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<html>
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<head>
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<title>pcregrep specification</title>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#00005A" link="#0066FF" alink="#3399FF" vlink="#2222BB">
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pcregrep man page
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Return to the PCRE index page.
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This page is part of the PCRE HTML documentation. It was generated automatically
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from the original man page. If there is any nonsense in it, please consult the
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man page, in case the conversion went wrong.
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SYNOPSIS
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DESCRIPTION
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SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES
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BINARY FILES
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OPTIONS
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ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
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NEWLINES
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OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY
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OPTIONS WITH DATA
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MATCHING ERRORS
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DIAGNOSTICS
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SEE ALSO
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AUTHOR
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REVISION
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SYNOPSIS
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pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [path1 path2 ...]
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DESCRIPTION
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pcregrep searches files for character patterns, in the same way as other
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grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression library to support
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patterns that are compatible with the regular expressions of Perl 5. See
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pcresyntax(3)
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for a quick-reference summary of pattern syntax, or
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pcrepattern(3)
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for a full description of the syntax and semantics of the regular expressions
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that PCRE supports.
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Patterns, whether supplied on the command line or in a separate file, are given
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without delimiters. For example:
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pcregrep Thursday /etc/motd
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If you attempt to use delimiters (for example, by surrounding a pattern with
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slashes, as is common in Perl scripts), they are interpreted as part of the
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pattern. Quotes can of course be used to delimit patterns on the command line
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because they are interpreted by the shell, and indeed quotes are required if a
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pattern contains white space or shell metacharacters.
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The first argument that follows any option settings is treated as the single
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pattern to be matched when neither -e nor -f is present.
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Conversely, when one or both of these options are used to specify patterns, all
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arguments are treated as path names. At least one of -e, -f, or an
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argument pattern must be provided.
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If no files are specified, pcregrep reads the standard input. The
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standard input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a single hyphen.
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For example:
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pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3
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By default, each line that matches a pattern is copied to the standard
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output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is output at the
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start of each line, followed by a colon. However, there are options that can
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change how pcregrep behaves. In particular, the -M option makes it
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possible to search for patterns that span line boundaries. What defines a line
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boundary is controlled by the -N (--newline) option.
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The amount of memory used for buffering files that are being scanned is
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controlled by a parameter that can be set by the --buffer-size option.
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The default value for this parameter is specified when pcregrep is built,
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with the default default being 20K. A block of memory three times this size is
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used (to allow for buffering "before" and "after" lines). An error occurs if a
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line overflows the buffer.
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Patterns can be no longer than 8K or BUFSIZ bytes, whichever is the greater.
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BUFSIZ is defined in <stdio.h>. When there is more than one pattern
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(specified by the use of -e and/or -f), each pattern is applied to
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each line in the order in which they are defined, except that all the -e
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patterns are tried before the -f patterns.
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By default, as soon as one pattern matches a line, no further patterns are
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considered. However, if --colour (or --color) is used to colour the
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matching substrings, or if --only-matching, --file-offsets, or
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--line-offsets is used to output only the part of the line that matched
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(either shown literally, or as an offset), scanning resumes immediately
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following the match, so that further matches on the same line can be found. If
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there are multiple patterns, they are all tried on the remainder of the line,
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but patterns that follow the one that matched are not tried on the earlier part
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of the line.
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This behaviour means that the order in which multiple patterns are specified
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can affect the output when one of the above options is used. This is no longer
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the same behaviour as GNU grep, which now manages to display earlier matches
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for later patterns (as long as there is no overlap).
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Patterns that can match an empty string are accepted, but empty string
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matches are never recognized. An example is the pattern "(super)?(man)?", in
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which all components are optional. This pattern finds all occurrences of both
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"super" and "man"; the output differs from matching with "super|man" when only
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the matching substrings are being shown.
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If the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE environment variable is set,
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pcregrep uses the value to set a locale when calling the PCRE library.
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The --locale option can be used to override this.
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SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES
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It is possible to compile pcregrep so that it uses libz or
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libbz2 to read files whose names end in .gz or .bz2,
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respectively. You can find out whether your binary has support for one or both
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of these file types by running it with the --help option. If the
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appropriate support is not present, files are treated as plain text. The
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standard input is always so treated.
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BINARY FILES
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By default, a file that contains a binary zero byte within the first 1024 bytes
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is identified as a binary file, and is processed specially. (GNU grep also
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identifies binary files in this manner.) See the --binary-files option
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for a means of changing the way binary files are handled.
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OPTIONS
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The order in which some of the options appear can affect the output. For
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example, both the -h and -l options affect the printing of file
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names. Whichever comes later in the command line will be the one that takes
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effect. Similarly, except where noted below, if an option is given twice, the
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later setting is used. Numerical values for options may be followed by K or M,
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to signify multiplication by 1024 or 1024*1024 respectively.
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--
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This terminates the list of options. It is useful if the next item on the
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command line starts with a hyphen but is not an option. This allows for the
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processing of patterns and filenames that start with hyphens.
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-A number, --after-context=number
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Output number lines of context after each matching line. If filenames
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and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
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colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is output between each
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group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
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of number is expected to be relatively small. However, pcregrep
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guarantees to have up to 8K of following text available for context output.
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-a, --text
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Treat binary files as text. This is equivalent to
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--binary-files=text.
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-B number, --before-context=number
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Output number lines of context before each matching line. If filenames
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and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen separator is used instead of a
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colon for the context lines. A line containing "--" is output between each
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group of lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input file. The value
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of number is expected to be relatively small. However, pcregrep
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guarantees to have up to 8K of preceding text available for context output.
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--binary-files=word
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Specify how binary files are to be processed. If the word is "binary" (the
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default), pattern matching is performed on binary files, but the only output is
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"Binary file <name> matches" when a match succeeds. If the word is "text",
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which is equivalent to the -a or --text option, binary files are
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processed in the same way as any other file. In this case, when a match
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succeeds, the output may be binary garbage, which can have nasty effects if
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sent to a terminal. If the word is "without-match", which is equivalent to the
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-I option, binary files are not processed at all; they are assumed not to
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be of interest.
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--buffer-size=number
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Set the parameter that controls how much memory is used for buffering files
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that are being scanned.
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-C number, --context=number
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Output number lines of context both before and after each matching line.
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This is equivalent to setting both -A and -B to the same value.
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-c, --count
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Do not output individual lines from the files that are being scanned; instead
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output the number of lines that would otherwise have been shown. If no lines
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are selected, the number zero is output. If several files are are being
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scanned, a count is output for each of them. However, if the
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--files-with-matches option is also used, only those files whose counts
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are greater than zero are listed. When -c is used, the -A,
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-B, and -C options are ignored.
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--colour, --color
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If this option is given without any data, it is equivalent to "--colour=auto".
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If data is required, it must be given in the same shell item, separated by an
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equals sign.
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--colour=value, --color=value
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This option specifies under what circumstances the parts of a line that matched
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a pattern should be coloured in the output. By default, the output is not
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coloured. The value (which is optional, see above) may be "never", "always", or
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"auto". In the latter case, colouring happens only if the standard output is
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connected to a terminal. More resources are used when colouring is enabled,
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because pcregrep has to search for all possible matches in a line, not
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just one, in order to colour them all.
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The colour that is used can be specified by setting the environment variable
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PCREGREP_COLOUR or PCREGREP_COLOR. The value of this variable should be a
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string of two numbers, separated by a semicolon. They are copied directly into
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the control string for setting colour on a terminal, so it is your
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responsibility to ensure that they make sense. If neither of the environment
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variables is set, the default is "1;31", which gives red.
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-D action, --devices=action
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If an input path is not a regular file or a directory, "action" specifies how
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it is to be processed. Valid values are "read" (the default) or "skip"
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(silently skip the path).
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-d action, --directories=action
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If an input path is a directory, "action" specifies how it is to be processed.
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Valid values are "read" (the default in non-Windows environments, for
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compatibility with GNU grep), "recurse" (equivalent to the -r option), or
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"skip" (silently skip the path, the default in Windows environments). In the
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"read" case, directories are read as if they were ordinary files. In some
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operating systems the effect of reading a directory like this is an immediate
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end-of-file; in others it may provoke an error.
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-e pattern, --regex=pattern, --regexp=pattern
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Specify a pattern to be matched. This option can be used multiple times in
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order to specify several patterns. It can also be used as a way of specifying a
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single pattern that starts with a hyphen. When -e is used, no argument
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pattern is taken from the command line; all arguments are treated as file
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names. There is no limit to the number of patterns. They are applied to each
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line in the order in which they are defined until one matches.
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If -f is used with -e, the command line patterns are matched first,
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followed by the patterns from the file(s), independent of the order in which
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these options are specified. Note that multiple use of -e is not the same
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as a single pattern with alternatives. For example, X|Y finds the first
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character in a line that is X or Y, whereas if the two patterns are given
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separately, with X first, pcregrep finds X if it is present, even if it
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follows Y in the line. It finds Y only if there is no X in the line. This
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matters only if you are using -o or --colo(u)r to show the part(s)
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of the line that matched.
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--exclude=pattern
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Files (but not directories) whose names match the pattern are skipped without
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being processed. This applies to all files, whether listed on the command line,
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obtained from --file-list, or by scanning a directory. The pattern is a
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PCRE regular expression, and is matched against the final component of the file
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name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not
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apply to this pattern. The option may be given any number of times in order to
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specify multiple patterns. If a file name matches both an --include
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and an --exclude pattern, it is excluded. There is no short form for this
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option.
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--exclude-from=filename
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Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an --exclude
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option. What constitutes a newline when reading the file is the operating
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system's default. The --newline option has no effect on this option. This
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option may be given more than once in order to specify a number of files to
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read.
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|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude-dir=pattern
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Directories whose names match the pattern are skipped without being processed,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
whatever the setting of the --recursive option. This applies to all
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
directories, whether listed on the command line, obtained from
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file-list, or by scanning a parent directory. The pattern is a PCRE
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
regular expression, and is matched against the final component of the directory
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
apply to this pattern. The option may be given any number of times in order to
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
specify more than one pattern. If a directory matches both --include-dir
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
and --exclude-dir, it is excluded. There is no short form for this
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
option.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-F, --fixed-strings
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Interpret each data-matching pattern as a list of fixed strings, separated by
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
newlines, instead of as a regular expression. What constitutes a newline for
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
this purpose is controlled by the --newline option. The -w (match
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
as a word) and -x (match whole line) options can be used with -F.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
They apply to each of the fixed strings. A line is selected if any of the fixed
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
strings are found in it (subject to -w or -x, if present). This
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
option applies only to the patterns that are matched against the contents of
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
files; it does not apply to patterns specified by any of the --include or
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude options.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-f filename, --file=filename
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Read patterns from the file, one per line, and match them against
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
each line of input. What constitutes a newline when reading the file is the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
operating system's default. The --newline option has no effect on this
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
option. Trailing white space is removed from each line, and blank lines are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
ignored. An empty file contains no patterns and therefore matches nothing. See
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
also the comments about multiple patterns versus a single pattern with
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
alternatives in the description of -e above.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If this option is given more than once, all the specified files are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
read. A data line is output if any of the patterns match it. A filename can
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
be given as "-" to refer to the standard input. When -f is used, patterns
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
specified on the command line using -e may also be present; they are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
tested before the file's patterns. However, no other pattern is taken from the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
command line; all arguments are treated as the names of paths to be searched.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file-list=filename
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Read a list of files and/or directories that are to be scanned from the given
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
file, one per line. Trailing white space is removed from each line, and blank
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
lines are ignored. These paths are processed before any that are listed on the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
command line. The filename can be given as "-" to refer to the standard input.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If --file and --file-list are both specified as "-", patterns are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
read first. This is useful only when the standard input is a terminal, from
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
which further lines (the list of files) can be read after an end-of-file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
indication. If this option is given more than once, all the specified files are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
read.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file-offsets
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show each match as an
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
offset from the start of the file and a length, separated by a comma. In this
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
mode, no context is shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
options are ignored. If there is more than one match in a line, each of them is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
shown separately. This option is mutually exclusive with --line-offsets
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
and --only-matching.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-H, --with-filename
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Force the inclusion of the filename at the start of output lines when searching
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
a single file. By default, the filename is not shown in this case. For matching
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
lines, the filename is followed by a colon; for context lines, a hyphen
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
separator is used. If a line number is also being output, it follows the file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
name.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-h, --no-filename
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Suppress the output filenames when searching multiple files. By default,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
filenames are shown when multiple files are searched. For matching lines, the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
filename is followed by a colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator is used.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If a line number is also being output, it follows the file name.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--help
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Output a help message, giving brief details of the command options and file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
type support, and then exit. Anything else on the command line is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
ignored.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-I
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Treat binary files as never matching. This is equivalent to
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--binary-files=without-match.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-i, --ignore-case
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include=pattern
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If any --include patterns are specified, the only files that are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
processed are those that match one of the patterns (and do not match an
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude pattern). This option does not affect directories, but it
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
applies to all files, whether listed on the command line, obtained from
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file-list, or by scanning a directory. The pattern is a PCRE regular
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
expression, and is matched against the final component of the file name, not
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not apply to
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
this pattern. The option may be given any number of times. If a file name
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
matches both an --include and an --exclude pattern, it is excluded.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
There is no short form for this option.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include-from=filename
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an --include
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
option. What constitutes a newline for this purpose is the operating system's
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
default. The --newline option has no effect on this option. This option
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
may be given any number of times; all the files are read.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include-dir=pattern
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If any --include-dir patterns are specified, the only directories that
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
are processed are those that match one of the patterns (and do not match an
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude-dir pattern). This applies to all directories, whether listed
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
on the command line, obtained from --file-list, or by scanning a parent
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
directory. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression, and is matched against the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
final component of the directory name, not the entire path. The -F,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-w, and -x options do not apply to this pattern. The option may be
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
given any number of times. If a directory matches both --include-dir and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude-dir, it is excluded. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-L, --files-without-match
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the names of the files
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
that do not contain any lines that would have been output. Each file name is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
output once, on a separate line.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-l, --files-with-matches
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the names of the files
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
containing lines that would have been output. Each file name is output
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
once, on a separate line. Searching normally stops as soon as a matching line
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
is found in a file. However, if the -c (count) option is also used,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
matching continues in order to obtain the correct count, and those files that
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
have at least one match are listed along with their counts. Using this option
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
with -c is a way of suppressing the listing of files with no matches.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--label=name
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input when file names
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
are being output. If not supplied, "(standard input)" is used. There is no
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
short form for this option.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--line-buffered
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
When this option is given, input is read and processed line by line, and the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
output is flushed after each write. By default, input is read in large chunks,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
unless pcregrep can determine that it is reading from a terminal (which
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
is currently possible only in Unix-like environments). Output to terminal is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
normally automatically flushed by the operating system. This option can be
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
useful when the input or output is attached to a pipe and you do not want
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcregrep to buffer up large amounts of data. However, its use will affect
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
performance, and the -M (multiline) option ceases to work.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--line-offsets
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show each match as a
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
line number, the offset from the start of the line, and a length. The line
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
number is terminated by a colon (as usual; see the -n option), and the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
offset and length are separated by a comma. In this mode, no context is shown.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If there is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
more than one match in a line, each of them is shown separately. This option is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
mutually exclusive with --file-offsets and --only-matching.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--locale=locale-name
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
This option specifies a locale to be used for pattern matching. It overrides
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the value in the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE environment variables. If no
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
locale is specified, the PCRE library's default (usually the "C" locale) is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
used. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--match-limit=number
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Processing some regular expression patterns can require a very large amount of
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
memory, leading in some cases to a program crash if not enough is available.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Other patterns may take a very long time to search for all possible matching
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
strings. The pcre_exec() function that is called by pcregrep to do
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the matching has two parameters that can limit the resources that it uses.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The --match-limit option provides a means of limiting resource usage
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
when processing patterns that are not going to match, but which have a very
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
large number of possibilities in their search trees. The classic example is a
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pattern that uses nested unlimited repeats. Internally, PCRE uses a function
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
called match() which it calls repeatedly (sometimes recursively). The
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
limit set by --match-limit is imposed on the number of times this
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
function is called during a match, which has the effect of limiting the amount
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
of backtracking that can take place.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The --recursion-limit option is similar to --match-limit, but
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
instead of limiting the total number of times that match() is called, it
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
limits the depth of recursive calls, which in turn limits the amount of memory
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
that can be used. The recursion depth is a smaller number than the total number
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
of calls, because not all calls to match() are recursive. This limit is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
of use only if it is set smaller than --match-limit.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
There are no short forms for these options. The default settings are specified
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
when the PCRE library is compiled, with the default default being 10 million.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-M, --multiline
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this option is given, patterns
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
may usefully contain literal newline characters and internal occurrences of ^
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
and $ characters. The output for a successful match may consist of more than
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
one line, the last of which is the one in which the match ended. If the matched
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
string ends with a newline sequence the output ends at the end of that line.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
When this option is set, the PCRE library is called in "multiline" mode.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
There is a limit to the number of lines that can be matched, imposed by the way
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
that pcregrep buffers the input file as it scans it. However,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcregrep ensures that at least 8K characters or the rest of the document
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
(whichever is the shorter) are available for forward matching, and similarly
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the previous 8K characters (or all the previous characters, if fewer than 8K)
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
are guaranteed to be available for lookbehind assertions. This option does not
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
work when input is read line by line (see \fP--line-buffered\fP.)
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-N newline-type, --newline=newline-type
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The PCRE library supports five different conventions for indicating
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the ends of lines. They are the single-character sequences CR (carriage return)
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
and LF (linefeed), the two-character sequence CRLF, an "anycrlf" convention,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
which recognizes any of the preceding three types, and an "any" convention, in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
which any Unicode line ending sequence is assumed to end a line. The Unicode
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
sequences are the three just mentioned, plus VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
(form feed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
PS (paragraph separator, U+2029).
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
When the PCRE library is built, a default line-ending sequence is specified.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
This is normally the standard sequence for the operating system. Unless
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
otherwise specified by this option, pcregrep uses the library's default.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The possible values for this option are CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or ANY. This
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
makes it possible to use pcregrep to scan files that have come from other
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
environments without having to modify their line endings. If the data that is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
being scanned does not agree with the convention set by this option,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcregrep may behave in strange ways. Note that this option does not
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
apply to files specified by the -f, --exclude-from, or
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include-from options, which are expected to use the operating system's
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
standard newline sequence.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-n, --line-number
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Precede each output line by its line number in the file, followed by a colon
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
for matching lines or a hyphen for context lines. If the filename is also being
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
output, it precedes the line number. This option is forced if
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--line-offsets is used.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--no-jit
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If the PCRE library is built with support for just-in-time compiling (which
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
speeds up matching), pcregrep automatically makes use of this, unless it
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
was explicitly disabled at build time. This option can be used to disable the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
use of JIT at run time. It is provided for testing and working round problems.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
It should never be needed in normal use.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-o, --only-matching
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Show only the part of the line that matched a pattern instead of the whole
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
line. In this mode, no context is shown. That is, the -A, -B, and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-C options are ignored. If there is more than one match in a line, each
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
of them is shown separately. If -o is combined with -v (invert the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
sense of the match to find non-matching lines), no output is generated, but the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
return code is set appropriately. If the matched portion of the line is empty,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
nothing is output unless the file name or line number are being printed, in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
which case they are shown on an otherwise empty line. This option is mutually
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
exclusive with --file-offsets and --line-offsets.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-onumber, --only-matching=number
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Show only the part of the line that matched the capturing parentheses of the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
given number. Up to 32 capturing parentheses are supported, and -o0 is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
equivalent to -o without a number. Because these options can be given
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
without an argument (see above), if an argument is present, it must be given in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the same shell item, for example, -o3 or --only-matching=2. The comments given
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
for the non-argument case above also apply to this case. If the specified
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
capturing parentheses do not exist in the pattern, or were not set in the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
match, nothing is output unless the file name or line number are being printed.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If this option is given multiple times, multiple substrings are output, in the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
order the options are given. For example, -o3 -o1 -o3 causes the substrings
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
matched by capturing parentheses 3 and 1 and then 3 again to be output. By
|
|
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78a954 |
default, there is no separator (but see the next option).
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--om-separator=text
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Specify a separating string for multiple occurrences of -o. The default
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
is an empty string. Separating strings are never coloured.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-q, --quiet
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages. The exit
|
|
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status indicates whether or not any matches were found.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-r, --recursive
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files it contains,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
taking note of any --include and --exclude settings. By default, a
|
|
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78a954 |
directory is read as a normal file; in some operating systems this gives an
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
immediate end-of-file. This option is a shorthand for setting the -d
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
option to "recurse".
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--recursion-limit=number
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
See --match-limit above.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-s, --no-messages
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Suppress error messages about non-existent or unreadable files. Such files are
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
quietly skipped. However, the return code is still 2, even if matches were
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
found in other files.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-u, --utf-8
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE has been compiled
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
with UTF-8 support. All patterns (including those for any --exclude and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include options) and all subject lines that are scanned must be valid
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
strings of UTF-8 characters.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-V, --version
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Write the version numbers of pcregrep and the PCRE library to the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
standard output and then exit. Anything else on the command line is
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
ignored.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-v, --invert-match
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Invert the sense of the match, so that lines which do not match any of
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the patterns are the ones that are found.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-w, --word-regex, --word-regexp
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Force the patterns to match only whole words. This is equivalent to having \b
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
at the start and end of the pattern. This option applies only to the patterns
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
that are matched against the contents of files; it does not apply to patterns
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
specified by any of the --include or --exclude options.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-x, --line-regex, --line-regexp
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Force the patterns to be anchored (each must start matching at the beginning of
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
a line) and in addition, require them to match entire lines. This is equivalent
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
to having ^ and $ characters at the start and end of each alternative branch in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
every pattern. This option applies only to the patterns that are matched
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
against the contents of files; it does not apply to patterns specified by any
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
of the --include or --exclude options.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The environment variables LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE are examined, in that
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
order, for a locale. The first one that is set is used. This can be overridden
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
by the --locale option. If no locale is set, the PCRE library's default
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
(usually the "C" locale) is used.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
NEWLINES
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The -N (--newline) option allows pcregrep to scan files with
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
different newline conventions from the default. Any parts of the input files
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
that are written to the standard output are copied identically, with whatever
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
newline sequences they have in the input. However, the setting of this option
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
does not affect the interpretation of files specified by the -f,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--exclude-from, or --include-from options, which are assumed to use
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
the operating system's standard newline sequence, nor does it affect the way in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
which pcregrep writes informational messages to the standard error and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
output streams. For these it uses the string "\n" to indicate newlines,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
relying on the C I/O library to convert this to an appropriate sequence.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Many of the short and long forms of pcregrep's options are the same
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
as in the GNU grep program. Any long option of the form
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--xxx-regexp (GNU terminology) is also available as --xxx-regex
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
(PCRE terminology). However, the --file-list, --file-offsets,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--include-dir, --line-offsets, --locale, --match-limit,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-M, --multiline, -N, --newline, --om-separator,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--recursion-limit, -u, and --utf-8 options are specific to
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcregrep, as is the use of the --only-matching option with a
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
capturing parentheses number.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Although most of the common options work the same way, a few are different in
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcregrep. For example, the --include option's argument is a glob
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
for GNU grep, but a regular expression for pcregrep. If both the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-c and -l options are given, GNU grep lists only file names,
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
without counts, but pcregrep gives the counts.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
OPTIONS WITH DATA
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
There are four different ways in which an option with data can be specified.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If a short form option is used, the data may follow immediately, or (with one
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
exception) in the next command line item. For example:
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-f/some/file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-f /some/file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The exception is the -o option, which may appear with or without data.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Because of this, if data is present, it must follow immediately in the same
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
item, for example -o3.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same command line
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
item, separated by an equals character, or (with two exceptions) it may appear
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
in the next command line item. For example:
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file=/some/file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--file /some/file
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Note, however, that if you want to supply a file name beginning with ~ as data
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
in a shell command, and have the shell expand ~ to a home directory, you must
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
separate the file name from the option, because the shell does not treat ~
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
specially unless it is at the start of an item.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The exceptions to the above are the --colour (or --color) and
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
--only-matching options, for which the data is optional. If one of these
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
options does have data, it must be given in the first form, using an equals
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
character. Otherwise pcregrep will assume that it has no data.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
MATCHING ERRORS
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
It is possible to supply a regular expression that takes a very long time to
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
fail to match certain lines. Such patterns normally involve nested indefinite
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
repeats, for example: (a+)*\d when matched against a line of a's with no final
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
digit. The PCRE matching function has a resource limit that causes it to abort
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
in these circumstances. If this happens, pcregrep outputs an error
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
message and the line that caused the problem to the standard error stream. If
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
there are more than 20 such errors, pcregrep gives up.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
The --match-limit option of pcregrep can be used to set the overall
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
resource limit; there is a second option called --recursion-limit that
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
sets a limit on the amount of memory (usually stack) that is used (see the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
discussion of these options above).
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
DIAGNOSTICS
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found, and 2
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
for syntax errors, overlong lines, non-existent or inaccessible files (even if
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
matches were found in other files) or too many matching errors. Using the
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
-s option to suppress error messages about inaccessible files does not
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
affect the return code.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
SEE ALSO
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
pcrepattern(3), pcresyntax(3), pcretest(1).
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
AUTHOR
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Philip Hazel
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
University Computing Service
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
REVISION
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Last updated: 03 April 2014
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Copyright © 1997-2014 University of Cambridge.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
Return to the PCRE index page.
|
|
Packit |
78a954 |
|