Install grep with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, pacman, scoop, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• egrep
• fgrep
• grep

Project history

The Unix oral-history account attributes the original grep idea to Doug McIlroy asking Ken Thompson to lift the regular-expression recognizer out of the editor into a one-pass program. That origin explains the enduring shape of grep: read input sequentially, match a pattern, and print selected lines.

GNU grep's source distribution credits Mike Haertel with the main program and the DFA and kwset matchers, Isamu Hasegawa and others with the POSIX regular-expression matcher, James Woods with early Boyer-Moore-style filtering ideas, and later maintainers including Alain Magloire, Bernhard Rosenkranzer, Stepan Kasal, Tony Abou-Assaleh, Jim Meyering, and Paolo Bonzini.

GNU grep's implementation history is unusually important for such a familiar command. The README describes a lazy-state deterministic matcher combined with Boyer-Moore and Aho-Corasick fixed-string searches, allowing the program to reject impossible input before invoking the full regular-expression matcher. That performance lineage is why GNU grep is discussed not only as a utility but also as an example of practical string-search engineering.

Adoption history

grep became part of the ordinary Unix vocabulary because it solves a primitive shell need: find matching text in streams and files. GNU grep extended that role across GNU/Linux systems and other Unix-like package sets, while Homebrew and other macOS package managers package it for users who want GNU behavior alongside or instead of platform grep.

The GNU project page documents stable source releases on GNU download servers, Git development through Savannah, bug and commit mailing lists, translation infrastructure, and the manual. That is the classic GNU adoption model: tarball releases, public development, man/info documentation, and downstream distribution through operating-system packages.

How it is used

At the interface, GNU grep searches one or more input files for lines matching one or more patterns and prints matching lines by default. Its ordinary forms cover basic regular expressions, extended regular expressions through grep -E, fixed strings through grep -F, pattern files through -f, recursive search, context lines, filename and line-number prefixes, binary-file behavior, and optional color highlighting.

GNU grep also carries decades of compatibility decisions. The manual marks POSIX-specified options, labels GNU long options as extensions, and documents behavior across encodings, binary data, directories, and performance-sensitive pattern sets. That combination makes it both a user command and a portability boundary for shell scripts.

Why package nerds care

GNU grep is package-nerd significant because it sits in the base-toolchain layer. Scripts, build systems, test harnesses, log pipelines, and interactive shell sessions assume some grep-like command exists, but exact behavior can differ between GNU, BSD, BusyBox, and other implementations.

The egrep and fgrep names show the packaging tension clearly. GNU grep 2.5.3 deprecated those separate commands in 2007, and GNU grep 3.8 began warning that they are obsolescent in favor of grep -E and grep -F. Package maintainers still have to decide how to ship compatibility links while nudging users toward the POSIX-style option forms.

For macOS package users, GNU grep is also a namespace package: Homebrew installs GNU utilities in ways that avoid silently replacing system tools unless users opt into GNU-prefixed commands or path changes.

Timeline

• 1973: The original grep entered early Unix culture as a standalone regular-expression search command.
• 1992: GNU grep source files carry Free Software Foundation copyright years beginning in 1992.
• 2007: GNU grep 2.5.3 deprecated the egrep and fgrep command names in favor of grep -E and grep -F.
• 2012: GNU grep 2.12 adjusted recursive symlink behavior and added the --dereference-recursive alias for -R.
• 2014: GNU grep 2.21 made GREP_OPTIONS obsolescent with diagnostics.
• 2020: GNU grep 3.6 removed GREP_OPTIONS behavior.
• 2022: GNU grep 3.8 switched -P from PCRE to PCRE2 and began warning for obsolescent egrep and fgrep invocations.
• 2025: GNU grep 3.12 removed the long-obsolete --unix-byte-offsets option and included portability fixes for large directories and some Unicode cases.

Related projects

• ed is the editor whose g/re/p command gave grep its name.
• egrep and fgrep survive as historically separate entry points but map conceptually to grep -E and grep -F.
• GNU sed, GNU awk, find, xargs, ripgrep, The Silver Searcher, ack, git grep, and BusyBox grep all live near GNU grep in the practical text-search ecosystem.
• PCRE and PCRE2 matter because GNU grep's -P mode uses Perl-compatible regular-expression support when built with it.

Sources

• https://dspinellis.github.io/oral-history-of-unix/frs122/unixhist/finalhis.htm
• https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/grep-3.12.tar.xz
• https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=grep
• https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/
• https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manual/grep.html