grep on a Java Method

Question

Lets say I have a java class called DirectAction

some of the methods in the class have the word "action" or "Action"

What is the grep command to get the names of all the methods who have "Action" or "action" and write it to an external file?

Example:

public class DirectAction extends ERXDirectAction { /** * * @param aRequest */ public DirectAction(WORequest aRequest) { } // ============================================================================================ // ACTIONS /** * Default Action * */ @docDirectAction public WOActionResults defaultAction() { } /** * @return goes to login page for student */ @docDirectAction public WOActionResults studentAction() { ); return nextPage; } /** * @return goes to Admin login page */ @docDirectAction public WOActionResults adminAction() { return nextPage; } /** * @return calls the AdminAction */ @docDirectAction public WOActionResults staffAction() { return adminAction(); } 

}

I want to get only the below output.

public class DirectAction extends ERXDirectAction public DirectAction(WORequest aRequest) public WOActionResults defaultAction() public WOActionResults studentAction() public WOActionResults adminAction() public WOActionResults staffAction() 

NOTE: the only word that is common in all these methods is "Action" or "action"

Also please use only grep if possible :)

Answer 1

If you want to return only the matching text (instead of the whole line), you need the -o flag

grep -o 'public .*[a|A]ction.*)' 

or with extended regular expressions

grep -Eo 'public .*[aA]ction.*\)' file 

Or, extended for any lines beginning with pub(lic), pri(vate) or pro(tected)

grep -Eo '^(pub|pri|pro).*[aA]ction.*\)' file 

Answer 2

Not grep, but...

sed -n '\|DirectAction|{/^@/n;/{/s|||;p}' 

Returns me these results:

public class DirectAction extends ERXDirectAction public DirectAction(WORequest aRequest) public WOActionResults defaultAction() public WOActionResults studentAction() public WOActionResults adminAction() public WOActionResults staffAction() 

Basically I just address lines that contain the phrase DirectAction. I then check to see if the first character on the line is an @ and - if so - I overwrite the current line with the next line. Next I look for a { and if found I remove it. Then I print.

Answer 3

grep -i action( <file> 

The -i makes the search case insensitive, and I added the ( at the end of action because it appears that all the things you expect to see have a paren at the end, but you could just leave it out.

For the record, this is the simplest use of grep you'll find; reading the man page would have revealed this solution very quickly.