Scanning a very long show route output on a peering router at a regional carrier hotel, a technician knows roughly what they're looking for but wants the display to jump straight to the first line containing a specific prefix rather than filtering out everything else. Which pipe modifier does that?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Sometimes you don't want lines removed, you just want to skip ahead. Find scans for the first line matching your search text and starts the display right there, still showing everything that follows.
Full Explanation
The find pipe modifier searches command output for the first line containing the specified text and begins displaying from that point onward, preserving everything after it, which fits a need to jump ahead in a long listing without discarding any of the surrounding context once that point is reached. Count discards the actual content entirely and returns only a total line count, which is the opposite of wanting to see the located line and everything following it. Match filters output down to only the lines containing the search pattern, dropping every other line, whereas the scenario specifically calls for retaining everything after the first match rather than filtering the rest away. Except does the reverse of match, showing every line that does not contain the pattern, which would actually hide the very line the technician is trying to locate. A practical distinction worth keeping straight is that find changes where display starts while match and except decide which lines appear at all, and picking the wrong one on a long route table either buries the line you want or removes it outright.