grep: combine --invert-match and --only-matching [SOLVED]

[alex.blackbit]

Hi,

I try to use grep to remove a pattern in a string.
Matching for that pattern works

[mv]

You look at the wrong tool: grep essentially can only print a line or not. What you probably want is sed. Something like

[alex.blackbit]

Thanks for the answer, mv.
grep --only-matching _does_ print only part of a line though.
In my opinion it is not obvious why this does not work for the inverted match case.

[Genone]

By default grep shows lines matching the given expression.
--invert-match will show lines not matching the expression.
--only-matching will only show the part of the line that matches.

So both together will show matching parts of non-matching lines. --invert-match does NOT invert the passed expression which would be required for your use case.

[alex.blackbit]

Thanks Genone, that's a very good explanation.