extract text from txt file in linux using grep when there is ambguity

Question

I have a file named l.txt which have follwoing data, first name and last name. When I pass the first name, output should be last name. Below query is working for me .

l.txt

name Tony Mcgill
name Jag John
name Jagmohan Singh

It works well for name tony. but when I search for jag it gives two results, John & Singh. But I need John only. How can I achieve this.

grep -e '^'"name jag" l.txt | awk '{print $3}' 

I am using this command.

Answer 1

You can use grep -w to match a word:

grep -iw 'tony' file
name Tony Mcgill

Alternatively use word boundary in your grep :

grep -i '\<tony\>' file

OR:

grep -i '\btony\b' file

Answer 2

You can also do everything in awk :

awk '$2~/\<Jag\>/ {print $3}' l.txt