Help Define This Meaning...

It means you can't do a text search with paper documentation. "Hackers seldom read paper documentation and (too) often resist writing it; they prefer theirs to be terse and on-line. A common comment on this predilection is 'You can't grep dead trees'".

Found at
http://www.clueless.com/jargon3.0.0/documentation.html

See also

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~pjf/You_can't_grep_dead_trees.html

(Sometimes when I cut and paste URL's it looks ok to me but once the answer is posted, an extraneousspace will have crept in. Make sure you delete any extraneous spaces or the page won't load).

One thing that accompanies almost every technology is specific jargon, and Unix may have the oddest sounding! 'grep' refers to a global search command, which returns matches to the standard output file and 'dead trees' refers to paper documentation. A common reason in favor of documentation in computer files instead of on paper is that you can't [use a computer to] search the paper documentation. There are several good jargon dictionaries out there and it's good to become familiar with thosethat apply to your environment...HTH (as in 'hope this helps') ---Will

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