trunk/doc/pcregrep.1

.TH PCREGREP 1
.SH NAME
pcregrep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [file1 file2 ...]
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.rs
.sp
\fBpcregrep\fP searches files for character patterns, in the same way as other
grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression library to support
patterns that are compatible with the regular expressions of Perl 5. See
.\" HREF
\fBpcrepattern\fP
.\"
for a full description of syntax and semantics of the regular expressions that
PCRE supports.
.P
A pattern must be specified on the command line unless the \fB-f\fP option is
used (see below).
.P
If no files are specified, \fBpcregrep\fP reads the standard input. The
standard input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a single hyphen.
For example:
.sp
  pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3
.sp
By default, each line that matches the pattern is copied to the standard
output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is printed before
each line of output. However, there are options that can change how
\fBpcregrep\fP behaves. In particular, the \fB-M\fP option makes it possible to
search for patterns that span line boundaries.
.P
Patterns are limited to 8K or BUFSIZ characters, whichever is the greater.
BUFSIZ is defined in \fB<stdio.h>\fP.
.
.SH OPTIONS
.rs
.TP 10
\fB--\fP
This terminate the list of options. It is useful if the next item on the
command line starts with a hyphen, but is not an option.
.TP
\fB-A\fP \fInumber\fP
Print \fInumber\fP lines of context after each matching line. If file names
and/or line numbers are being printed, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is printed between each
group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
of \fInumber\fP is expected to be relatively small. However, \fBpcregrep\fP
guarantees to have up to 8K of following text available for context printing.
.TP
\fB-B\fP \fInumber\fP
Print \fInumber\fP lines of context before each matching line. If file names
and/or line numbers are being printed, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is printed between each
group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
of \fInumber\fP is expected to be relatively small. However, \fBpcregrep\fP
guarantees to have up to 8K of preceding text available for context printing.
.TP
\fB-C\fP \fInumber\fP
Print \fInumber\fP lines of context both before and after each matching line.
This is equivalent to setting both \fB-A\fP and \fB-B\fP to the same value.
.TP
\fB-c\fP
Do not print individual lines; instead just print a count of the number of
lines that would otherwise have been printed. If several files are given, a
count is printed for each of them.
.TP
\fB--exclude\fP=\fIpattern\fP
When \fBpcregrep\fP is searching the files in a directory as a consequence of
the \fB-r\fP (recursive search) option, any files whose names match the pattern
are excluded. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression. If a file name matches
both \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP, it is excluded. There is no short
form for this option.
.TP
\fB-f\fP\fIfilename\fP
Read a number of patterns from the file, one per line, and match all of them
against each line of input. A line is output if any of the patterns match it.
When \fB-f\fP is used, no pattern is taken from the command line; all arguments
are treated as file names. There is a maximum of 100 patterns. Trailing white
space is removed, and blank lines are ignored. An empty file contains no
patterns and therefore matches nothing.
.TP
\fB-h\fP
Suppress printing of filenames when searching multiple files.
.TP
\fB-i\fP
Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
.TP
\fB--include\fP=\fIpattern\fP
When \fBpcregrep\fP is searching the files in a directory as a consequence of
the \fB-r\fP (recursive search) option, only files whose names match the
pattern are included. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression. If a file name
matches both \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP, it is excluded. There is no
short form for this option.
.TP
\fB-L\fP
Instead of printing lines from the files, just print the names of the files
that do not contain any lines that would have been printed. Each file name is
printed once, on a separate line.
.TP
\fB-l\fP
Instead of printing lines from the files, just print the names of the files
containing lines that would have been printed. Each file name is printed
once, on a separate line.
.TP
\fB--label\fP=\fIname\fP
This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input when file names
are being printed. If not supplied, "(standard input)" is used. There is no
short form for this option.
.TP
\fB-M\fP
Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this option is given, patterns
may usefully contain literal newline characters and internal occurrences of ^
and $ characters. The output for any one match may consist of more than one
line. When this option is set, the PCRE library is called in "multiline" mode.
There is a limit to the number of lines that can be matched, imposed by the way
that \fBpcregrep\fP buffers the input file as it scans it. However,
\fBpcregrep\fP ensures that at least 8K characters or the rest of the document
(whichever is the shorter) are available for forward matching, and similarly
the previous 8K characters (or all the previous characters, if fewer than 8K)
are guaranteed to be available for lookbehind assertions.
.TP
\fB-n\fP
Precede each line by its line number in the file.
.TP
\fB-q\fP
Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages.
The exit status indicates whether or not any matches were found.
.TP
\fB-r\fP
If any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files it contains,
taking note of any \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP settings. Without
\fB-r\fP a directory is scanned as a normal file.
.TP
\fB-s\fP
Suppress error messages about non-existent or unreadable files. Such files are
quietly skipped. However, the return code is still 2, even if matches were
found in other files.
.TP
\fB-u\fP
Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE has been compiled
with UTF-8 support. Both the pattern and each subject line must be valid
strings of UTF-8 characters.
.TP
\fB-V\fP
Write the version numbers of \fBpcregrep\fP and the PCRE library that is being
used to the standard error stream.
.TP
\fB-v\fP
Invert the sense of the match, so that lines which do \fInot\fP match the
pattern are the ones that are found.
.TP
\fB-w\fP
Force the pattern to match only whole words. This is equivalent to having \eb
at the start and end of the pattern.
.TP
\fB-x\fP
Force the pattern to be anchored (it must start matching at the beginning of
the line) and in addition, require it to match the entire line. This is
equivalent to having ^ and $ characters at the start and end of each
alternative branch in the regular expression.
.
.SH "LONG OPTIONS"
.rs
.sp
Long forms of all the options are available, as in GNU grep. They are shown in
the following table:
.sp
  -A   --after-context
  -B   --before-context
  -C   --context
  -c   --count
       --exclude (no short form)
  -f   --file
  -h   --no-filename
       --help (no short form)
  -i   --ignore-case
       --include (no short form)
  -L   --files-without-match
  -l   --files-with-matches
       --label (no short form)
  -n   --line-number
  -r   --recursive
  -q   --quiet
  -s   --no-messages
  -u   --utf-8
  -V   --version
  -v   --invert-match
  -x   --line-regex
  -x   --line-regexp
.
.SH "OPTIONS WITH DATA"
.rs
.sp
There are four different ways in which an option with data can be specified.
If a short form option is used, the data may follow immediately, or in the next
command line item. For example:
.sp
  -f/some/file
  -f /some/file
.sp
If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same command line
item, separated by an = character, or it may appear in the next command line
item. For example:
.sp
  --file=/some/file
  --file /some/file
.sp
.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.rs
.sp
Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found, and 2
for syntax errors and non-existent or inacessible files (even if matches were
found in other files). Using the \fB-s\fP option to suppress error messages
about inaccessble files does not affect the return code.
.
.
.SH AUTHOR
.rs
.sp
Philip Hazel
.br
University Computing Service
.br
Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
.P
.in 0
Last updated: 16 May 2005
.br
Copyright (c) 1997-2005 University of Cambridge.
1	nigel	49	.TH PCREGREP 1
2			.SH NAME
3			pcregrep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
4			.SH SYNOPSIS
5	nigel	77	.B pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [file1 file2 ...]
6	nigel	75	.
7	nigel	49	.SH DESCRIPTION
8	nigel	63	.rs
9			.sp
10	nigel	75	\fBpcregrep\fP searches files for character patterns, in the same way as other
11	nigel	49	grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression library to support
12			patterns that are compatible with the regular expressions of Perl 5. See
13	nigel	63	.\" HREF
14	nigel	75	\fBpcrepattern\fP
15	nigel	63	.\"
16			for a full description of syntax and semantics of the regular expressions that
17			PCRE supports.
18	nigel	75	.P
19			A pattern must be specified on the command line unless the \fB-f\fP option is
20	nigel	63	used (see below).
21	nigel	75	.P
22	nigel	77	If no files are specified, \fBpcregrep\fP reads the standard input. The
23			standard input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a single hyphen.
24			For example:
25			.sp
26			pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3
27			.sp
28			By default, each line that matches the pattern is copied to the standard
29			output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is printed before
30			each line of output. However, there are options that can change how
31			\fBpcregrep\fP behaves. In particular, the \fB-M\fP option makes it possible to
32			search for patterns that span line boundaries.
33	nigel	75	.P
34	nigel	77	Patterns are limited to 8K or BUFSIZ characters, whichever is the greater.
35			BUFSIZ is defined in \fB<stdio.h>\fP.
36	nigel	75	.
37	nigel	49	.SH OPTIONS
38	nigel	63	.rs
39	nigel	49	.TP 10
40	nigel	77	\fB--\fP
41			This terminate the list of options. It is useful if the next item on the
42			command line starts with a hyphen, but is not an option.
43	nigel	49	.TP
44	nigel	77	\fB-A\fP \fInumber\fP
45			Print \fInumber\fP lines of context after each matching line. If file names
46			and/or line numbers are being printed, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
47			colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is printed between each
48			group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
49			of \fInumber\fP is expected to be relatively small. However, \fBpcregrep\fP
50			guarantees to have up to 8K of following text available for context printing.
51			.TP
52			\fB-B\fP \fInumber\fP
53			Print \fInumber\fP lines of context before each matching line. If file names
54			and/or line numbers are being printed, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
55			colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is printed between each
56			group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
57			of \fInumber\fP is expected to be relatively small. However, \fBpcregrep\fP
58			guarantees to have up to 8K of preceding text available for context printing.
59			.TP
60			\fB-C\fP \fInumber\fP
61			Print \fInumber\fP lines of context both before and after each matching line.
62			This is equivalent to setting both \fB-A\fP and \fB-B\fP to the same value.
63			.TP
64	nigel	75	\fB-c\fP
65	nigel	49	Do not print individual lines; instead just print a count of the number of
66			lines that would otherwise have been printed. If several files are given, a
67			count is printed for each of them.
68			.TP
69	nigel	77	\fB--exclude\fP=\fIpattern\fP
70			When \fBpcregrep\fP is searching the files in a directory as a consequence of
71			the \fB-r\fP (recursive search) option, any files whose names match the pattern
72			are excluded. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression. If a file name matches
73			both \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP, it is excluded. There is no short
74			form for this option.
75			.TP
76	nigel	75	\fB-f\fP\fIfilename\fP
77	nigel	63	Read a number of patterns from the file, one per line, and match all of them
78			against each line of input. A line is output if any of the patterns match it.
79	nigel	75	When \fB-f\fP is used, no pattern is taken from the command line; all arguments
80	nigel	63	are treated as file names. There is a maximum of 100 patterns. Trailing white
81			space is removed, and blank lines are ignored. An empty file contains no
82			patterns and therefore matches nothing.
83	nigel	53	.TP
84	nigel	75	\fB-h\fP
85	nigel	49	Suppress printing of filenames when searching multiple files.
86			.TP
87	nigel	75	\fB-i\fP
88	nigel	49	Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
89			.TP
90	nigel	77	\fB--include\fP=\fIpattern\fP
91			When \fBpcregrep\fP is searching the files in a directory as a consequence of
92			the \fB-r\fP (recursive search) option, only files whose names match the
93			pattern are included. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression. If a file name
94			matches both \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP, it is excluded. There is no
95			short form for this option.
96			.TP
97			\fB-L\fP
98			Instead of printing lines from the files, just print the names of the files
99			that do not contain any lines that would have been printed. Each file name is
100			printed once, on a separate line.
101			.TP
102	nigel	75	\fB-l\fP
103	nigel	49	Instead of printing lines from the files, just print the names of the files
104			containing lines that would have been printed. Each file name is printed
105			once, on a separate line.
106			.TP
107	nigel	77	\fB--label\fP=\fIname\fP
108			This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input when file names
109			are being printed. If not supplied, "(standard input)" is used. There is no
110			short form for this option.
111			.TP
112			\fB-M\fP
113			Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this option is given, patterns
114			may usefully contain literal newline characters and internal occurrences of ^
115			and $ characters. The output for any one match may consist of more than one
116			line. When this option is set, the PCRE library is called in "multiline" mode.
117			There is a limit to the number of lines that can be matched, imposed by the way
118			that \fBpcregrep\fP buffers the input file as it scans it. However,
119			\fBpcregrep\fP ensures that at least 8K characters or the rest of the document
120			(whichever is the shorter) are available for forward matching, and similarly
121			the previous 8K characters (or all the previous characters, if fewer than 8K)
122			are guaranteed to be available for lookbehind assertions.
123			.TP
124	nigel	75	\fB-n\fP
125	nigel	49	Precede each line by its line number in the file.
126			.TP
127	nigel	77	\fB-q\fP
128			Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages.
129			The exit status indicates whether or not any matches were found.
130			.TP
131	nigel	75	\fB-r\fP
132	nigel	77	If any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files it contains,
133			taking note of any \fB--include\fP and \fB--exclude\fP settings. Without
134	nigel	75	\fB-r\fP a directory is scanned as a normal file.
135	nigel	53	.TP
136	nigel	75	\fB-s\fP
137	nigel	77	Suppress error messages about non-existent or unreadable files. Such files are
138			quietly skipped. However, the return code is still 2, even if matches were
139			found in other files.
140	nigel	49	.TP
141	nigel	75	\fB-u\fP
142	nigel	63	Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE has been compiled
143	nigel	75	with UTF-8 support. Both the pattern and each subject line must be valid
144			strings of UTF-8 characters.
145	nigel	63	.TP
146	nigel	77	\fB-V\fP
147			Write the version numbers of \fBpcregrep\fP and the PCRE library that is being
148			used to the standard error stream.
149			.TP
150	nigel	75	\fB-v\fP
151			Invert the sense of the match, so that lines which do \fInot\fP match the
152	nigel	77	pattern are the ones that are found.
153	nigel	49	.TP
154	nigel	77	\fB-w\fP
155			Force the pattern to match only whole words. This is equivalent to having \eb
156			at the start and end of the pattern.
157			.TP
158	nigel	75	\fB-x\fP
159	nigel	49	Force the pattern to be anchored (it must start matching at the beginning of
160			the line) and in addition, require it to match the entire line. This is
161			equivalent to having ^ and $ characters at the start and end of each
162			alternative branch in the regular expression.
163	nigel	75	.
164			.SH "LONG OPTIONS"
165	nigel	63	.rs
166			.sp
167			Long forms of all the options are available, as in GNU grep. They are shown in
168			the following table:
169	nigel	75	.sp
170	nigel	77	-A --after-context
171			-B --before-context
172			-C --context
173	nigel	63	-c --count
174	nigel	77	--exclude (no short form)
175			-f --file
176	nigel	63	-h --no-filename
177	nigel	77	--help (no short form)
178	nigel	63	-i --ignore-case
179	nigel	77	--include (no short form)
180			-L --files-without-match
181	nigel	63	-l --files-with-matches
182	nigel	77	--label (no short form)
183	nigel	63	-n --line-number
184			-r --recursive
185	nigel	77	-q --quiet
186	nigel	63	-s --no-messages
187			-u --utf-8
188			-V --version
189			-v --invert-match
190			-x --line-regex
191			-x --line-regexp
192	nigel	77	.
193			.SH "OPTIONS WITH DATA"
194			.rs
195	nigel	75	.sp
196	nigel	77	There are four different ways in which an option with data can be specified.
197			If a short form option is used, the data may follow immediately, or in the next
198			command line item. For example:
199			.sp
200			-f/some/file
201			-f /some/file
202			.sp
203			If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same command line
204			item, separated by an = character, or it may appear in the next command line
205			item. For example:
206			.sp
207			--file=/some/file
208			--file /some/file
209			.sp
210	nigel	75	.
211	nigel	49	.SH DIAGNOSTICS
212	nigel	63	.rs
213			.sp
214	nigel	49	Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found, and 2
215	nigel	77	for syntax errors and non-existent or inacessible files (even if matches were
216			found in other files). Using the \fB-s\fP option to suppress error messages
217			about inaccessble files does not affect the return code.
218	nigel	75	.
219			.
220	nigel	49	.SH AUTHOR
221	nigel	63	.rs
222			.sp
223	nigel	77	Philip Hazel
224	nigel	63	.br
225			University Computing Service
226			.br
227			Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
228	nigel	75	.P
229	nigel	63	.in 0
230	nigel	77	Last updated: 16 May 2005
231	nigel	49	.br
232	nigel	77	Copyright (c) 1997-2005 University of Cambridge.