Displaying config files without comments

khav

I want to display config files without comments ( # or ; ) & blank lines

I use

cat file | grep -v ^#

but it won't work for files that use ; as comment or remove blanks lines

Any great alias you guys may suggest?

khav

I found one guys
cat file | egrep -v "^\s*(#|;|$)"
Hope it helps someone

khav

@Zen
Can someone tell me how to create an alias for the command above

t3k9

No need to use cat.

egrep -v "^\s*(#|;|$)" <file>

If you use bash, add this to .bashrc:

ncom () { egrep -v "^\s*(#|;|$)" $1; }

to create alias "ncom" for the command above.

aus

@khav said:

echo 'newcommand() { cat "$@" | egrep -v "^\s*(#|;|$)" ;}' >> ~/.bashrc

And run the command like this

newcommand file

khav

@aus

I added it to bashrc but i still get newcommand not found

aus

@khav said:
t3k9 i added the following to .bashrc
cleanconfig () { egrep -v "^\s*(#|;|$)" $1; }

Do i need to reboot the server or logout for it to take effect ?

Type bash and it should take effect.

agentsmith

you can use multiple -e statements. makes it easier to read.
also filters empty lines...

grep -v -e ^# -e '^;' -e '^[ \t]*$' /etc/apt/sources.list

alessio

aus said: Type bash and it should take effect.

With yesterday's discovery this phrase gets a completely new meaning :-D

khav

@aus thanks it worked

@alessio a patch for bash has already been issued