Count the number of lines found by grep

command linegrep

I want to know how many instances of a pattern are found by grep while looking recursively through a directory structure. It seems I should be able to pipe the output of grep through something which would count the lines.

Best Answer

I was able to put the answer together with help from this question. The program "wc" program counts newlines, words and byte counts. The "-l" option specifies that the number of lines is desired. For my application, the following worked nicely to count the number of instances of "somePattern":

$grep -r "somePattern" | wc -l

Example 1

Consider this test file:

$ cat testfile
xxATGxxATG

ATGxxxATGxxx

xxATGxxxxATGxxATGxx

The code correctly counts the occurrences of ATG:

$ awk -F'ATG' 'NF{print NF-1}' testfile
2
2
3

Example 2

Using the example in the current version of the question:

$ cat >file1
ATGTGGATGGTGGGTTACAATGAAGGTGGTGAGTTCAACATGGCTGATTATCCATTCAGTGGAAGGAAACTAAGGCCTCTCATTCCAAGACCAGTCCCAGTCCCTACTACTTCTCCTAACAGCACTTCAACTATAACTCCTTCCTTAAACCGCATTCATGGTGGCAATGATTTATTTTCACAATATCATCACAATCTGCAGCAGCAAGCATCAGTAGGAGATCATAGCAAGAGATCAGAGTTGAATAATAATAATAATCCATCTGCAGCAGTTGTGGTGAGTTCAAGATGGAATCCAACACCAGAACAGTTAAGAGCACTGGAAGAATTGTATAGAAGAGGAACAAGAACACCTTCTGCTGAGCAAATCCAACAAATAACTGCCCAGCTTAGAAAATTTGGAAAAATTGAAGGCAAAAATGTTTTCTATTGGTTTCAGAATCACAAAGCCAGAGAAAGGCAAAAACGACGGCGTCAAATGGAATCAGCAGCTGCTGAGTTTGATTCTGCTATTGAAAAGAAAGACTTAGGCGCAAGTAGG


ACAGTGTTTGAAGTTGAACACACTAAAAACTGGCTACCATCTACAAATTCCAGTACCAGTACTCTTCATCTTGCAGAGGAATCTGTTTCAATTCAAAGGTCAGCAGCAGCAAAAGCAGATGGATGGCTCCAATTCGATGAAGCAGAATTACAGCAAAGAAGAAACTTTATGGAAAGGAATGCCACGTGGCATATGATGCAGTTAACTTCTTCTTGTCCTACAGCTAGCATGTCCACCACAACCACAGTAACAACTAGACTTATGGACCCAAAACTCATCAAGACCCATGAACTCAACTTATTCATTTCACCTCACACATACAAAGAAAGAGAAAACGCTTTTATCCACTTAAATACTAGTAGTACTCATCAAAATGAATCTGATCAAACCCTTCAACTTTTCCCAATAAGGAATGGAGATCATGGATGCACTGATCATCATCATCATCATCATAACATTATCAAAGAGACACAGATATCAGCTTCAGCAATCAATGCACCCAACCAGTTTATTGAGTTTCTTCCCTTGAAAAACTGA

This results in:

$ awk -F'ATG' 'NF{print NF-1}' file1
9
15

How it works

awk implicitly loops through every line of a file. Each line is divided into fields.

-F'ATG'

This tells awk to use ATG as the field separator.
NF{print NF-1}

For each non-empty line, this tells awk to print the number of fields minus 1.

(On empty lines, the number of fields, NF, is zero. So, the condition NF evaluates to false on these lines, effectively skipping over them.)

Best Answer

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