cat file1 | perl -e 'while(<>){ next if !/IMO/; print $_;}' #### cat file1 | perl -e 'while(<>){ next if !/\bIMO/; print $_;}' #### cat file1 | perl -e 'while(<>){ next if !/\bIMO/i; print $_;}' #### vi file2 apple orange banana grep -f file2 file1