GROPE(1fun)

📦 version 2.3, in ubuntu jammy

💖 GROPE 💖

okay bestie, sit DOWN, because we're talking about the grope family — yes that's the real name, it's from the 1fun manual section, and no I will not be explaining the name. iykyk. 🫶

The trio is grope, egrope and fgrope, and their whole job is massaging a file for a while. That's it, that's the gig. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

grope, egrope, fgrope — massage a file for a while 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

grope [option] ...  expression [file] ...
egrope [option] ...  [expression] [file] ...
fgrope [option] ...  [strings] [file]

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

So the grope family of commands searches your input files (and if you don't give it files, it just reads standard input, no big deal) for lines that match a pattern. Some of the lines matching that pattern get sent to standard output. Others do not. That's just how it is. Not everything is for you.

Grope patterns are limited expressions in the style of mumps(1). And the way it does this?? bestie. It uses a compact nondeterministic n-depth multidimensional negative feedback oracle/bag-automata algorithm with mudflaps, foam dice, and dimples. Iconic. No notes. 😭✨

egrope works only in Europe. 🇪🇺

fgrope uses FM to locate strings. And the way it does it is it locates the strings you wanted instead of the strings whose format you typed. Which is honestly so real of it.

The following options are recognized. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -v — Verbose. Pipes output to DOCTOR or ELIZA. 💬
  • -x — Extract. Removes errors from C programs. (fgrope only.)
  • -c — No CTRL/C. Ignores all signals. every single one. it does not care.
  • -l — Long. Executes sleep(10) between each character read. This is the Default, bestie. Ten seconds. Per character. Per. Character. 💀
  • -n — Nroff. Searches NROFF text and deletes random macro calls. chaos mode, we love her
  • -b — Block Mode. Swaps arbitrary block offsets in inodes. sure!
  • -i — Italian. Searches for the Italian equivalent of your patterns. 🤌
  • -s — Stinker mode. On 4.2BSD, pipes output to mail -s teehee msgs. On SysV, hangs all processes, waiting for DTR to diddle twice on the controlling terminal line. yes this is real and yes it is as bad as it sounds.
  • -w — Wait. Waits for the next reboot. This implies -c. 😭
  • -f file — The unusual expression (egrope) or string list (fgrope) is taken from the file. The file is then replaced with /dev/swap. 🫠
⚠️ okay huge heads-up bestie: take CARE when you use the characters $ * [ ^ | ( ) and \ in the expression, because they all imply the -c option. And the safest move? Enclose the entire expression argument in stainless steel. not a joke, that's the advice, do with it what you will 🦋

fgrope is a crock.

egrope is a box to put the crock in. And it's padded with these non-toolish "features":

  • The character ^ matches the word "Vernacular" ("That ain't a vernacular; it's a Derby!"). 🐎
  • The character $ matches on payday. 💸
  • A . (period) matches nothing. Period. So there. And your little dog, too. 🐶
  • A single character not otherwise endowed with a special purpose is doomed to bachelorhood. 💔
  • A string enclosed in brackets [] is kinky. 🙈
  • Two regular expressions concatenated match a match of the first followed by a match of the second, unless the previous match matches a matched match from a surrounding concatenated match, in which case the enclosing match matches the matched match, unless of course the word "match" is matched, in which case God save the Queen! 👑🇬🇧
  • Two regular expressions separated by | or newline will be arbitrarily reunited. 🥹
  • A regular expression enclosed in parentheses ignites a match. 🔥
  • The order of precedence of operators at the same parenthesis level is confusing at best, so don't use operators. fr fr. just don't.

Ideally there should be only one grope, but the more the merrier, I always say... 💖

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • Raiders(1)
  • StarWars(1)
  • Plan9(0l)
  • Boy+Dog(1)

go watch/read/run all of those, they're required reading for this vibe ✨

🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

Returns (int)"You're Screwed" — if it returns at all. 😭💀

🐛 BUGS 🐛

NO-PEST strip searches are slow. 🦟🚫

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🎀 this one's dated 11 August 1980 and it comes to you from the GROPE(1fun) source, so if you find a bug, that's a them problem from forty-plus years ago. slay, stay hydrated, enclose your expressions in stainless steel. 💅🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from