The Fascinating Origins of the Unix/Linux Command-Line Utility, GREP

If you’ve spent any time even just mucking around in Unix, Linux, or other Unix-like operating systems, you undoubtedly know grep, the command-line search string utility. But did you know that it was literally programmed overnight by Ken Thompson of Bell Labs? Or, that it was originally created to help a friend and colleague, Doug McIlroy, do a language processing search through the Federalist Papers to try and identify its anonymous authors? These and other historical tidbits are covered in this episode of Computerphile.