XZGREP(1) XZ Utils XZGREP(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

xzgrep - search possibly-compressed files for patterns

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**xzgrep** \[*option...*] \[*pattern\_list*] \[*file...*]  
**xzegrep** ...  
**xzfgrep** ...  
**lzgrep** ... (DEPRECATED)  
**lzegrep** ... (DEPRECATED)  
**lzfgrep** ... (DEPRECATED)

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**xzgrep** invokes [**grep**(1)](/man/os/xz/grep.1) on uncompressed contents of files. The formats of the *files* are determined from the filename suffixes. Any *file* with a suffix supported by [**xz**(1)](/man/os/xz/xz.1), [**gzip**(1)](/man/os/xz/gzip.1), [**bzip2**(1)](/man/os/xz/bzip2.1), [**lzop**(1)](/man/os/xz/lzop.1), [**zstd**(1)](/man/os/xz/zstd.1), or [**lz4**(1)](/man/os/xz/lz4.1) will be decompressed; all other files are assumed to be uncompressed.

If no *files* are specified or *file* is **-** then standard input is read. When reading from standard input, only files supported by [**xz**(1)](/man/os/xz/xz.1) are decompressed. Other files are assumed to be in uncompressed form already.

Most *options* of [**grep**(1)](/man/os/xz/grep.1) are supported. However, the following options are not supported:

**-r**, **--recursive**

**-R**, **--dereference-recursive**

**-d**, **--directories=action**

**-Z**, **--null**

**-z**, **--null-data**

**--include=glob**

**--exclude=glob**

**--exclude-from=file**

**--exclude-dir=glob**

**xzegrep** is an alias for **xzgrep -E**. **xzfgrep** is an alias for **xzgrep -F**.

The commands **lzgrep**, **lzegrep**, and **lzfgrep** are provided for backward compatibility with LZMA Utils. They are deprecated and will be removed in a future version.

# [EXIT STATUS](#EXIT_STATUS)

0

At least one match was found from at least one of the input files. No errors occurred.

1

No matches were found from any of the input files. No errors occurred.

>1

One or more errors occurred. It is unknown if matches were found.

# [ENVIRONMENT](#ENVIRONMENT)

[**GREP**](#GREP)

If **GREP** is set to a non-empty value, it is used instead of **grep**, **grep -E**, or **grep -F**.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**grep**(1)](/man/os/xz/grep.1), [**xz**(1)](/man/os/xz/xz.1), [**gzip**(1)](/man/os/xz/gzip.1), [**bzip2**(1)](/man/os/xz/bzip2.1), [**lzop**(1)](/man/os/xz/lzop.1), [**zstd**(1)](/man/os/xz/zstd.1), [**lz4**(1)](/man/os/xz/lz4.1), [**zgrep**(1)](/man/os/xz/zgrep.1)

2025-03-06 Tukaani

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Document: xzfgrep(1) from xz 5.8.4-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/tukaani-project/xz