Should have used egrep

[Douglas Bates <dbates@stats.adelaide.edu.au>]

This is not directly connected with Debian Linux and I apologize for
using the bandwidth but it's such a good story.

>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen Masterman <floyd@animals.mit.edu> writes:

  Stephen> I guess I should use egrep!

I don't know if it is true for current implementations but one of the
curiosities of early implementations of egrep was that, even though it
is more general than grep, it was usually faster than grep on
problems where they could both be used.  

This was the basis of an exchange at a meeting in Bell Labs many years
ago.  One of the major participants rushed into the room long after
the meeting had started and offered the apology, "Sorry I'm late - I
was grep'ing my apartment for my car keys."  From the back of the room
came a response, "Should have used egrep - it's faster."