I have a file which has the following data:

Direct reads = 32
Direct reads elapsed time (ms) = 23

I am trying to get the values only using the following command:

grep "Direct reads" db_snap1.out | cut -d= -f2

Instead of getting the value from the first Direct reads, I am getting the value from both the rows.

How can I make sure that it will bring back just the data for Direct reads alone?

The command grep "Direct reads" will only keep the lines that contain the text Direct reads. This means it will keep both the lines rather than just the first. I suggest you change your line slightly to something like :