Linux Text Processing Cheat Sheet/Search a file directly

Prefer direct file arguments when possible.

Section: Overview and Core Patterns

Search a file directly

bash
bash
grep ERROR app.log
Explanation

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.
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Read from standard input
Many text tools consume stdin naturally.
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Save output and continue pipeline
Write output to a file while still passing it downstream.
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Split a long pipeline across lines
Use backslashes for readability.
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Show first 20 lines
Preview the top of a file.
Squeeze repeated spaces
Collapse multiple spaces into one.