/[pcre]/code/trunk/doc/pcregrep.txt
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revision 77 by nigel, Sat Feb 24 21:40:45 2007 UTC revision 392 by ph10, Tue Mar 17 21:30:30 2009 UTC
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1  PCREGREP(1)                                                        PCREGREP(1)  PCREGREP(1)                                                        PCREGREP(1)
2    
3    
   
4  NAME  NAME
5         pcregrep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.         pcregrep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
6    
7    
8  SYNOPSIS  SYNOPSIS
9         pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [file1 file2 ...]         pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [path1 path2 ...]
10    
11    
12  DESCRIPTION  DESCRIPTION
# Line 14  DESCRIPTION Line 14  DESCRIPTION
14         pcregrep  searches  files  for  character  patterns, in the same way as         pcregrep  searches  files  for  character  patterns, in the same way as
15         other grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression library         other grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression library
16         to support patterns that are compatible with the regular expressions of         to support patterns that are compatible with the regular expressions of
17         Perl 5. See pcrepattern for a full description of syntax and  semantics         Perl 5. See pcrepattern(3) for a full description of syntax and  seman-
18         of the regular expressions that PCRE supports.         tics of the regular expressions that PCRE supports.
19    
20           Patterns,  whether  supplied on the command line or in a separate file,
21           are given without delimiters. For example:
22    
23         A pattern must be specified on the command line unless the -f option is           pcregrep Thursday /etc/motd
24         used (see below).  
25           If you attempt to use delimiters (for example, by surrounding a pattern
26           with  slashes,  as  is common in Perl scripts), they are interpreted as
27           part of the pattern. Quotes can of course be used to  delimit  patterns
28           on  the  command  line  because  they are interpreted by the shell, and
29           indeed they are required if a pattern contains  white  space  or  shell
30           metacharacters.
31    
32           The  first  argument that follows any option settings is treated as the
33           single pattern to be matched when neither -e nor -f is  present.   Con-
34           versely,  when  one  or  both of these options are used to specify pat-
35           terns, all arguments are treated as path names. At least one of -e, -f,
36           or an argument pattern must be provided.
37    
38         If no files are specified, pcregrep reads the standard input. The stan-         If no files are specified, pcregrep reads the standard input. The stan-
39         dard  input  can  also  be  referenced by a name consisting of a single         dard input can also be referenced by a  name  consisting  of  a  single
40         hyphen.  For example:         hyphen.  For example:
41    
42           pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3           pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3
43    
44         By default, each line that matches the pattern is copied to  the  stan-         By  default, each line that matches a pattern is copied to the standard
45         dard  output,  and  if  there  is  more than one file, the file name is         output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is output  at
46         printed before each line of output. However, there are options that can         the start of each line, followed by a colon. However, there are options
47         change how pcregrep behaves. In particular, the -M option makes it pos-         that can change how pcregrep behaves.  In  particular,  the  -M  option
48         sible to search for patterns that span line boundaries.         makes  it  possible  to  search for patterns that span line boundaries.
49           What defines a line  boundary  is  controlled  by  the  -N  (--newline)
50         Patterns are limited to 8K  or  BUFSIZ  characters,  whichever  is  the         option.
51         greater.  BUFSIZ is defined in <stdio.h>.  
52           Patterns  are  limited  to  8K  or  BUFSIZ characters, whichever is the
53           greater.  BUFSIZ is defined in <stdio.h>. When there is more  than  one
54           pattern (specified by the use of -e and/or -f), each pattern is applied
55           to each line in the order in which they are defined,  except  that  all
56           the -e patterns are tried before the -f patterns.
57    
58           By  default,  as soon as one pattern matches (or fails to match when -v
59           is used), no further patterns are considered. However, if --colour  (or
60           --color) is used to colour the matching substrings, or if --only-match-
61           ing, --file-offsets, or --line-offsets is used to output only the  part
62           of  the  line  that  matched (either shown literally, or as an offset),
63           scanning resumes immediately  following  the  match,  so  that  further
64           matches  on the same line can be found. If there are multiple patterns,
65           they are all tried on the remainder of the line, but patterns that fol-
66           low the one that matched are not tried on the earlier part of the line.
67    
68           This is the same behaviour as GNU grep, but it does mean that the order
69           in which multiple patterns are specified can affect the output when one
70           of the above options is used.
71    
72           Patterns  that can match an empty string are accepted, but empty string
73           matches are not recognized. An example is the pattern "(super)?(man)?",
74           in  which  all  components  are optional. This pattern finds all occur-
75           rences of both "super" and "man"; the output differs from matching with
76           "super|man" when only the matching substrings are being shown.
77    
78           If  the  LC_ALL  or LC_CTYPE environment variable is set, pcregrep uses
79           the value to set a locale when calling the PCRE library.  The  --locale
80           option can be used to override this.
81    
82    
83    SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES
84    
85           It  is  possible  to compile pcregrep so that it uses libz or libbz2 to
86           read files whose names end in .gz or .bz2, respectively. You  can  find
87           out whether your binary has support for one or both of these file types
88           by running it with the --help option. If the appropriate support is not
89           present,  files are treated as plain text. The standard input is always
90           so treated.
91    
92    
93  OPTIONS  OPTIONS
94    
95         --        This  terminate the list of options. It is useful if the next         --        This terminate the list of options. It is useful if the  next
96                   item on the command line starts with a hyphen, but is not  an                   item  on  the command line starts with a hyphen but is not an
97                   option.                   option. This allows for the processing of patterns and  file-
98                     names that start with hyphens.
99         -A number Print  number  lines  of context after each matching line. If  
100                   file names and/or line numbers are being  printed,  a  hyphen         -A number, --after-context=number
101                   separator is used instead of a colon for the context lines. A                   Output  number  lines of context after each matching line. If
102                   line containing "--" is printed between each group of  lines,                   filenames and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen sep-
103                     arator  is  used  instead of a colon for the context lines. A
104                     line containing "--" is output between each group  of  lines,
105                   unless  they  are  in  fact contiguous in the input file. The                   unless  they  are  in  fact contiguous in the input file. The
106                   value of number is expected to be relatively small.  However,                   value of number is expected to be relatively small.  However,
107                   pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of following text avail-                   pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of following text avail-
108                   able for context printing.                   able for context output.
109    
110         -B number Print number lines of context before each matching  line.  If         -B number, --before-context=number
111                   file  names  and/or  line numbers are being printed, a hyphen                   Output number lines of context before each matching line.  If
112                   separator is used instead of a colon for the context lines. A                   filenames and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen sep-
113                   line  containing "--" is printed between each group of lines,                   arator is used instead of a colon for the  context  lines.  A
114                     line  containing  "--" is output between each group of lines,
115                   unless they are in fact contiguous in  the  input  file.  The                   unless they are in fact contiguous in  the  input  file.  The
116                   value  of number is expected to be relatively small. However,                   value  of number is expected to be relatively small. However,
117                   pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of preceding text avail-                   pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of preceding text avail-
118                   able for context printing.                   able for context output.
119    
120         -C number Print  number  lines  of  context  both before and after each         -C number, --context=number
121                     Output  number  lines  of  context both before and after each
122                   matching line.  This is equivalent to setting both -A and  -B                   matching line.  This is equivalent to setting both -A and  -B
123                   to the same value.                   to the same value.
124    
125         -c        Do  not print individual lines; instead just print a count of         -c, --count
126                   the number of lines that would otherwise have  been  printed.                   Do  not  output individual lines; instead just output a count
127                   If  several  files  are given, a count is printed for each of                   of the number of lines that would otherwise have been output.
128                   them.                   If  several  files  are  given, a count is output for each of
129                     them. In this mode, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored.
130    
131           --colour, --color
132                     If this option is given without any data, it is equivalent to
133                     "--colour=auto".   If  data  is required, it must be given in
134                     the same shell item, separated by an equals sign.
135    
136           --colour=value, --color=value
137                     This option specifies under what circumstances the parts of a
138                     line that matched a pattern should be coloured in the output.
139                     By default, the output is not coloured. The value  (which  is
140                     optional,  see above) may be "never", "always", or "auto". In
141                     the latter case, colouring happens only if the standard  out-
142                     put  is connected to a terminal. More resources are used when
143                     colouring is enabled, because pcregrep has to search for  all
144                     possible  matches in a line, not just one, in order to colour
145                     them all.
146    
147                     The colour that is used can be specified by setting the envi-
148                     ronment variable PCREGREP_COLOUR or PCREGREP_COLOR. The value
149                     of this variable should be a string of two numbers, separated
150                     by  a  semicolon.  They  are copied directly into the control
151                     string for setting colour  on  a  terminal,  so  it  is  your
152                     responsibility  to ensure that they make sense. If neither of
153                     the environment variables is  set,  the  default  is  "1;31",
154                     which gives red.
155    
156           -D action, --devices=action
157                     If  an  input  path  is  not  a  regular file or a directory,
158                     "action" specifies how it is to be  processed.  Valid  values
159                     are "read" (the default) or "skip" (silently skip the path).
160    
161           -d action, --directories=action
162                     If an input path is a directory, "action" specifies how it is
163                     to be processed.  Valid  values  are  "read"  (the  default),
164                     "recurse"  (equivalent to the -r option), or "skip" (silently
165                     skip the path). In the default case, directories are read  as
166                     if  they  were  ordinary files. In some operating systems the
167                     effect of reading a directory like this is an immediate  end-
168                     of-file.
169    
170           -e pattern, --regex=pattern, --regexp=pattern
171                     Specify a pattern to be matched. This option can be used mul-
172                     tiple times in order to specify several patterns. It can also
173                     be  used  as a way of specifying a single pattern that starts
174                     with a hyphen. When -e is used, no argument pattern is  taken
175                     from  the  command  line;  all  arguments are treated as file
176                     names. There is an overall maximum of 100 patterns. They  are
177                     applied  to  each line in the order in which they are defined
178                     until one matches (or fails to match if -v is used). If -f is
179                     used  with  -e,  the command line patterns are matched first,
180                     followed by the patterns from the file,  independent  of  the
181                     order  in which these options are specified. Note that multi-
182                     ple use of -e is not the same as a single pattern with alter-
183                     natives. For example, X|Y finds the first character in a line
184                     that is X or Y, whereas if the two patterns are  given  sepa-
185                     rately, pcregrep finds X if it is present, even if it follows
186                     Y in the line. It finds Y only if there is no X in the  line.
187                     This  really  matters  only  if  you are using -o to show the
188                     part(s) of the line that matched.
189    
190         --exclude=pattern         --exclude=pattern
191                   When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-                   When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-
192                   sequence of the -r (recursive search) option, any files whose                   sequence  of  the  -r  (recursive search) option, any regular
193                   names match the pattern are excluded. The pattern is  a  PCRE                   files whose names match the pattern are excluded. Subdirecto-
194                   regular expression. If a file name matches both --include and                   ries  are  not  excluded  by  this  option; they are searched
195                   --exclude, it is excluded. There is no short  form  for  this                   recursively, subject to the --exclude_dir  and  --include_dir
196                     options.  The  pattern  is  a PCRE regular expression, and is
197                     matched against the final component of the file name (not the
198                     entire  path).  If  a  file  name  matches both --include and
199                     --exclude, it is excluded.  There is no short form  for  this
200                   option.                   option.
201    
202         -ffilename         --exclude_dir=pattern
203                   Read  a  number  of patterns from the file, one per line, and                   When  pcregrep  is searching the contents of a directory as a
204                   match all of them against each line of input. A line is  out-                   consequence of the -r (recursive search) option,  any  subdi-
205                   put  if  any  of  the patterns match it.  When -f is used, no                   rectories  whose  names match the pattern are excluded. (Note
206                     that the --exclude option does  not  affect  subdirectories.)
207                     The  pattern  is  a  PCRE  regular expression, and is matched
208                     against the final component  of  the  name  (not  the  entire
209                     path).  If a subdirectory name matches both --include_dir and
210                     --exclude_dir, it is excluded. There is  no  short  form  for
211                     this option.
212    
213           -F, --fixed-strings
214                     Interpret  each pattern as a list of fixed strings, separated
215                     by newlines, instead of  as  a  regular  expression.  The  -w
216                     (match  as  a  word) and -x (match whole line) options can be
217                     used with -F. They apply to each of the fixed strings. A line
218                     is selected if any of the fixed strings are found in it (sub-
219                     ject to -w or -x, if present).
220    
221           -f filename, --file=filename
222                     Read a number of patterns from the file, one  per  line,  and
223                     match  them against each line of input. A data line is output
224                     if any of the patterns match it. The filename can be given as
225                     "-" to refer to the standard input. When -f is used, patterns
226                     specified on the command line using -e may also  be  present;
227                     they are tested before the file's patterns. However, no other
228                   pattern is taken from the command  line;  all  arguments  are                   pattern is taken from the command  line;  all  arguments  are
229                   treated  as  file  names. There is a maximum of 100 patterns.                   treated  as  file  names.  There is an overall maximum of 100
230                   Trailing white space is removed, and blank lines are ignored.                   patterns. Trailing white space is removed from each line, and
231                   An  empty  file  contains  no  patterns and therefore matches                   blank  lines  are ignored. An empty file contains no patterns
232                   nothing.                   and therefore matches nothing. See also  the  comments  about
233                     multiple  patterns  versus a single pattern with alternatives
234                     in the description of -e above.
235    
236           --file-offsets
237                     Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that  match,  show
238                     each  match  as  an  offset  from the start of the file and a
239                     length, separated by a comma. In this  mode,  no  context  is
240                     shown.  That  is,  the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If
241                     there is more than one match in a line, each of them is shown
242                     separately.  This  option  is mutually exclusive with --line-
243                     offsets and --only-matching.
244    
245           -H, --with-filename
246                     Force the inclusion of the filename at the  start  of  output
247                     lines  when searching a single file. By default, the filename
248                     is not shown in this case. For matching lines,  the  filename
249                     is followed by a colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator
250                     is used. If a line number is also being  output,  it  follows
251                     the file name.
252    
253           -h, --no-filename
254                     Suppress  the output filenames when searching multiple files.
255                     By default, filenames  are  shown  when  multiple  files  are
256                     searched.  For  matching lines, the filename is followed by a
257                     colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator is used.   If  a
258                     line number is also being output, it follows the file name.
259    
260         -h        Suppress printing of filenames when searching multiple files.         --help    Output  a  help  message, giving brief details of the command
261                     options and file type support, and then exit.
262    
263         -i        Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.         -i, --ignore-case
264                     Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
265    
266         --include=pattern         --include=pattern
267                   When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-                   When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-
268                   sequence of the -r  (recursive  search)  option,  only  files                   sequence of the -r (recursive search) option, only those reg-
269                   whose  names match the pattern are included. The pattern is a                   ular files whose names match the pattern are included. Subdi-
270                   PCRE  regular  expression.  If  a  file  name  matches   both                   rectories  are always included and searched recursively, sub-
271                   --include  and  --exclude,  it is excluded. There is no short                   ject to the --include_dir and --exclude_dir options. The pat-
272                   form for this option.                   tern is a PCRE regular expression, and is matched against the
273                     final component of the file name (not the entire path). If  a
274                     file  name  matches  both  --include  and  --exclude,  it  is
275                     excluded. There is no short form for this option.
276    
277           --include_dir=pattern
278                     When pcregrep is searching the contents of a directory  as  a
279                     consequence  of  the -r (recursive search) option, only those
280                     subdirectories whose names match the  pattern  are  included.
281                     (Note  that  the --include option does not affect subdirecto-
282                     ries.) The pattern is  a  PCRE  regular  expression,  and  is
283                     matched  against  the  final  component  of the name (not the
284                     entire  path).  If   a   subdirectory   name   matches   both
285                     --include_dir  and --exclude_dir, it is excluded. There is no
286                     short form for this option.
287    
288         -L        Instead of printing lines from  the  files,  just  print  the         -L, --files-without-match
289                     Instead of outputting lines from the files, just  output  the
290                   names  of  the files that do not contain any lines that would                   names  of  the files that do not contain any lines that would
291                   have been printed. Each file name is printed once, on a sepa-                   have been output. Each file name is output once, on  a  sepa-
292                   rate line.                   rate line.
293    
294         -l        Instead  of  printing  lines  from  the files, just print the         -l, --files-with-matches
295                   names of the files containing  lines  that  would  have  been                   Instead  of  outputting lines from the files, just output the
296                   printed.  Each file name is printed once, on a separate line.                   names of the files containing lines that would have been out-
297                     put.  Each  file  name  is  output  once, on a separate line.
298                     Searching stops as soon as a matching  line  is  found  in  a
299                     file.
300    
301         --label=name         --label=name
302                   This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input                   This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input
303                   when  file  names are being printed. If not supplied, "(stan-                   when file names are being output. If not supplied, "(standard
304                   dard input)" is used. There is no short form for this option.                   input)" is used. There is no short form for this option.
305    
306           --line-offsets
307                     Instead  of  showing lines or parts of lines that match, show
308                     each match as a line number, the offset from the start of the
309                     line,  and a length. The line number is terminated by a colon
310                     (as usual; see the -n option), and the offset and length  are
311                     separated  by  a  comma.  In  this mode, no context is shown.
312                     That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If there  is
313                     more  than  one  match in a line, each of them is shown sepa-
314                     rately. This option is mutually exclusive with --file-offsets
315                     and --only-matching.
316    
317           --locale=locale-name
318                     This  option specifies a locale to be used for pattern match-
319                     ing. It overrides the value in the LC_ALL or  LC_CTYPE  envi-
320                     ronment  variables.  If  no  locale  is  specified,  the PCRE
321                     library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used. There  is
322                     no short form for this option.
323    
324         -M        Allow  patterns to match more than one line. When this option         -M, --multiline
325                     Allow  patterns to match more than one line. When this option
326                   is given, patterns may usefully contain literal newline char-                   is given, patterns may usefully contain literal newline char-
327                   acters  and  internal  occurrences of ^ and $ characters. The                   acters  and  internal  occurrences of ^ and $ characters. The
328                   output for any one match may consist of more than  one  line.                   output for any one match may consist of more than  one  line.
# Line 127  OPTIONS Line 336  OPTIONS
336                   ters, if fewer than 8K) are guaranteed to  be  available  for                   ters, if fewer than 8K) are guaranteed to  be  available  for
337                   lookbehind assertions.                   lookbehind assertions.
338    
339         -n        Precede each line by its line number in the file.         -N newline-type, --newline=newline-type
340                     The  PCRE  library  supports  five  different conventions for
341                     indicating the ends of lines. They are  the  single-character
342                     sequences  CR  (carriage  return) and LF (linefeed), the two-
343                     character sequence CRLF, an "anycrlf" convention, which  rec-
344                     ognizes  any  of the preceding three types, and an "any" con-
345                     vention, in which any Unicode line ending sequence is assumed
346                     to  end a line. The Unicode sequences are the three just men-
347                     tioned,  plus  VT  (vertical  tab,  U+000B),  FF   (formfeed,
348                     U+000C),   NEL  (next  line,  U+0085),  LS  (line  separator,
349                     U+2028), and PS (paragraph separator, U+2029).
350    
351                     When  the  PCRE  library  is  built,  a  default  line-ending
352                     sequence   is  specified.   This  is  normally  the  standard
353                     sequence for the operating system. Unless otherwise specified
354                     by  this  option,  pcregrep  uses the library's default.  The
355                     possible values for this option are CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or
356                     ANY.  This  makes  it  possible to use pcregrep on files that
357                     have come from other environments without  having  to  modify
358                     their  line  endings.  If the data that is being scanned does
359                     not agree with the convention set by  this  option,  pcregrep
360                     may behave in strange ways.
361    
362           -n, --line-number
363                     Precede each output line by its line number in the file, fol-
364                     lowed by a colon for matching lines or a hyphen  for  context
365                     lines.  If the filename is also being output, it precedes the
366                     line number. This option is forced if --line-offsets is used.
367    
368           -o, --only-matching
369                     Show only the part of the line that  matched  a  pattern.  In
370                     this  mode,  no context is shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C
371                     options are ignored. If there is more than  one  match  in  a
372                     line,  each  of  them  is shown separately. If -o is combined
373                     with -v (invert the sense of the match to  find  non-matching
374                     lines),  no  output  is generated, but the return code is set
375                     appropriately. This option is mutually exclusive with --file-
376                     offsets and --line-offsets.
377    
378         -q        Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages.         -q, --quiet
379                     Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages.
380                   The exit status indicates whether or  not  any  matches  were                   The exit status indicates whether or  not  any  matches  were
381                   found.                   found.
382    
383         -r        If  any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files         -r, --recursive
384                     If  any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files
385                   it contains, taking note of any --include and --exclude  set-                   it contains, taking note of any --include and --exclude  set-
386                   tings. Without -r a directory is scanned as a normal file.                   tings.  By  default, a directory is read as a normal file; in
387                     some operating systems this gives an  immediate  end-of-file.
388         -s        Suppress  error  messages  about  non-existent  or unreadable                   This  option  is  a  shorthand  for  setting the -d option to
389                   files. Such files are quietly skipped.  However,  the  return                   "recurse".
390    
391           -s, --no-messages
392                     Suppress error  messages  about  non-existent  or  unreadable
393                     files.  Such  files  are quietly skipped. However, the return
394                   code is still 2, even if matches were found in other files.                   code is still 2, even if matches were found in other files.
395    
396         -u        Operate  in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE         -u, --utf-8
397                   has been compiled with UTF-8 support. Both  the  pattern  and                   Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if  PCRE
398                   each  subject line must be valid strings of UTF-8 characters.                   has  been compiled with UTF-8 support. Both patterns and sub-
399                     ject lines must be valid strings of UTF-8 characters.
400    
401         -V        Write the version numbers of pcregrep and  the  PCRE  library         -V, --version
402                     Write the version numbers of pcregrep and  the  PCRE  library
403                   that is being used to the standard error stream.                   that is being used to the standard error stream.
404    
405         -v        Invert  the  sense  of  the match, so that lines which do not         -v, --invert-match
406                   match the pattern are the ones that are found.                   Invert  the  sense  of  the match, so that lines which do not
407                     match any of the patterns are the ones that are found.
408    
409         -w        Force the pattern to match only whole words. This is  equiva-         -w, --word-regex, --word-regexp
410                     Force the patterns to match only whole words. This is equiva-
411                   lent to having \b at the start and end of the pattern.                   lent to having \b at the start and end of the pattern.
412    
413         -x        Force  the  pattern to be anchored (it must start matching at         -x, --line-regex, --line-regexp
414                   the beginning of the line) and in  addition,  require  it  to                   Force  the  patterns to be anchored (each must start matching
415                   match  the  entire line. This is equivalent to having ^ and $                   at the beginning of a line) and in addition, require them  to
416                     match  entire  lines.  This  is  equivalent to having ^ and $
417                   characters at the start and end of each alternative branch in                   characters at the start and end of each alternative branch in
418                   the regular expression.                   every pattern.
419    
420    
421    ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
422    
423  LONG OPTIONS         The  environment  variables  LC_ALL  and LC_CTYPE are examined, in that
424           order, for a locale. The first one that is set is  used.  This  can  be
425           overridden  by  the  --locale  option.  If  no  locale is set, the PCRE
426           library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used.
427    
        Long  forms  of all the options are available, as in GNU grep. They are  
        shown in the following table:  
428    
429           -A   --after-context  NEWLINES
430           -B   --before-context  
431           -C   --context         The -N (--newline) option allows pcregrep to scan files with  different
432           -c   --count         newline  conventions  from  the  default.  However, the setting of this
433                --exclude (no short form)         option does not affect the way in which pcregrep writes information  to
434           -f   --file         the  standard  error  and  output streams. It uses the string "\n" in C
435           -h   --no-filename         printf() calls to indicate newlines, relying on the C  I/O  library  to
436                --help (no short form)         convert  this  to  an  appropriate  sequence if the output is sent to a
437           -i   --ignore-case         file.
438                --include (no short form)  
439           -L   --files-without-match  
440           -l   --files-with-matches  OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY
441                --label (no short form)  
442           -n   --line-number         The majority of short and long forms of pcregrep's options are the same
443           -r   --recursive         as  in  the  GNU grep program. Any long option of the form --xxx-regexp
444           -q   --quiet         (GNU terminology) is also available as --xxx-regex (PCRE  terminology).
445           -s   --no-messages         However,  the  --locale,  -M,  --multiline, -u, and --utf-8 options are
446           -u   --utf-8         specific to pcregrep.
          -V   --version  
          -v   --invert-match  
          -x   --line-regex  
          -x   --line-regexp  
447    
448    
449  OPTIONS WITH DATA  OPTIONS WITH DATA
# Line 200  OPTIONS WITH DATA Line 456  OPTIONS WITH DATA
456           -f /some/file           -f /some/file
457    
458         If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same  command         If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same  command
459         line  item,  separated  by an = character, or it may appear in the next         line item, separated by an equals character, or (with one exception) it
460         command line item. For example:         may appear in the next command line item. For example:
461    
462           --file=/some/file           --file=/some/file
463           --file /some/file           --file /some/file
464    
465           Note, however, that if you want to supply a file name beginning with  ~
466           as  data  in  a  shell  command,  and have the shell expand ~ to a home
467           directory, you must separate the file name from the option, because the
468           shell does not treat ~ specially unless it is at the start of an item.
469    
470           The  exception  to  the  above is the --colour (or --color) option, for
471           which the data is optional. If this option does have data, it  must  be
472           given  in  the first form, using an equals character. Otherwise it will
473           be assumed that it has no data.
474    
475    
476    MATCHING ERRORS
477    
478           It is possible to supply a regular expression that takes  a  very  long
479           time  to  fail  to  match certain lines. Such patterns normally involve
480           nested indefinite repeats, for example: (a+)*\d when matched against  a
481           line  of  a's  with  no  final  digit. The PCRE matching function has a
482           resource limit that causes it to abort in these circumstances. If  this
483           happens, pcregrep outputs an error message and the line that caused the
484           problem to the standard error stream. If there are more  than  20  such
485           errors, pcregrep gives up.
486    
487    
488  DIAGNOSTICS  DIAGNOSTICS
489    
490         Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found,         Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found,
491         and  2 for syntax errors and non-existent or inacessible files (even if         and 2 for syntax errors and non-existent or inacessible files (even  if
492         matches were found in other files). Using the  -s  option  to  suppress         matches  were  found in other files) or too many matching errors. Using
493         error messages about inaccessble files does not affect the return code.         the -s option to suppress error messages about inaccessble  files  does
494           not affect the return code.
495    
496    
497    SEE ALSO
498    
499           pcrepattern(3), pcretest(1).
500    
501    
502  AUTHOR  AUTHOR
503    
504         Philip Hazel         Philip Hazel
505         University Computing Service         University Computing Service
506         Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.         Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
507    
508    
509    REVISION
510    
511  Last updated: 16 May 2005         Last updated: 01 March 2009
512  Copyright (c) 1997-2005 University of Cambridge.         Copyright (c) 1997-2009 University of Cambridge.
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