GNU bug report logs - #23965
egrep should report line number when failing to parse a file (with -f)

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Santiago Ruano Rincón <santiagorr <at> riseup.net>
To: bug-grep <bug-grep <at> gnu.org>
Subject: egrep should report line number when failing to parse a file (with -f)
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 10:59:45 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

Please find below yet another old-standing bug filed against debian.
grep's behaviour is still the same in 2.25.

https://bugs.debian.org/525214

Cheers,

Santiago

----- Forwarded message from Gunnar Wolf <gwolf <at> gwolf.org> -----

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:06:28 -0500
From: Gunnar Wolf <gwolf <at> gwolf.org>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit <at> bugs.debian.org>
Subject: egrep should report line number when failing to parse a file (with -f)
X-Mailer: reportbug 4.1

[...]

egrep -f takes its input from a file. This functionality is often used
i.e. with logcheck, which works basically off a directory full of
files which contain regexes representing log messages to be either
ignored or pushed up - However, when something goes bad and one of
those lines is not parsable, grep won't help in debugging. As an
example, I got loads of log messages such as:

    From: Cron Daemon <root <at> iiec.unam.mx>
    To: root <at> iiec.unam.mx
    Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:02:02 -0500 (CDT)
    Subject: Cron <logcheck <at> lafa>    if [ -x /usr/sbin/logcheck ]; then nice -n10 /usr/sbin/logcheck; fi

    egrep: Unmatched [ or [^

Finding the file/line where I made this particular mistake was a
tedious job. Users deserve egrep to report the filename and line
number where this error happened.

[...]

----- End forwarded message -----

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