Bash shell. Metacherecters

Table 3.1: Summary of Metacharacters

Special
Characters	Usage
.	Matches any single character except newline. In awk, dot can match newline also.
*	Matches any number (including zero) of the single character (including a character specified by a regular expression) that immediately precedes it.
[...]	Matches any one of the class of characters enclosed between the brackets. A circumflex (^) as first character inside brackets reverses the match to all characters except newline and those listed in the class. In awk, newline will also match. A hyphen (-) is used to indicate a range of characters. The close bracket (]) as the first character in class is a member of the class. All other metacharacters lose their meaning when specified as members of a class.
^	First character of regular expression, matches the beginning of the line. Matches the beginning of a string in awk, even if the string contains embedded newlines.
$	As last character of regular expression, matches the end of the line. Matches the end of a string in awk, even if the string contains embedded newlines.
\{n,m\}	Matches a range of occurrences of the single character (including a character specified by a regular expression) that immediately precedes it. \{n\} will match exactly n occurrences, \{n,\} will match at least n occurrences, and \{n,m\} will match any number of occurrences between n and m. (sed and grep only, may not be in some very old versions.)
\	Escapes the special character that follows.

Extended Metacharacters (egrep and awk)
Special
Characters	Usage
+	Matches one or more occurrences of the preceding regular expression.
?	Matches zero or one occurrences of the preceding regular expression.
|	Specifies that either the preceding or following regular expression can be matched (alternation).
()	Groups regular expressions.
{n,m}	Matches a range of occurrences of the single character (including a character specified by a regular expression) that immediately precedes it. {n} will match exactly n occurrences, {n,} will match at least n occurrences, and {n,m} will match any number of occurrences between n and m. (POSIX egrep and POSIX awk, not in traditional egrep or awk.)[2]