2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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PCRE2GREP(1) General Commands Manual PCRE2GREP(1)
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NAME
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pcre2grep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
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SYNOPSIS
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pcre2grep [options] [long options] [pattern] [path1 path2 ...]
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DESCRIPTION
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pcre2grep searches files for character patterns, in the same way as
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other grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE2 regular expression
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library to support patterns that are compatible with the regular
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expressions of Perl 5. See pcre2syntax(3) for a quick-reference summary
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of pattern syntax, or pcre2pattern(3) for a full description of the
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syntax and semantics of the regular expressions that PCRE2 supports.
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Patterns, whether supplied on the command line or in a separate file,
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are given without delimiters. For example:
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pcre2grep Thursday /etc/motd
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If you attempt to use delimiters (for example, by surrounding a pattern
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with slashes, as is common in Perl scripts), they are interpreted as
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part of the pattern. Quotes can of course be used to delimit patterns
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on the command line because they are interpreted by the shell, and
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indeed quotes are required if a pattern contains white space or shell
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metacharacters.
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The first argument that follows any option settings is treated as the
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single pattern to be matched when neither -e nor -f is present. Con-
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versely, when one or both of these options are used to specify pat-
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terns, all arguments are treated as path names. At least one of -e, -f,
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or an argument pattern must be provided.
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If no files are specified, pcre2grep reads the standard input. The
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standard input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a single
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hyphen. For example:
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2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
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pcre2grep some-pattern file1 - file3
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2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
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Input files are searched line by line. By default, each line that
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matches a pattern is copied to the standard output, and if there is
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more than one file, the file name is output at the start of each line,
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followed by a colon. However, there are options that can change how
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pcre2grep behaves. In particular, the -M option makes it possible to
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search for strings 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 parameters that can be set by the --buffer-size and
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--max-buffer-size options. The first of these sets the size of buffer
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that is obtained at the start of processing. If an input file contains
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very long lines, a larger buffer may be needed; this is handled by
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automatically extending the buffer, up to the limit specified by --max-
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buffer-size. The default values for these parameters can be set when
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pcre2grep is built; if nothing is specified, the defaults are set to
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20KiB and 1MiB respectively. An error occurs if a line is too long and
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the buffer can no longer be expanded.
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The block of memory that is actually used is three times the "buffer
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size", to allow for buffering "before" and "after" lines. If the buffer
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size is too small, fewer than requested "before" and "after" lines may
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be output.
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Patterns can be no longer than 8KiB or BUFSIZ bytes, whichever is the
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greater. BUFSIZ is defined in <stdio.h>. When there is more than one
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pattern (specified by the use of -e and/or -f), each pattern is applied
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to each line in the order in which they are defined, except that all
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the -e patterns are tried before the -f patterns.
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By default, as soon as one pattern matches a line, no further patterns
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are considered. However, if --colour (or --color) is used to colour the
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matching substrings, or if --only-matching, --file-offsets, or --line-
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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
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found. If there are multiple patterns, they are all tried on the
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remainder of the line, but patterns that follow the one that matched
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are not tried on the earlier part of the line.
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This behaviour means that the order in which multiple patterns are
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specified can affect the output when one of the above options is used.
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This is no longer the same behaviour as GNU grep, which now manages to
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display earlier matches for later patterns (as long as there is no
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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
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"(super)?(man)?", in which all components are optional. This pattern
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finds all occurrences of both "super" and "man"; the output differs
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from matching with "super|man" when only the matching substrings are
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being shown.
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If the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE environment variable is set, pcre2grep uses
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the value to set a locale when calling the PCRE2 library. The --locale
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option can be used to override this.
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SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES
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It is possible to compile pcre2grep so that it uses libz or libbz2 to
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read compressed files whose names end in .gz or .bz2, respectively. You
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can find out whether your pcre2grep binary has support for one or both
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of these file types by running it with the --help option. If the appro-
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priate support is not present, all files are treated as plain text. The
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standard input is always so treated. When input is from a compressed
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.gz or .bz2 file, the --line-buffered option is ignored.
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BINARY FILES
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By default, a file that contains a binary zero byte within the first
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1024 bytes is identified as a binary file, and is processed specially.
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(GNU grep identifies binary files in this manner.) However, if the new-
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line type is specified as "nul", that is, the line terminator is a
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binary zero, the test for a binary file is not applied. See the
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--binary-files option for a means of changing the way binary files are
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handled.
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2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
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BINARY ZEROS IN PATTERNS
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Patterns passed from the command line are strings that are terminated
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by a binary zero, so cannot contain internal zeros. However, patterns
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that are read from a file via the -f option may contain binary zeros.
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OPTIONS
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The order in which some of the options appear can affect the output.
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For 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
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takes effect. Similarly, except where noted below, if an option is
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given twice, the later setting is used. Numerical values for options
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may be followed by K or M, to signify multiplication by 1024 or
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1024*1024 respectively.
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-- This terminates the list of options. It is useful if the next
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item on the command line starts with a hyphen but is not an
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option. This allows for the processing of patterns and file
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names that start with hyphens.
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-A number, --after-context=number
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Output up to number lines of context after each matching
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line. Fewer lines are output if the next match or the end of
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the file is reached, or if the processing buffer size has
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been set too small. If file names and/or line numbers are
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being output, a hyphen separator is used instead of a colon
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for the context lines. A line containing "--" is output
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between each group of lines, unless they are in fact contigu-
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ous in the input file. The value of number is expected to be
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relatively small. When -c is used, -A is ignored.
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-a, --text
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Treat binary files as text. This is equivalent to --binary-
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files=text.
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-B number, --before-context=number
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Output up to number lines of context before each matching
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line. Fewer lines are output if the previous match or the
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start of the file is within number lines, or if the process-
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ing buffer size has been set too small. If file names and/or
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line numbers are being output, a hyphen separator is used
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instead of a colon for the context lines. A line containing
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"--" is output between each group of lines, unless they are
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in fact contiguous in the input file. The value of number is
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expected to be relatively small. When -c is used, -B is
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ignored.
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--binary-files=word
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Specify how binary files are to be processed. If the word is
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"binary" (the default), pattern matching is performed on
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binary files, but the only output is "Binary file <name>
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matches" when a match succeeds. If the word is "text", which
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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,
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when a match succeeds, the output may be binary garbage,
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which can have nasty effects if sent to a terminal. If the
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word is "without-match", which is equivalent to the -I
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option, binary files are not processed at all; they are
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assumed not to be of interest and are skipped without causing
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any output or affecting the return code.
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--buffer-size=number
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Set the parameter that controls how much memory is obtained
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at the start of processing for buffering files that are being
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scanned. See also --max-buffer-size below.
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-C number, --context=number
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Output number lines of context both before and after each
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matching line. This is equivalent to setting both -A and -B
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to the same value.
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-c, --count
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Do not output lines from the files that are being scanned;
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instead output the number of lines that would have been
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shown, either because they matched, or, if -v is set, because
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they failed to match. By default, this count is exactly the
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same as the number of lines that would have been output, but
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if the -M (multiline) option is used (without -v), there may
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be more suppressed lines than the count (that is, the number
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of matches).
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If no lines are selected, the number zero is output. If sev-
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eral files are are being scanned, a count is output for each
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of them and the -t option can be used to cause a total to be
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output at the end. However, if the --files-with-matches
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option is also used, only those files whose counts are
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greater than zero are listed. When -c is used, the -A, -B,
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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
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"--colour=auto". If data is required, it must be given in
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the same shell item, separated by an equals sign.
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--colour=value, --color=value
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This option specifies under what circumstances the parts of a
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line that matched a pattern should be coloured in the output.
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By default, the output is not coloured. The value (which is
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optional, see above) may be "never", "always", or "auto". In
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the latter case, colouring happens only if the standard out-
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put is connected to a terminal. More resources are used when
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colouring is enabled, because pcre2grep has to search for all
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possible matches in a line, not just one, in order to colour
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them all.
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The colour that is used can be specified by setting one of
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the environment variables PCRE2GREP_COLOUR, PCRE2GREP_COLOR,
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PCREGREP_COLOUR, or PCREGREP_COLOR, which are checked in that
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order. If none of these are set, pcre2grep looks for
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GREP_COLORS or GREP_COLOR (in that order). The value of the
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variable should be a string of two numbers, separated by a
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semicolon, except in the case of GREP_COLORS, which must
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start with "ms=" or "mt=" followed by two semicolon-separated
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colours, terminated by the end of the string or by a colon.
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If GREP_COLORS does not start with "ms=" or "mt=" it is
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ignored, and GREP_COLOR is checked.
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If the string obtained from one of the above variables con-
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tains any characters other than semicolon or digits, the set-
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ting is ignored and the default colour is used. The string is
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copied directly into the control string for setting colour on
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a terminal, so it is your responsibility to ensure that the
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values make sense. If no relevant environment variable is
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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,
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"action" specifies how it is to be processed. Valid values
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are "read" (the default) or "skip" (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
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to be processed. Valid values are "read" (the default in
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non-Windows environments, for compatibility with GNU grep),
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"recurse" (equivalent to the -r option), or "skip" (silently
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skip the path, the default in Windows environments). In the
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"read" case, directories are read as if they were ordinary
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files. In some operating systems the effect of reading a
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directory like this is an immediate end-of-file; in others it
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may provoke an error.
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--depth-limit=number
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See --match-limit below.
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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 mul-
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tiple times in order to specify several patterns. It can also
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be used as a way of specifying a single pattern that starts
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with a hyphen. When -e is used, no argument pattern is taken
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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
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applied to each line in the order in which they are defined
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
until one matches.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
If -f is used with -e, the command line patterns are matched
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
first, followed by the patterns from the file(s), independent
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
of the order in which these options are specified. Note that
|
|
|
|
multiple use of -e is not the same as a single pattern with
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
alternatives. For example, X|Y finds the first character in a
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
line that is X or Y, whereas if the two patterns are given
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
separately, with X first, pcre2grep finds X if it is present,
|
|
|
|
even if it follows Y in the line. It finds Y only if there is
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
no X in the line. This matters only if you are using -o or
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
--colo(u)r to show the part(s) of the line that matched.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--exclude=pattern
|
|
|
|
Files (but not directories) whose names match the pattern are
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
skipped without being processed. This applies to all files,
|
|
|
|
whether listed on the command line, obtained from --file-
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
list, or by scanning a directory. The pattern is a PCRE2 reg-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
ular expression, and is matched against the final component
|
|
|
|
of the file name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
options do not apply to this pattern. The option may be given
|
|
|
|
any number of times in order to specify multiple patterns. If
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
a file name matches both an --include and an --exclude pat-
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
tern, it is excluded. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--exclude-from=filename
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
--exclude option. What constitutes a newline when reading the
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
file is the operating system's default. The --newline option
|
|
|
|
has no effect on this option. This option may be given more
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
than once in order to specify a number of files to read.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--exclude-dir=pattern
|
|
|
|
Directories whose names match the pattern are skipped without
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
being processed, whatever the setting of the --recursive
|
|
|
|
option. This applies to all directories, whether listed on
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
the command line, obtained from --file-list, or by scanning a
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
parent directory. The pattern is a PCRE2 regular expression,
|
|
|
|
and is matched against the final component of the directory
|
|
|
|
name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not
|
|
|
|
apply to this pattern. The option may be given any number of
|
|
|
|
times in order to specify more than one pattern. If a direc-
|
|
|
|
tory matches both --include-dir and --exclude-dir, it is
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
excluded. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-F, --fixed-strings
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Interpret each data-matching pattern as a list of fixed
|
|
|
|
strings, separated by newlines, instead of as a regular
|
|
|
|
expression. What constitutes a newline for this purpose is
|
|
|
|
controlled by the --newline option. The -w (match as a word)
|
|
|
|
and -x (match whole line) options can be used with -F. They
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
apply to each of the fixed strings. A line is selected if any
|
|
|
|
of the fixed strings are found in it (subject to -w or -x, if
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
present). This option applies only to the patterns that are
|
|
|
|
matched against the contents of files; it does not apply to
|
|
|
|
patterns specified by any of the --include or --exclude
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
options.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-f filename, --file=filename
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Read patterns from the file, one per line, and match them
|
2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
|
|
|
against each line of input. As is the case with patterns on
|
|
|
|
the command line, no delimiters should be used. What consti-
|
|
|
|
tutes a newline when reading the file is the operating sys-
|
|
|
|
tem's default interpretation of \n. The --newline option has
|
|
|
|
no effect on this option. Trailing white space is removed
|
|
|
|
from each line, and blank lines are ignored. An empty file
|
|
|
|
contains no patterns and therefore matches nothing. Patterns
|
|
|
|
read from a file in this way may contain binary zeros, which
|
|
|
|
are treated as ordinary data characters. See also the com-
|
|
|
|
ments about multiple patterns versus a single pattern with
|
|
|
|
alternatives in the description of -e above.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If this option is given more than once, all the specified
|
|
|
|
files are read. A data line is output if any of the patterns
|
|
|
|
match it. A file name can be given as "-" to refer to the
|
|
|
|
standard input. When -f is used, patterns specified on the
|
|
|
|
command line using -e may also be present; they are tested
|
|
|
|
before the file's patterns. However, no other pattern is
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
taken from the command line; all arguments are treated as the
|
|
|
|
names of paths to be searched.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--file-list=filename
|
2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
|
|
|
Read a list of files and/or directories that are to be
|
|
|
|
scanned from the given file, one per line. What constitutes a
|
|
|
|
newline when reading the file is the operating system's
|
|
|
|
default. Trailing white space is removed from each line, and
|
|
|
|
blank lines are ignored. These paths are processed before any
|
|
|
|
that are listed on the command line. The file name can be
|
|
|
|
given as "-" to refer to the standard input. If --file and
|
|
|
|
--file-list are both specified as "-", patterns are read
|
|
|
|
first. This is useful only when the standard input is a ter-
|
|
|
|
minal, from which further lines (the list of files) can be
|
|
|
|
read after an end-of-file indication. If this option is given
|
|
|
|
more than once, all the specified files are read.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--file-offsets
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show
|
|
|
|
each match as an offset from the start of the file and a
|
|
|
|
length, separated by a comma. In this mode, no context is
|
|
|
|
shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
there is more than one match in a line, each of them is shown
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
separately. This option is mutually exclusive with --output,
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
--line-offsets, and --only-matching.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-H, --with-filename
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Force the inclusion of the file name at the start of output
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
lines when searching a single file. By default, the file name
|
|
|
|
is not shown in this case. For matching lines, the file name
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
is followed by a colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
is used. If a line number is also being output, it follows
|
|
|
|
the file name. When the -M option causes a pattern to match
|
|
|
|
more than one line, only the first is preceded by the file
|
|
|
|
name. This option overrides any previous -h, -l, or -L
|
|
|
|
options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-h, --no-filename
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
Suppress the output file names when searching multiple files.
|
|
|
|
By default, file names are shown when multiple files are
|
|
|
|
searched. For matching lines, the file name is followed by a
|
|
|
|
colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator is used. If a
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
line number is also being output, it follows the file name.
|
|
|
|
This option overrides any previous -H, -L, or -l options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
--heap-limit=number
|
|
|
|
See --match-limit below.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
--help Output a help message, giving brief details of the command
|
|
|
|
options and file type support, and then exit. Anything else
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
on the command line is ignored.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
-I Ignore binary files. This is equivalent to --binary-
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
files=without-match.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-i, --ignore-case
|
|
|
|
Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--include=pattern
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
If any --include patterns are specified, the only files that
|
|
|
|
are processed are those that match one of the patterns (and
|
|
|
|
do not match an --exclude pattern). This option does not
|
|
|
|
affect directories, but it applies to all files, whether
|
|
|
|
listed on the command line, obtained from --file-list, or by
|
|
|
|
scanning a directory. The pattern is a PCRE2 regular expres-
|
|
|
|
sion, and is matched against the final component of the file
|
|
|
|
name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not
|
|
|
|
apply to this pattern. The option may be given any number of
|
|
|
|
times. If a file name matches both an --include and an
|
|
|
|
--exclude pattern, it is excluded. There is no short form
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--include-from=filename
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
--include option. What constitutes a newline for this purpose
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
is the operating system's default. The --newline option has
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
no effect on this option. This option may be given any number
|
|
|
|
of times; all the files are read.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--include-dir=pattern
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
If any --include-dir patterns are specified, the only direc-
|
|
|
|
tories that are processed are those that match one of the
|
|
|
|
patterns (and do not match an --exclude-dir pattern). This
|
|
|
|
applies to all directories, whether listed on the command
|
|
|
|
line, obtained from --file-list, or by scanning a parent
|
|
|
|
directory. The pattern is a PCRE2 regular expression, and is
|
|
|
|
matched against the final component of the directory name,
|
|
|
|
not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do not apply
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
to this pattern. The option may be given any number of times.
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
If a directory matches both --include-dir and --exclude-dir,
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
it is excluded. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-L, --files-without-match
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the
|
|
|
|
names of the files that do not contain any lines that would
|
|
|
|
have been output. Each file name is output once, on a sepa-
|
|
|
|
rate line. This option overrides any previous -H, -h, or -l
|
|
|
|
options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-l, --files-with-matches
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
names of the files containing lines that would have been out-
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
put. Each file name is output once, on a separate line.
|
|
|
|
Searching normally stops as soon as a matching line is found
|
|
|
|
in a file. However, if the -c (count) option is also used,
|
|
|
|
matching continues in order to obtain the correct count, and
|
|
|
|
those files that have at least one match are listed along
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
with their counts. Using this option with -c is a way of sup-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
pressing the listing of files with no matches. This opeion
|
|
|
|
overrides any previous -H, -h, or -L options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--label=name
|
|
|
|
This option supplies a name to be used for the standard input
|
|
|
|
when file names are being output. If not supplied, "(standard
|
|
|
|
input)" is used. There is no short form for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--line-buffered
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
When this option is given, non-compressed input is read and
|
|
|
|
processed line by line, and the output is flushed after each
|
|
|
|
write. By default, input is read in large chunks, unless
|
|
|
|
pcre2grep can determine that it is reading from a terminal
|
2018-06-17 16:13:28 +02:00
|
|
|
(which is currently possible only in Unix-like environments
|
|
|
|
or Windows). Output to terminal is normally automatically
|
|
|
|
flushed by the operating system. This option can be useful
|
|
|
|
when the input or output is attached to a pipe and you do not
|
|
|
|
want pcre2grep to buffer up large amounts of data. However,
|
|
|
|
its use will affect performance, and the -M (multiline)
|
|
|
|
option ceases to work. When input is from a compressed .gz or
|
|
|
|
.bz2 file, --line-buffered is ignored.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--line-offsets
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
each match as a line number, the offset from the start of the
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
line, and a length. The line number is terminated by a colon
|
|
|
|
(as usual; see the -n option), and the offset and length are
|
|
|
|
separated by a comma. In this mode, no context is shown.
|
|
|
|
That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If there is
|
|
|
|
more than one match in a line, each of them is shown sepa-
|
|
|
|
rately. This option is mutually exclusive with --output,
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
--file-offsets, and --only-matching.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--locale=locale-name
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
This option specifies a locale to be used for pattern match-
|
|
|
|
ing. It overrides the value in the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE envi-
|
|
|
|
ronment variables. If no locale is specified, the PCRE2
|
|
|
|
library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used. There is
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
no short form for this option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--match-limit=number
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Processing some regular expression patterns may take a very
|
2017-03-24 17:53:38 +01:00
|
|
|
long time to search for all possible matching strings. Others
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
may require a very large amount of memory. There are three
|
2017-03-24 17:53:38 +01:00
|
|
|
options that set resource limits for matching.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The --match-limit option provides a means of limiting comput-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
ing resource usage when processing patterns that are not
|
|
|
|
going to match, but which have a very large number of possi-
|
2017-03-24 17:53:38 +01:00
|
|
|
bilities in their search trees. The classic example is a pat-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
tern that uses nested unlimited repeats. Internally, PCRE2
|
|
|
|
has a counter that is incremented each time around its main
|
2017-03-24 17:53:38 +01:00
|
|
|
processing loop. If the value set by --match-limit is
|
|
|
|
reached, an error occurs.
|
|
|
|
|
2018-06-17 16:13:28 +02:00
|
|
|
The --heap-limit option specifies, as a number of kibibytes
|
|
|
|
(units of 1024 bytes), the amount of heap memory that may be
|
|
|
|
used for matching. Heap memory is needed only if matching the
|
|
|
|
pattern requires a significant number of nested backtracking
|
|
|
|
points to be remembered. This parameter can be set to zero to
|
|
|
|
forbid the use of heap memory altogether.
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
The --depth-limit option limits the depth of nested back-
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
tracking points, which indirectly limits the amount of memory
|
|
|
|
that is used. The amount of memory needed for each backtrack-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
ing point depends on the number of capturing parentheses in
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
the pattern, so the amount of memory that is used before this
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
limit acts varies from pattern to pattern. This limit is of
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
use only if it is set smaller than --match-limit.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2018-06-17 16:13:28 +02:00
|
|
|
There are no short forms for these options. The default lim-
|
|
|
|
its can be set when the PCRE2 library is compiled; if they
|
|
|
|
are not specified, the defaults are very large and so effec-
|
|
|
|
tively unlimited.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
--max-buffer-size=number
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
This limits the expansion of the processing buffer, whose
|
|
|
|
initial size can be set by --buffer-size. The maximum buffer
|
|
|
|
size is silently forced to be no smaller than the starting
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
buffer size.
|
|
|
|
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
-M, --multiline
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this option
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
is set, the PCRE2 library is called in "multiline" mode. This
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
allows a matched string to extend past the end of a line and
|
|
|
|
continue on one or more subsequent lines. Patterns used with
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
-M may usefully contain literal newline characters and inter-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
nal occurrences of ^ and $ characters. The output for a suc-
|
|
|
|
cessful match may consist of more than one line. The first
|
|
|
|
line is the line in which the match started, and the last
|
|
|
|
line is the line in which the match ended. If the matched
|
|
|
|
string ends with a newline sequence, the output ends at the
|
|
|
|
end of that line. If -v is set, none of the lines in a
|
|
|
|
multi-line match are output. Once a match has been handled,
|
|
|
|
scanning restarts at the beginning of the line after the one
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
in which the match ended.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
The newline sequence that separates multiple lines must be
|
|
|
|
matched as part of the pattern. For example, to find the
|
|
|
|
phrase "regular expression" in a file where "regular" might
|
|
|
|
be at the end of a line and "expression" at the start of the
|
2016-06-29 18:52:05 +02:00
|
|
|
next line, you could use this command:
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
pcre2grep -M 'regular\s+expression' <file>
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
The \s escape sequence matches any white space character,
|
|
|
|
including newlines, and is followed by + so as to match
|
|
|
|
trailing white space on the first line as well as possibly
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
handling a two-character newline sequence.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
There is a limit to the number of lines that can be matched,
|
|
|
|
imposed by the way that pcre2grep buffers the input file as
|
|
|
|
it scans it. With a sufficiently large processing buffer,
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
this should not be a problem, but the -M option does not work
|
|
|
|
when input is read line by line (see --line-buffered.)
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-N newline-type, --newline=newline-type
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
The PCRE2 library supports five different conventions for
|
|
|
|
indicating the ends of lines. They are the single-character
|
|
|
|
sequences CR (carriage return) and LF (linefeed), the two-
|
|
|
|
character sequence CRLF, an "anycrlf" convention, which rec-
|
|
|
|
ognizes any of the preceding three types, and an "any" con-
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
vention, in which any Unicode line ending sequence is assumed
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
to end a line. The Unicode sequences are the three just men-
|
|
|
|
tioned, plus VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form feed,
|
|
|
|
U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator,
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
U+2028), and PS (paragraph separator, U+2029).
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
When the PCRE2 library is built, a default line-ending
|
|
|
|
sequence is specified. This is normally the standard
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
sequence for the operating system. Unless otherwise specified
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
by this option, pcre2grep uses the library's default. The
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
possible values for this option are CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
ANY. This makes it possible to use pcre2grep to scan files
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
that have come from other environments without having to mod-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
ify their line endings. If the data that is being scanned
|
|
|
|
does not agree with the convention set by this option,
|
|
|
|
pcre2grep may behave in strange ways. Note that this option
|
|
|
|
does not apply to files specified by the -f, --exclude-from,
|
|
|
|
or --include-from options, which are expected to use the
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
operating system's standard newline sequence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-n, --line-number
|
|
|
|
Precede each output line by its line number in the file, fol-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
lowed by a colon for matching lines or a hyphen for context
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
lines. If the file name is also being output, it precedes the
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
line number. When the -M option causes a pattern to match
|
|
|
|
more than one line, only the first is preceded by its line
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
number. This option is forced if --line-offsets is used.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
--no-jit If the PCRE2 library is built with support for just-in-time
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
compiling (which speeds up matching), pcre2grep automatically
|
|
|
|
makes use of this, unless it was explicitly disabled at build
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
time. This option can be used to disable the use of JIT at
|
|
|
|
run time. It is provided for testing and working round prob-
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
lems. It should never be needed in normal use.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
-O text, --output=text
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
When there is a match, instead of outputting the whole line
|
|
|
|
that matched, output just the given text. This option is
|
|
|
|
mutually exclusive with --only-matching, --file-offsets, and
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
--line-offsets. Escape sequences starting with a dollar char-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
acter may be used to insert the contents of the matched part
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
of the line and/or captured substrings into the text.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
$<digits> or ${<digits>} is replaced by the captured sub-
|
|
|
|
string of the given decimal number; zero substitutes the
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
whole match. If the number is greater than the number of cap-
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
turing substrings, or if the capture is unset, the replace-
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
ment is empty.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
$a is replaced by bell; $b by backspace; $e by escape; $f by
|
|
|
|
form feed; $n by newline; $r by carriage return; $t by tab;
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
$v by vertical tab.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
$o<digits> is replaced by the character represented by the
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
given octal number; up to three digits are processed.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
$x<digits> is replaced by the character represented by the
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
given hexadecimal number; up to two digits are processed.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Any other character is substituted by itself. In particular,
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
$$ is replaced by a single dollar.
|
|
|
|
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
-o, --only-matching
|
|
|
|
Show only the part of the line that matched a pattern instead
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
of the whole line. In this mode, no context is shown. That
|
|
|
|
is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If there is more
|
|
|
|
than one match in a line, each of them is shown separately,
|
|
|
|
on a separate line of output. If -o is combined with -v
|
|
|
|
(invert the sense of the match to find non-matching lines),
|
|
|
|
no output is generated, but the return code is set appropri-
|
|
|
|
ately. If the matched portion of the line is empty, nothing
|
|
|
|
is output unless the file name or line number are being
|
|
|
|
printed, in which case they are shown on an otherwise empty
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
line. This option is mutually exclusive with --output,
|
|
|
|
--file-offsets and --line-offsets.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-onumber, --only-matching=number
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Show only the part of the line that matched the capturing
|
2019-06-15 17:51:07 +02:00
|
|
|
parentheses of the given number. Up to 50 capturing parenthe-
|
|
|
|
ses are supported by default. This limit can be changed via
|
|
|
|
the --om-capture option. A pattern may contain any number of
|
|
|
|
capturing parentheses, but only those whose number is within
|
|
|
|
the limit can be accessed by -o. An error occurs if the num-
|
|
|
|
ber specified by -o is greater than the limit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-o0 is the same as -o without a number. Because these options
|
|
|
|
can be given without an argument (see above), if an argument
|
|
|
|
is present, it must be given in the same shell item, for
|
|
|
|
example, -o3 or --only-matching=2. The comments given for the
|
|
|
|
non-argument case above also apply to this option. If the
|
|
|
|
specified capturing parentheses do not exist in the pattern,
|
|
|
|
or were not set in the match, nothing is output unless the
|
|
|
|
file name or line number are being output.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If this option is given multiple times, multiple substrings
|
|
|
|
are output for each match, in the order the options are
|
|
|
|
given, and all on one line. For example, -o3 -o1 -o3 causes
|
|
|
|
the substrings matched by capturing parentheses 3 and 1 and
|
|
|
|
then 3 again to be output. By default, there is no separator
|
|
|
|
(but see the next but one option).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--om-capture=number
|
|
|
|
Set the number of capturing parentheses that can be accessed
|
|
|
|
by -o. The default is 50.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--om-separator=text
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Specify a separating string for multiple occurrences of -o.
|
|
|
|
The default is an empty string. Separating strings are never
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
coloured.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-q, --quiet
|
|
|
|
Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error messages.
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
The exit status indicates whether or not any matches were
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
found.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-r, --recursive
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
If any given path is a directory, recursively scan the files
|
|
|
|
it contains, taking note of any --include and --exclude set-
|
|
|
|
tings. By default, a directory is read as a normal file; in
|
|
|
|
some operating systems this gives an immediate end-of-file.
|
|
|
|
This option is a shorthand for setting the -d option to
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
"recurse".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
--recursion-limit=number
|
|
|
|
See --match-limit above.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-s, --no-messages
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Suppress error messages about non-existent or unreadable
|
|
|
|
files. Such files are quietly skipped. However, the return
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
code is still 2, even if matches were found in other files.
|
|
|
|
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
-t, --total-count
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
This option is useful when scanning more than one file. If
|
|
|
|
used on its own, -t suppresses all output except for a grand
|
|
|
|
total number of matching lines (or non-matching lines if -v
|
|
|
|
is used) in all the files. If -t is used with -c, a grand
|
|
|
|
total is output except when the previous output is just one
|
|
|
|
line. In other words, it is not output when just one file's
|
|
|
|
count is listed. If file names are being output, the grand
|
|
|
|
total is preceded by "TOTAL:". Otherwise, it appears as just
|
|
|
|
another number. The -t option is ignored when used with -L
|
|
|
|
(list files without matches), because the grand total would
|
2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
|
|
|
always be zero.
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
-u, --utf Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE2
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
has been compiled with UTF-8 support. All patterns (including
|
2017-12-22 16:56:27 +01:00
|
|
|
those for any --exclude and --include options) and all sub-
|
|
|
|
ject lines that are scanned must be valid strings of UTF-8
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
characters.
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
-U, --utf-allow-invalid
|
|
|
|
As --utf, but in addition subject lines may contain invalid
|
|
|
|
UTF-8 code unit sequences. These can never form part of any
|
|
|
|
pattern match. This facility allows valid UTF-8 strings to be
|
|
|
|
sought in executable or other binary files. For more details
|
|
|
|
about matching in non-valid UTF-8 strings, see the pcre2uni-
|
|
|
|
code(3) documentation.
|
|
|
|
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
-V, --version
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Write the version numbers of pcre2grep and the PCRE2 library
|
|
|
|
to the standard output and then exit. Anything else on the
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
command line is ignored.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-v, --invert-match
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Invert the sense of the match, so that lines which do not
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
match any of the patterns are the ones that are found.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-w, --word-regex, --word-regexp
|
2017-06-17 13:32:06 +02:00
|
|
|
Force the patterns only to match "words". That is, there must
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
be a word boundary at the start and end of each matched
|
|
|
|
string. This is equivalent to having "\b(?:" at the start of
|
|
|
|
each pattern, and ")\b" at the end. This option applies only
|
|
|
|
to the patterns that are matched against the contents of
|
|
|
|
files; it does not apply to patterns specified by any of the
|
2017-06-17 13:32:06 +02:00
|
|
|
--include or --exclude options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-x, --line-regex, --line-regexp
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Force the patterns to start matching only at the beginnings
|
|
|
|
of lines, and in addition, require them to match entire
|
2017-06-17 13:32:06 +02:00
|
|
|
lines. In multiline mode the match may be more than one line.
|
|
|
|
This is equivalent to having "^(?:" at the start of each pat-
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
tern and ")$" at the end. This option applies only to the
|
|
|
|
patterns that are matched against the contents of files; it
|
|
|
|
does not apply to patterns specified by any of the --include
|
2017-06-17 13:32:06 +02:00
|
|
|
or --exclude options.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
The environment variables LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE are examined, in that
|
|
|
|
order, for a locale. The first one that is set is used. This can be
|
|
|
|
overridden by the --locale option. If no locale is set, the PCRE2
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEWLINES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The -N (--newline) option allows pcre2grep to scan files with different
|
|
|
|
newline conventions from the default. Any parts of the input files that
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
are written to the standard output are copied identically, with what-
|
|
|
|
ever newline sequences they have in the input. However, the setting of
|
|
|
|
this option affects only the way scanned files are processed. It does
|
|
|
|
not affect the interpretation of files specified by the -f, --file-
|
2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
|
|
|
list, --exclude-from, or --include-from options, nor does it affect the
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
way in which pcre2grep writes informational messages to the standard
|
2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
|
|
|
error and output streams. For these it uses the string "\n" to indicate
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
newlines, relying on the C I/O library to convert this to an appropri-
|
2018-02-25 19:00:56 +01:00
|
|
|
ate sequence.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Many of the short and long forms of pcre2grep's options are the same as
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
in the GNU grep program. Any long option of the form --xxx-regexp (GNU
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
terminology) is also available as --xxx-regex (PCRE2 terminology). How-
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
ever, the --depth-limit, --file-list, --file-offsets, --heap-limit,
|
|
|
|
--include-dir, --line-offsets, --locale, --match-limit, -M, --multi-
|
|
|
|
line, -N, --newline, --om-separator, --output, -u, --utf, -U, and
|
|
|
|
--utf-allow-invalid options are specific to pcre2grep, as is the use of
|
|
|
|
the --only-matching option with a capturing parentheses number.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Although most of the common options work the same way, a few are dif-
|
|
|
|
ferent in pcre2grep. For example, the --include option's argument is a
|
|
|
|
glob for GNU grep, but a regular expression for pcre2grep. If both the
|
|
|
|
-c and -l options are given, GNU grep lists only file names, without
|
2015-01-03 18:40:06 +01:00
|
|
|
counts, but pcre2grep gives the counts as well.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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|
OPTIONS WITH DATA
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There are four different ways in which an option with data can be spec-
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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|
ified. If a short form option is used, the data may follow immedi-
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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ately, or (with one exception) in the next command line item. For exam-
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ple:
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-f/some/file
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-f /some/file
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2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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The exception is the -o option, which may appear with or without data.
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Because of this, if data is present, it must follow immediately in the
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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same item, for example -o3.
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2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same command
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line item, separated by an equals character, or (with two exceptions)
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2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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it may appear in the next command line item. For example:
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--file=/some/file
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--file /some/file
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2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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Note, however, that if you want to supply a file name beginning with ~
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as data in a shell command, and have the shell expand ~ to a home
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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directory, you must separate the file name from the option, because the
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shell does not treat ~ specially unless it is at the start of an item.
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2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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The exceptions to the above are the --colour (or --color) and --only-
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matching options, for which the data is optional. If one of these
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options does have data, it must be given in the first form, using an
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
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equals character. Otherwise pcre2grep will assume that it has no data.
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|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
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|
USING PCRE2'S CALLOUT FACILITY
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
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2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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pcre2grep has, by default, support for calling external programs or
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scripts or echoing specific strings during matching by making use of
|
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PCRE2's callout facility. However, this support can be completely or
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|
partially disabled when pcre2grep is built. You can find out whether
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|
your binary has support for callouts by running it with the --help
|
2018-11-17 17:45:57 +01:00
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|
option. If callout support is completely disabled, all callouts in pat-
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|
terns are ignored by pcre2grep. If the facility is partially disabled,
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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|
calling external programs is not supported, and callouts that request
|
2018-11-17 17:45:57 +01:00
|
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|
it are ignored.
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|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
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A callout in a PCRE2 pattern is of the form (?C<arg>) where the argu-
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|
ment is either a number or a quoted string (see the pcre2callout docu-
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|
|
mentation for details). Numbered callouts are ignored by pcre2grep;
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
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|
only callouts with string arguments are useful.
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|
Calling external programs or scripts
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|
2018-11-27 17:41:20 +01:00
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|
This facility can be independently disabled when pcre2grep is built. It
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
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|
is supported for Windows, where a call to _spawnvp() is used, for VMS,
|
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|
|
where lib$spawn() is used, and for any other Unix-like environment
|
2018-11-27 17:41:20 +01:00
|
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|
where fork() and execv() are available.
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If the callout string does not start with a pipe (vertical bar) charac-
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
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|
ter, it is parsed into a list of substrings separated by pipe charac-
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|
ters. The first substring must be an executable name, with the follow-
|
2018-11-27 17:41:20 +01:00
|
|
|
ing substrings specifying arguments:
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
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|
|
executable_name|arg1|arg2|...
|
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|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Any substring (including the executable name) may contain escape
|
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|
sequences started by a dollar character: $<digits> or ${<digits>} is
|
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|
|
replaced by the captured substring of the given decimal number, which
|
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|
|
must be greater than zero. If the number is greater than the number of
|
|
|
|
capturing substrings, or if the capture is unset, the replacement is
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
|
|
empty.
|
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|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Any other character is substituted by itself. In particular, $$ is
|
|
|
|
replaced by a single dollar and $| is replaced by a pipe character.
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
|
|
Here is an example:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
echo -e "abcde\n12345" | pcre2grep \
|
|
|
|
'(?x)(.)(..(.))
|
|
|
|
(?C"/bin/echo|Arg1: [$1] [$2] [$3]|Arg2: $|${1}$| ($4)")()' -
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Output:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arg1: [a] [bcd] [d] Arg2: |a| ()
|
|
|
|
abcde
|
|
|
|
Arg1: [1] [234] [4] Arg2: |1| ()
|
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|
|
12345
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
The parameters for the system call that is used to run the program or
|
2018-11-27 17:41:20 +01:00
|
|
|
script are zero-terminated strings. This means that binary zero charac-
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
ters in the callout argument will cause premature termination of their
|
|
|
|
substrings, and therefore should not be present. Any syntax errors in
|
|
|
|
the string (for example, a dollar not followed by another character)
|
|
|
|
cause the callout to be ignored. If running the program fails for any
|
|
|
|
reason (including the non-existence of the executable), a local match-
|
2018-11-27 17:41:20 +01:00
|
|
|
ing failure occurs and the matcher backtracks in the normal way.
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
Echoing a specific string
|
|
|
|
|
2018-11-17 17:45:57 +01:00
|
|
|
This facility is always available, provided that callouts were not com-
|
|
|
|
pletely disabled when pcre2grep was built. If the callout string starts
|
|
|
|
with a pipe (vertical bar) character, the rest of the string is written
|
|
|
|
to the output, having been passed through the same escape processing as
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
text from the --output option. This provides a simple echoing facility
|
|
|
|
that avoids calling an external program or script. No terminator is
|
|
|
|
added to the string, so if you want a newline, you must include it
|
|
|
|
explicitly. Matching continues normally after the string is output. If
|
|
|
|
you want to see only the callout output but not any output from an
|
2018-11-17 17:45:57 +01:00
|
|
|
actual match, you should end the relevant pattern with (*FAIL).
|
2017-04-06 20:02:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
MATCHING ERRORS
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
It is possible to supply a regular expression that takes a very long
|
|
|
|
time to fail to match certain lines. Such patterns normally involve
|
|
|
|
nested indefinite repeats, for example: (a+)*\d when matched against a
|
|
|
|
line of a's with no final digit. The PCRE2 matching function has a
|
|
|
|
resource limit that causes it to abort in these circumstances. If this
|
|
|
|
happens, pcre2grep outputs an error message and the line that caused
|
|
|
|
the problem to the standard error stream. If there are more than 20
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
such errors, pcre2grep gives up.
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
The --match-limit option of pcre2grep can be used to set the overall
|
|
|
|
resource limit. There are also other limits that affect the amount of
|
|
|
|
memory used during matching; see the discussion of --heap-limit and
|
2017-04-11 13:47:25 +02:00
|
|
|
--depth-limit above.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DIAGNOSTICS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found,
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
and 2 for syntax errors, overlong lines, non-existent or inaccessible
|
|
|
|
files (even if matches were found in other files) or too many matching
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
errors. Using the -s option to suppress error messages about inaccessi-
|
|
|
|
ble files does not affect the return code.
|
|
|
|
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
When run under VMS, the return code is placed in the symbol
|
|
|
|
PCRE2GREP_RC because VMS does not distinguish between exit(0) and
|
2017-10-17 18:26:40 +02:00
|
|
|
exit(1).
|
|
|
|
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SEE ALSO
|
|
|
|
|
2016-06-05 18:04:38 +02:00
|
|
|
pcre2pattern(3), pcre2syntax(3), pcre2callout(3).
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AUTHOR
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Philip Hazel
|
|
|
|
University Computing Service
|
2014-11-17 17:59:02 +01:00
|
|
|
Cambridge, England.
|
2014-09-28 19:39:28 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
REVISION
|
|
|
|
|
2019-06-15 17:51:07 +02:00
|
|
|
Last updated: 15 June 2019
|
2019-05-30 17:43:05 +02:00
|
|
|
Copyright (c) 1997-2019 University of Cambridge.
|