GNU bug report logs - #41700
grep -v always exiting with 1 for empty file

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Message #20 received at 41700 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Andi Kleen <andi <at> firstfloor.org>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: Andi Kleen <andi <at> firstfloor.org>, Norihiro Tanaka <noritnk <at> kcn.ne.jp>,
 41700 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#41700: grep -v always exiting with 1 for empty file
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2020 12:30:02 -0700

On Thu, Jun 04, 2020 at 12:19:14PM -0700, Paul Eggert wrote:
> On 6/4/20 7:06 AM, Andi Kleen wrote:
> > I would argue that a empty file has a single empty line.
> 
> No, an empty file has no lines. A single empty line would be a file of size 1,
> containing just a newline byte.

Just out of curiosity, in your definition would 

echo -n foo > file

(so no newline, but non zero length)

have one or zero lines?

> 
> > Besides it completely breaks the "is foo not in file" functionality.
> 
> That's not what -v is for. -v asks "is not-FOO in file". If you want "is FOO not
> in file", use -L.

Ok.

-Andi

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