Hi Jim,

Lets say i want to search for "#include <bits/c++config.h>" (on my machine, i could not find any random.h under c++ directory) and this below grep command works fine for me..

dev-RH: root - redhat[/usr/include/c++/4.1.1]

# grep -r "#include <bits/c++config.h>" *

backward/alloc.h:#include <bits/c++config.h>

backward/function.h:#include <bits/c++config.h>

backward/heap.h:#include <bits/c++config.h>

backward/pair.h:#include <bits/c++config.h>

.....

maybe, lets search random.h under all subdirectories(-r) and only one output per file(-m 1) will ok, to avoid screen full of texts.

grep -r -m 1 "random.h" *

Let us know if still you are facing any issues.

Have a great day!

Best Regards,

Sekar

The smallest things can have the biggest impact. Look inside. - Intel

On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 10:32 AM, Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> wrote:

Jim Michaels wrote:

grep random "#include <(bits/)?random(\.h)?>" *
expected: on the include/c++/bits dir of a gcc compiler should produce a couple of results.

actual: produces pages and pages with just about every file in it. anything with the word random in it

That's because your command asked to find the word 'random'. It's of the form:

grep random LIST-OF-FILE-NAMES

The first file name is "#include <(bits/)?random(\.h)?>", which grep complained to you about.