I need to search all my log files for 2 specific words and list only the files that contain them. These words will not be on the same line. I can do a grep on one word:
>grep -il chris *
I tried >grep -il "chris".*"help" *.txt
but it stops at the new line char..

I have tried to pipe "|" one grep into another but it doesn't seem to work.
Can anyone help with the syntax to do it in one command?

Not at a unix box, but I believe you could, if the files are similary named OR in the same directory:

for files in `ls`;do
if [[ `grep -il chris $files` != "" && `grep -il help $files` != "" ]];then
echo $files
fi
done

you can also use ls *.txt if they are the only text files.

Try that.

Also, I think the page will break the code up, but the line from if to then should all be on the same line.

try using
grep -il -e "chris" -e "help" *.txt

Thanks to you both...