---
name: "exigrep"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "exim4-base"
version: "4.98.2-1+deb13u4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/exigrep"
---

# exigrep(8)

Search Exim's main log

## NAME

EXIGREP - Search Exim's main log

## SYNOPSIS

**exigrep** *\[-l\] pattern \[log file\] ...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **exigrep** utility is a Perl script that searches one or more main log files for entries that match a given pattern. When it finds a match, it extracts all the log entries for the relevant message, not just those that match the pattern. Thus, **exigrep** can extract complete log entries for a given message, or all mail for a given user, or for a given host, for example.

The *-l* flag means ‘literal’, that is, treat all characters in the pattern as standing for themselves. Otherwise the pattern must be a Perl regular expression. The pattern match is case-insensitive. If no file names are given on the command line, the standard input is read.

If the location of a **zcat** command is known from the definition of ZCAT\_COMMAND in Local/Makefile, **exigrep** automatically passes any file whose name ends in COMPRESS\_SUFFIX through **zcat** as it searches it.

## BUGS

This manual page needs a major re-work. If somebody knows better groff than us and has more experience in writing manual pages, any patches would be greatly appreciated.

## SEE ALSO

[**exim**(8)](/exim/8.md), [**perlre**(1)](/perlre/1.md), /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/

## AUTHOR

This manual page was stitched together from spec.txt by Andreas Metzler \<ametzler at downhill.at.eu.org\>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).