Negative matching using grep (match lines that do not contain foo)

Question

I have been trying to work out the syntax for this command:

grep ! error_log | find /home/foo/public_html/ -mmin -60 

OR:

grep '[^error_log]' | find /home/baumerf/public_html/ -mmin -60 

I need to see all files that have been modified except for those named error_log.

I've read about it here, but only found one not-regex pattern.

Answer 1

grep -v is your friend:

grep --help | grep invert   

-v, --invert-match select non-matching lines

Also check out the related -L (the complement of -l).

-L, --files-without-match only print FILE names containing no match

Answer 2

You can also use awk for these purposes, since it allows you to perform more complex checks in a clearer way:

Lines not containing foo:

awk '!/foo/' 

Lines containing neither foo nor bar:

awk '!/foo/ && !/bar/' 

Lines containing neither foo nor bar which contain either foo2 or bar2:

awk '!/foo/ && !/bar/ && (/foo2/ || /bar2/)' 

And so on.