How do I grep and sort using this specific pattern? I want to get the numbers after the B*, but not including _Y_ and after it. I tried to use this command which I got from a friend, but it doesn't work: grep -oP 'B.\K[\w\s\d]' < tus.txt | sort -u ### tus.txt ~TUS*21424565*4716129*B*222791885833*Y* ~TUS*21470045*4733746*B*36*Y*19-OCT-16**B*2239681 ~TUS*21758806*4932668*B*00081907*Y*2707826 ~TUS*21758851*4932694*B*00082025*Y*2707871 ~TUS*21758862*4932739*B*262105589241-20172-31489016 ~TUS*21758767*4932626*B*00081684*Y*2707792 ~TUS*21758861*4932693*B*00082024*Y*2707881 ~TUS*21758895*4932764*B*4578873831221*Y* ~TUS*21760350*4933404*B*00082603*Y*2708838 ~TUS*21759295*4932379*B*00082403*Y*2708332 ### Desired result: 222791885833 36 00081907 00082025 262105589241-20172-31489016 00081684 00082024 4578873831221 00082603 00082403

Your command also works, you need to add a `*` or `+` to it:


$ grep -oP 'B.\K[\w\s\d]+' tus.txt | sort -u
00081684
00081907
00082024
00082025
00082403
00082603
222791885833
2239681
262105589241
36
4578873831221


Or, more simply:


$ grep -oP 'B\*\K[^*]*' tus.txt | sort -u
00081684
00081907
00082024
00082025
00082403
00082603
222791885833
2239681
262105589241
36
4578873831221


Or, use `awk` to print the penultimate `*`-separated field:


$ awk -F'[*]' '{print $5}' tus.txt | sort -u
00081684
00081907
00082024
00082025
00082403
00082603
222791885833
2239681
262105589241
36
4578873831221