---
name: "csvgrep"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "csvkit"
version: "2.2.0-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/csvgrep"
---

# csvgrep(1)

csvgrep Documentation

## NAME

csvgrep - csvgrep Documentation

## DESCRIPTION

Filter tabular data to only those rows where certain columns contain a given value or match a regular expression:

```
usage: csvgrep [-h] [-d DELIMITER] [-t] [-q QUOTECHAR] [-u {0,1,2,3}] [-b]
               [-p ESCAPECHAR] [-z FIELD_SIZE_LIMIT] [-e ENCODING] [-S] [-H]
               [-K SKIP_LINES] [-v] [-l] [--zero] [-V] [-n] [-c COLUMNS]
               [-m PATTERN] [-r REGEX] [-f MATCHFILE] [-i] [-a]
               [FILE]
Search CSV files. Like the Unix "grep" command, but for tabular data.
positional arguments:
  FILE                  The CSV file to operate on. If omitted, will accept
                        input as piped data via STDIN.
optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n, --names           Display column names and indices from the input CSV
                        and exit.
  -c COLUMNS, --columns COLUMNS
                        A comma-separated list of column indices, names or
                        ranges to be searched, e.g. "1,id,3-5".
  -m PATTERN, --match PATTERN
                        A string to search for.
  -r REGEX, --regex REGEX
                        A regular expression to match.
  -f MATCHFILE, --file MATCHFILE
                        A path to a file. For each row, if any line in the
                        file (stripped of line separators) is an exact match
                        of the cell value, the row matches.
  -i, --invert-match    Select non-matching rows, instead of matching rows.
  -a, --any-match       Select rows in which any column matches, instead of
                        all columns.
```

See also: *Arguments common to all tools*.

NOTE: Even though '-m', '-r', and '-f' are listed as "optional" arguments, you must specify one of them.

## EXAMPLES

Search for the row relating to Illinois:

```
csvgrep -c 1 -m ILLINOIS examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv
```

Search for rows relating to states with names beginning with the letter "I":

```
csvgrep -c 1 -r "^I" examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv
```

Search for rows that do not contain an empty state cell:

```
csvgrep -c 1 -r "^$" -i examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv
```

Perform a case-insensitive search:

```
csvgrep -c 1 -r "(?i)illinois" examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv
```

Remove comment rows:

```
printf "a,b\n1,2\n# a comment\n3,4" | csvgrep --invert-match -c1 -r '^#'
```

Get the indices of the columns that contain matching text (**\\x1e** is the *Record Separator (RS) character*):

```
csvgrep -m 22 -a -c 1- examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv | csvformat -M $'\x1e' | xargs -d $'\x1e' -n1 sh -c 'echo $0 | csvcut -n' | grep 22
```

**NOTE:**

This last example is not performant.

## AUTHOR

Christopher Groskopf and contributors

## COPYRIGHT

2016, Christopher Groskopf and James McKinney