Thread by @rsnbrgr

Learn grep by using it to solve Wordle! Here's one from a few days ago. I have a favorite starting word and I see it has two letters in the wrong position. My wordle-grep cheat sheet (see snapshot) tells me how to build a command line. I build it and…

…ew, 120 words is way too many. My gf looks over my shoulder saying "what if there's an S at the end?" so I insert a grep command to give me those. Picking through the responses we agree on "farms" and I go for it. As you can see…

This time I add "fms" to the wrong letters and I insist on "a" in the second position. I *also* decide to include "i" on a #hunch because it's the next vowel in line. I build the command line and 19 words emerge. I never saw "radio" because "rabid" jumped out at me…

So I add "bd" to the wrong letters. I also make sure "r" can't be in the first position and "i" can't be in the fourth position (you'll need another grep if/when letters overlap a position). Then I run the command. It returns three words and we've got three tries… TA DA!

Here's another Wordle from a few days ago. I use my favorite starting word to find it has two letters in the correct position and one appears elsewhere. I use my wordle-grep cheat sheet (see snapshot) to build a command line, including the next vowel "i" on a #hunch…

My command returns 4 words. Four! We could start at the beginning with "brain" but hey, I like trains! Then my gf says "no no no, use 'drain' instead.' And I'm pretty much like Jules Winnfield: I kinda gotta follow my gf's ideas. We go with "drain" and…

Welp, I'm going to win thanks to grep because I've got three words left with three tries left. I tell my gf "you picked 'drain' so I'm picking 'train'" and TA DA!

Okay, now let's use hunches with grep to solve what *looks* like a difficult Wordle. Again I use my favorite starting word and … 🤔. I use my wordle-grep cheat sheet (see snapshot) to build a command line. On a #hunch I include vowels "i" & "o" with an "s" at the end…

My command line returns four words. Perusing the list I settle on "lions" and my hunch begins to pay off!

I add "io" to the wrong letters. Of course "l" and "s" need attention. But I definitely need a vowel so I trial-case "u" vs. "y" in different command lines and…

"y" returns nothing while "u" returns two words. I choose the first word, "slung," to learn more about where the letters "lsu" don't belong — and TA DA!

🥴 Stupid me: having isolated the solution to one vowel, my hunch *should* be "it's one of these two words."

So, that's how you can learn grep by using it to solve Wordle! See also blog.gravitywall.net/2022/02/17/sol… for a great blog on using grep in Wordle.

PS: you can shorten command lines by storing five-letter words in a new file (see snapshot). Enjoy!