running the command over and over, in case it works next time.

-
Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.

[ Parent ]

: It's okay, you can tell people the truth... by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #13 Tue May 06, 2008 at 04:36:47 AM EST

I used to be upset about how the anti-senility medicines were failing me but now I'm...
Wait, what were we talking about?

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.
[ Parent ]

Why do you think I said he was poor soul? by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #9 Mon May 05, 2008 at 03:50:05 PM EST

I suppose bringing in a personal laptop from home is out too then, huh?

;-/

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.

[ Parent ]

: Yep, too much confidential data by nlscb (2.00 / 0) #12 Tue May 06, 2008 at 04:33:53 AM EST

We get a lot of stuff that cannot be released to the public for propriatary reasons. If it got out, that would be VERY bad. So, no personal laptops.

[ Parent ]

powershell is nice by coryking (2.00 / 0) #7 Mon May 05, 2008 at 03:09:07 PM EST

And if you search hard, there are dudes who have ported quite a few handy unix programs to native windows ones (i.e. they dont require cygwin). Like tail or quite a few others.

But you should check out powershell. I had the alpha of their v2 a while back and one of the new things was a much improved shell window. This is good, because I don't know about you but the single most frustrating part about command line windows is the damn command console itself. I haven't had the time to download the latest community preview though.

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Dog food. Snack for some. Feast for others.

also... blah by coryking (4.00 / 1) #8 Mon May 05, 2008 at 03:12:33 PM EST

Didn't read where you said you cannot install stuff. That sucks. I thought there was some fancy(er) script langage than plain old batch files--those .vbs things.

But without the ability to enhance your command shell, dunno what to say.

I would add, define "install". Since the UnxUtils are native binaries, you should be able to drop them into a directory you own (rather than program files) and extend your PATH to that directory. You can do both without modifying any file owned by the system.

-------------
Dog food. Snack for some. Feast for others.

[ Parent ]

: Agree on .VBS by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #11 Mon May 05, 2008 at 08:58:58 PM EST

If they haven't been disabled, it's possible to create a file with a .VBS extension and put whatever VBScript you like in there.
Very useful if available. Those files are sometimes restricted though as they're a virus vector.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

are you running Vista? by clover kicker (2.00 / 0) #10 Mon May 05, 2008 at 04:21:24 PM EST

Powershell is reputedly less retarded than CMD.EXE and is advertised to do everything a *nix shell can. I've been able to avoid Vista so far, so I can't vouch for that myself.

One of the most locked-down, don't install any new software, especially hippie GPL software shops I worked at had Perl installed on every machine because the login scripts depended on it. Bwahahahaha.

An idea. by lb008d (2.00 / 0) #14 Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:32:53 AM EST

You could always use the gnuwin32 bin-zip files to install to a writable location and add that location to your PATH. On XP a good location would be C:\Documents and Settings\LOGIN\bin or something.

If they don't totally disallow MSIs but just have you run as a regular user you could even install programs to this location.

Scary by dark nowhere (2.00 / 0) #15 Tue May 06, 2008 at 01:33:05 PM EST

I've had to deal with similar problems, but thankfully cygwin was available to me. Sounds like findstr is your solution. I've never actually had problems with find before, but I haven't used it since WfW, on actual MS-DOS.

Were I in your shoes, I'd petition for cygwin or MSYS. You've probably tried that of course.

See you, space cowboy.

I miss egrep - stuck in a Windows world | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)