Using grep in Tasker without root

[francwalter]

Hello

I wanted to use grep in a Run Shell Action, but Tasker has no grep, as I know.

First I tried to use grep from Termux:

/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/busybox

but I get a file not found. Its a permission issue. Then I copied it (in two steps via the sdcard) to

/data/data/net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/

and did there a chown 700 grep (had to use Run Shell Action) to make it exectuable. Here I have missing libraries e.g. libandroid-support.so - this wont work.

Then I copied busybox from termux (/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/busybox) to Tasker (also via sdcard, cannot copy it from Tasker directly neither from Termux to tasker) directly to the main folder of Tasker:

/data/data/net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/busybox

and now, after chown it to make it executable, I can run grep in busybox:

/data/data/net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/busybox grep

This works, for the moment, but I guess the next Tasker update flushes it away.

Very unhandy, that.

Is there some better, native, fast and reliable way to use grep in Tasker?

Thank's.

frank

Latest Tasker version 5.15.5-beta on Android 9

[jmjc...@gmail.com]

Grep is available on my device. How are you using it in a Run Shell action?

[Dave W]

This should be a simple run shell command such as:

grep WEBP "%file"

Unix has always had its own set of special characters.  Did you forget to surround the filename with quotation marks?  HTH

[francwalter]

My error!

I tried it again without busybox, just pure grep in a very simple test and it works!

I think I had an error in my search expression so no result came but "Error: 1" in the Action after running. The error was misleading me to think, grep doesnt work without root.
I tried then a lot with busybox (see above) and thought all the time pure grep would not work, luring me far a way from the real mistake.

Now I checked it again and I found my error in the search expression of grep

grep works in Tasker, no busybox needed.

E.g.:

File test.csv content:

test1 line1

test2 line2

Description of the Task:

Task: TestGrepTasker
    
    A1: Run Shell [
         Command: grep "text" /storage/emulated/0//test.csv
         Timeout (Seconds): 5
         Store Output In: %output
         Store Errors In: %errors
         Use Global Namespace: On
         Continue Task After Error:On ]
    
    A2: Flash [
         Text: output: %output
         errors: %errors
         Tasker Layout: On
         Timeout: 15000
         Continue Task Immediately: On
         Dismiss On Click: On ]

None of the variables errors and output are set but in the Action (Run Shell) I see in the end Error: 1, which irritated me :)

If I search with grep for "test" or "test1" (instead of "text") I get a defined output.

Sorry.

frank