> awk '$1 == "word"{print}' /var/log/messages This example assumes that word is the first field and that it consists only of "word". If the first field is "word1" this won't match. Fixes for this are awk '$1 ~ "word"{print}' (this matches any occurrance of "word" in the first field) or: awk '/^[[:space:]]*word/ {print}' (this matches any line starting with whitespace followed immediately by "word") -- Spiro Harvey Knossos Networks Ltd 021-295-1923 www.knossos.net.nz -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090106/fb591e36/attachment-0005.sig>