Prefer direct file arguments when possible.
Section: Overview and Core Patterns
Search a file directly
bash
bash
grep ERROR app.logExplanation
This is more efficient than using `cat file | grep ...` for most cases.
Learn the surrounding workflow
Compare similar commands or jump into common fixes when this command is part of a bigger troubleshooting path.
Related commands
Same sheet · prioritizing Overview and Core Patterns
Pipe file content into grep
Basic pipeline for filtering text from a file.
Save output and continue pipeline
Write output to a file while still passing it downstream.