Linux: How can i grep text from string to string - linux

Question

How can I get text using grep command txt that seats between two strings?
for example:
<--string 1-->
the text i need
<--string 2-->
the "the text i need" between the two tags is dynamic, therefor i need a command that will output text from "<--string 1-->" to "<--string 2-->"

Answer 1

This might work for you:
grep -A2 "<--string 1-->" file | grep -v "<--string 1-->\|<--string 2-->"
or
grep -A1 "<--string 1-->" file | grep -v "<--string 1-->"
or in a single process:
sed '/<--string 1-->/,/<--string 2-->/!d;//d' file
or:
awk '/<--string 2-->/{p=0};p;/<--string 1-->/{p=1}' file

Answer 2

Supposing "the text I need" is just one line, you should check that both string1 and string2 appear (Alex's solution only checks one thing).
A better solution would be:
grep -A 2 "string 1" $file | tail -2 | grep -B 1 "string 2" | head -1

Answer 3

if you know that "the text i need" is always above or always below string 1 or string 2, you can use grep -A 1 "string 1" $file | tail -1 or grep -B 1 "string 2" $file | head -1

Answer 4

we need to know what is the line number for string1 and string2
we can use grep -n for that
then using head and tail we can get lines between string1 and string2
for example:
<--string 1-->
the text i need
<--string 2-->
start=$(cat file | grep -n <--string 1--> | grep -Eo [0-9]+)
finish=$cat file | grep -n <--string 2-->) | grep -Eo [0-9]+)
res=$((finish-start))
result=$(cat file | head -$start | tail -$res)
It is a little bit hacky, but it worked for me.

Answer 5

You can use Awk for this.
Inclusive:
awk '/<--string 1-->/,/<--string 2-->/' file
Excluding the string 1 and 2 lines:
awk '/<--string 1-->/{flag=1; next} /<--string 2-->/{flag=0} flag' file
Here, a flag is set when '<--string 1-->' is found in the line, and unset when '<--string 2-->' is found.
You can also keep either the first or second line using:
awk '/<--string 1-->/{flag=1} /<--string 2-->/{flag=0} flag' file
or
awk 'flag; /<--string 1-->/{flag=1} /<--string 2-->/{flag=0}' file

Answer 6

I hope this helps you.
DATA=$(cat /tmp/file)
STARTVAR=$(echo "$DATA" | grep -n '<--string 1-->' | grep -Eo [0-9]+)
ENDVAR=$(echo "$DATA" | grep -n '<--string 2-->' | grep -Eo [0-9]+)
CALC=$((($ENDVAR - $STARTVAR) - 1))
result=$(echo "$DATA" | grep -A $CALC '<--string 1-->')
echo "$result"
Replace the CALC=$((($ENDVAR - $STARTVAR) - 1)) line with CALC=$(($ENDVAR - $STARTVAR)) if you want to include '<--string 2-->' in output

Answer 7

grep word filename
Check grep on wiki.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep