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→INVESTIGATION 1: SIMPLE & COMPLEX REGULAR EXPRESSIONS
# Issue the following Linux command to match strings that '''begin <u>and</u> end with 3 characters''':<br><span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">grep "^...$" textfile1.txt</span><br><br>What do you notice compared to the previous command?<br><br>
# Issue the following Linux command to match strings that '''begin with 3 digits''':<br><span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">grep "^[0-9][0-9][0-9]" textfile1.txt</span><br><br>What did you notice?<br><br>
# Issue the following Linux command to match strings that '''end with 3 uppercase letters''':<br><span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">grep "[A-Z][A-Z][A-Z]$" textfile1.txt</span><br><br><table align="right"><tr valign="top"><td>[[Image:regexps-6.png|thumb|right|220px|Anchoring '''3 digits''' at the '''beginning''' and '''ending''' of text.]]</td><td>[[Image:regexps-7.png|thumb|right|250px|Anchoring '''3 alpha-numeric characters''' at the '''beginning''' and '''ending''' of text.]]</td></tr></table>Did any lines What type of strings match this pattern?<br><br>
# Issue the following Linux command to match strings that consist of only 3 digits:<br><span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">grep "^[0-9][0-9][0-9]$" textfile1.txt</span><br><br>What did you notice?<br><br>
# Issue the following Linux command to match strings that consist of only 3 alphanumeric digits:<br><span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">grep "^[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9]$" textfile1.txt</span><br><br>What did you notice?<br><br>The <span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">"*"</span> complex regular expression symbol is often confused with the "*" '''filename expansion''' symbol.<br>In other words, it does NOT represent zero or more of '''any character''', but zero or more '''occurrences'''<br>of the character that comes '''before''' the <span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:courier;">"*"</span> symbol.<br><br>
