Subject: Re: bug#63819: Gnu `grep '.*'` does not match an empty string.
From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
To: "Bob Vincent Il (US)" <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 31 May 2023 20:15:30 -0700
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

On 2023-05-31 19:17, Bob Vincent Il (US) wrote:
> Okay, but `echo ''` does not output an empty string. It outputs a line feed character.

The line feed is not considered. Grep looks only for matches of "any 
part of the line excluding the terminating <newline>" 
<https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/grep.html>.

Closing the bug report as it appears to be due to a misunderstanding of 
how 'grep' works.