Что означают ^ $ и ^#?

Я не понимаю BADIPS=$(egrep -v "^#|^$" $tDB). Можно ли объяснить это? полный код:

#!/bin/bash
# Purpose: Block all traffic from AFGHANISTAN (af) and CHINA (CN). Use ISO code. #
# See url for more info - http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/?p=3402
# Author: nixCraft <www.cyberciti.biz> under GPL v.2.0+
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISO="af cn" 

### Set PATH ###
IPT=/sbin/iptables
WGET=/usr/bin/wget
EGREP=/bin/egrep

### No editing below ###
SPAMLIST="countrydrop"
ZONEROOT="/root/iptables"
DLROOT="http://www.ipdeny.com/ipblocks/data/countries"

cleanOldRules(){
$IPT -F
$IPT -X
$IPT -t nat -F
$IPT -t nat -X
$IPT -t mangle -F
$IPT -t mangle -X
$IPT -P INPUT ACCEPT
$IPT -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
$IPT -P FORWARD ACCEPT
}

# create a dir
[ ! -d $ZONEROOT ] && /bin/mkdir -p $ZONEROOT

# clean old rules
cleanOldRules

# create a new iptables list
$IPT -N $SPAMLIST

for c  in $ISO
do 
    # local zone file
    tDB=$ZONEROOT/$c.zone

    # get fresh zone file
    $WGET -O $tDB $DLROOT/$c.zone

    # country specific log message
    SPAMDROPMSG="$c Country Drop"

    # get 
    BADIPS=$(egrep -v "^#|^$" $tDB)
    for ipblock in $BADIPS
    do
       $IPT -A $SPAMLIST -s $ipblock -j LOG --log-prefix "$SPAMDROPMSG"
       $IPT -A $SPAMLIST -s $ipblock -j DROP
    done
done

# Drop everything 
$IPT -I INPUT -j $SPAMLIST
$IPT -I OUTPUT -j $SPAMLIST
$IPT -I FORWARD -j $SPAMLIST

# call your other iptable script
# /path/to/other/iptables.sh

exit 0