Views:
2,887
Votes: 6
Tags:
command-line
grep
ls
pipe
Link:
🔍 See Original Answer on Ask Ubuntu ⧉ 🔗
URL:
https://askubuntu.com/q/865249
Title:
Why the pipe command "l | grep "1" " get the wrong result?
ID:
/2016/12/28/Why-the-pipe-command-_l-_-grep-_1_-_-get-the-wrong-result_
Created:
December 28, 2016
Edited: December 28, 2016
Upload:
October 19, 2025
Layout: post
TOC:
false
Navigation: false
Copy to clipboard: false
Your l and ls commands are setup as aliases.
When you run them piping the output through grep "1" (using |) each screen line where 1 appears is displayed, with the 1 colored red.
Because file names ., .., 2 and 22 appear on the same screen line, they are output by grep as well but do not appear in red which shows grep matches.
The :34m is an escape sequence for a color that doesn’t paint properly. Based on your revised question with the output of type -a l and type -a it can be reproduced in my system. Please note you should change your alias from --color to --color=auto:
Color output
