GNU bug report logs - #30326
grep not searching through a text file (thinking it binary)

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From: "L. A. Walsh" <gnu <at> tlinx.org>
To: 30326 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#30326: grep not searching through a text file (thinking it binary)
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:30:07 -0800

I've used grep to search through my mbox-format emails for decades, but
I've run into a case where it seems to be ignore a text mailbox
because, I guess, it thinks it is "binary" (I think ignoring binary
is a default in my aliases file).

I used:

>  grep -Pr 'Game:\s+NCSOFT' *

and it ignored a mailbox named 'Domain': that contained the
string:
"                                    =E2=80=A2=09Game: NCSOFT"

>  file Domain
Domain: Non-ISO extended-ASCII text, with very long lines


If I used "-Par" it finds it.

It seems that grep believes the file to binary and ignores it, though
"file" calls it "text".

Any ideas?

grep -V
grep (GNU grep) 2.21.31-adf9

Maybe grep is being a bit overzealous in calling files 'binary'?

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