[SOLVED] Pattern Searching

[whocares357]

I have a file with a random word on each line (3k+ lines).

How can I get the lines with only five characters? I tried using grep '.....' file | more, but it returns all the words (even those less than 5 characters).

Edit: I also tried grep '.{5}' file | more but it doesn't show anything. And grep '.\{5\}' file | more returns all lines with four or more characters (I'm really confused about why it's doing this).

Edit: Okay, ended up using sed -n '/^.\{5\}$/p' file | more. Thanks for any help.

[coopstah13]

in case this is homework, the hint i will give you is to lookup negative lookahead assertions

also probably look into using perl grep option

[whocares357]

Can you at least explain why grep '.\{5\}' file | more returns four or more? I could maybe understand if it returned five or more, but why does it return four?

Edit: I'm guessing that I have some hidden characters in there. How can I reveal them (vi or cat)? Nevermind: set list in vi.