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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!bonkers!web.nmti.com!peter From: peter@nmti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things Date: 14 Nov 1996 20:50:30 GMT Organization: Network/development platform support, NMTI Lines: 25 Message-ID: <56g0mm$gpf@web.nmti.com> References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <E0tAts.BAr.0.queen@torfree.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: sonic.nmti.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:26436 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1507 alt.folklore.computers:124626 In article <E0tAts.BAr.0.queen@torfree.net>, William J. Hayes <ab915@torfree.net> wrote: > grep: > "Generic Regular Expression Printer" No, no, you're wrong. It's from "Generic Repeated Pattern Evaluator", an old IBM mainframe program that searched for text in 80 column card decks and edited them into new decks. When it was ported to UNIX (using the "struct" tool to convert the original Fortran to Ratfor, then to C) they couldn't fit the whole functionality in so they only provided the "print" edit. So it was called "grpep", then shortened to "grep" after Bill Gates made a hilarious typo in the Xenix-86 version at a trade show. The actual details were hushed up, and they changed the command to make sure it never happened again. The story was created that it was shortened because it was easier to type "grep" than "grpep" on an IBM card punch, but this was an obvious cover-up, since the "grpep" version was never used on an IBM. Ironically the full functionality of "grpe" was ported to micros for the first time on OS/2 in an implementation written in REXX (named after a dog that barked when his owner sat down at a computer). -- </peter>