For the Love of Grep

CORRECTION: I was mistaken the |find xxx already implements a similar feature. Although I don’t see a reference to the command in CLI reference guide or the cli help. I guess it was a good idea to write this blog. I’m told |find will work appended to any command with the exception of some output of sh support.

I’ve used a number of different network CLIs. It seems most people are content to love the one whether it be Cisco or Cisco. I’ve always appreciated the intuitive well-thought-out CLI of the Enterasys products. However, with large stacks and future plans to introduce an] Enterasys response to switch virtualization, the absence of a grep like command that allows searching output is sorely missed.

Enterasys has an ideal command structure to implement grep on their switch interface as each line is atomic. The router config would require some thought to include the context of structured configs like interfaces.

Does anyone else think this would be an important improvement?