From unknown Mon Aug 18 02:07:04 2025 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.509 (Entity 5.509) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 From: bug#48948 <48948@debbugs.gnu.org> To: bug#48948 <48948@debbugs.gnu.org> Subject: Status: grep documentation feedback Reply-To: bug#48948 <48948@debbugs.gnu.org> Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2025 09:07:04 +0000 retitle 48948 grep documentation feedback reassign 48948 grep submitter 48948 David Apps severity 48948 normal thanks From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Thu Jun 10 15:51:06 2021 Received: (at submit) by debbugs.gnu.org; 10 Jun 2021 19:51:06 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:37750 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lrQhl-0001TS-NV for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:51:06 -0400 Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]:60974) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lrQZB-0001FQ-D4 for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:42:13 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:46762) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lrQZB-0003nn-5w for bug-grep@gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:42:13 -0400 Received: from know-smtprelay-omc-10.server.virginmedia.net ([80.0.253.74]:34436) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lrQZ8-0001fa-0c for bug-grep@gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:42:12 -0400 Received: from [192.168.8.104] ([94.196.206.183]) by cmsmtp with ESMTPA id rQZ1lWsRcsYC6rQZ2lADWk; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:42:04 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [94.196.206.183] X-Authenticated-User: sppa.divad@virgin.net X-Spam: 0 X-Authority: v=2.3 cv=C8DHNzH+ c=1 sm=1 tr=0 cx=a_exe a=ZXgqp+kghMbfxgY23ccBaw==:117 a=ZXgqp+kghMbfxgY23ccBaw==:17 a=IkcTkHD0fZMA:10 a=mDV3o1hIAAAA:8 a=VPmSnQ3Lhl6_epFV19sA:9 a=QEXdDO2ut3YA:10 a=1t081HBPuAcA:10 a=_FVE-zBwftR9WsbkzFJk:22 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=virgin.net; s=meg.feb2017; t=1623354124; bh=6Ozj8KxG4WPTNj9kme/lajsxgmlPd8xKkew9lSbOgtY=; h=To:From:Subject:Date; b=McI61NrK69HIv2DzlKiCAkdPN4iKUCZYBq9P5vrw9lIJatb9V1AGR974jK0BPQV6W y6uTz3uSzwnmvQcUG290puouvWffJV5et/4FFF+TgojX0KCTDQWuO42syPxWOKxPWO Josg3VtY4wWhmftR7C1RxxLAQZXFrQu7f1mbqrbaRMbnKYeBI2wUKkorNHNjQuob4v rOcRBM1zazQu8iod2BPKoEiQgyav+741GscRXRuLQLqG3zVqAjhAoEn1mtYJhYoKJh hcTgeXXwWMxGuRDmnahv2ko7FAAQaSl3CzGt6oGWZTAQIt5F/VWrdbbNWdpvomQWlA F16/Nw24uPg1A== To: bug-grep@gnu.org From: David Apps Subject: grep documentation feedback Message-ID: Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:42:03 +0100 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.8.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-GB Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-CMAE-Envelope: MS4wfKiHE3CSn16hLHwiNwcZKBbXxXZZwkaF7yclCPrPkuiglse/QbTcKbIYKW1wm0WWlYEdZ4MjF696NgqrA3olHlsz7kDsvJ1WD7ZqSO6TZvsY67tA6/x7 9D1PDX4vwwfiPX3lyuCqtCBiMPg16rwM+T9V/C8Hr0Elo4I6TBkwKo5v Received-SPF: pass client-ip=80.0.253.74; envelope-from=sppa.divad@virgin.net; helo=know-smtprelay-omc-10.server.virginmedia.net X-Spam_score_int: -20 X-Spam_score: -2.1 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.1 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE=-0.0001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H2=-0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-Spam-Score: -1.3 (-) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: submit X-Mailman-Approved-At: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:51:04 -0400 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -2.3 (--) I hope that you are well. Thank you for your work on this great software. I have some feedback about the document at the following address: http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manual/grep.html When quoting from this document, I have removed the non-ASCII characters. The characters that I have removed were left and right single quotation marks. 1. In the section "3.3 The Backslash Character and Special Expressions": \< Match the empty string at the beginning of word. \> Match the empty string at the end of word. Perhaps changing "of word" to "of a word" would be more consistent with the language elsewhere in the document. 2. In the section "3.6 Basic vs Extended Regular Expressions": In basic regular expressions the meta-characters ?, +, {, |, (, and ) lose their special meaning; instead use the backslashed versions \?, \+, \{, \|, \(, and \). Should } and \} appear in these lists? 3. In the section "4 Usage": $ grep -n -- 'f.*\.c$' *g*.h /dev/null The other examples do not begin with $. Perhaps remove $ for greater consistency. 4. In the section "4 Usage", perhaps the answer to question 3 would be better if the examples used -* in place of * to search for files that begin with -. Thank you. David From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Thu Jun 10 19:10:48 2021 Received: (at 48948-done) by debbugs.gnu.org; 10 Jun 2021 23:10:48 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:37820 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lrTp2-00064i-1p for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 19:10:48 -0400 Received: from zimbra.cs.ucla.edu ([131.179.128.68]:46394) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lrTox-00064T-NG for 48948-done@debbugs.gnu.org; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 19:10:46 -0400 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by zimbra.cs.ucla.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DE42160108; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:37 -0700 (PDT) Received: from zimbra.cs.ucla.edu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (zimbra.cs.ucla.edu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10032) with ESMTP id jtnHVMcTeA2c; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:36 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by zimbra.cs.ucla.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 89C1016010D; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:36 -0700 (PDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at zimbra.cs.ucla.edu Received: from zimbra.cs.ucla.edu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (zimbra.cs.ucla.edu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10026) with ESMTP id 1252sOi4TC5Y; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:36 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.1.9] (cpe-172-91-119-151.socal.res.rr.com [172.91.119.151]) by zimbra.cs.ucla.edu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 61453160108; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:36 -0700 (PDT) To: David Apps References: From: Paul Eggert Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Subject: Re: bug#48948: grep documentation feedback Message-ID: <21c8d714-7b06-d580-94c2-cbf2410dc1b8@cs.ucla.edu> Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:10:35 -0700 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.8.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------66BC57D3DBBE54C7096D72B0" Content-Language: en-US X-Spam-Score: -2.3 (--) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 48948-done Cc: 48948-done@debbugs.gnu.org X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -3.3 (---) This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------66BC57D3DBBE54C7096D72B0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 6/10/21 12:42 PM, David Apps via Bug reports for GNU grep wrote: > Perhaps changing "of word" to "of a word" Good idea, thanks. > In basic regular expressions the meta-characters ?, +, {, |, (, and )=20 > lose their special meaning; instead use the backslashed versions \?, \+= ,=20 > \{, \|, \(, and \). >=20 > Should } and \} appear in these lists? No, as '}' is not a meta-character in EREs. The '}' case is different=20 and this is discussed in the next sentence. > 3. In the section "4 Usage": >=20 > $ grep -n -- 'f.*\.c$' *g*.h /dev/null >=20 > The other examples do not begin with $. Perhaps remove $ for greater=20 > consistency. That's easy enough. Also, I noticed that the surrounding explanation is=20 a bit wrong, so I fixed that too. > 4. In the section "4 Usage", perhaps the answer to question 3 would be=20 > better if the examples used -* in place of * to search for files that=20 > begin with -. The problem almost always occurs with patterns that begin with "*" and=20 unexpectedly match file names beginning with "-", so in some sense it's=20 better to leave this example as-is so that it's more-typical. I installed the attached patch to implement the above. Thanks for your=20 feedback. --------------66BC57D3DBBE54C7096D72B0 Content-Type: text/x-patch; charset=UTF-8; name="0001-doc-improve-examples-and-wording.patch" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="0001-doc-improve-examples-and-wording.patch" =46rom e6571dfd459f55de975ef457cf7dbd4b49ec491c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Eggert Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 14:55:21 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] doc: improve examples and wording * doc/grep.texi (The Backslash Character and Special Expressions) (Usage): Improve doc (Bug#48948). --- doc/grep.texi | 17 ++++++++--------- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/grep.texi b/doc/grep.texi index e3b1555..01ac81e 100644 --- a/doc/grep.texi +++ b/doc/grep.texi @@ -1479,10 +1479,10 @@ Match the empty string at the edge of a word. Match the empty string provided it's not at the edge of a word. =20 @item \< -Match the empty string at the beginning of word. +Match the empty string at the beginning of a word. =20 @item \> -Match the empty string at the end of word. +Match the empty string at the end of a word. =20 @item \w Match word constituent, it is a synonym for @samp{[_[:alnum:]]}. @@ -1667,23 +1667,22 @@ The @option{-i} option causes @command{grep} to ignore case, causing it to match the line @samp{Hello, world!}, which= it would not otherwise match. =20 -Here is a more complex example session, +Here is a more complex example, showing the location and contents of any line containing @samp{f} and ending in @samp{.c}, within all files in the current directory whose names -contain @samp{g} and end in @samp{.h}. +start with non-@samp{.}, contain @samp{g}, and end in @samp{.h}. The @option{-n} option outputs line numbers, the @option{--} argument -treats any later arguments starting with @samp{-} as file names not -options, and the empty file @file{/dev/null} causes file names to be out= put +treats any later arguments as file names not options even if +@code{*g*.h} expands to a file name that starts with @samp{-}, +and the empty file @file{/dev/null} causes file names to be output even if only one file name happens to be of the form @samp{*g*.h}. =20 @example -$ @kbd{grep -n -- 'f.*\.c$' *g*.h /dev/null} -argmatch.h:1:/* definitions and prototypes for argmatch.c +grep -n -- 'f.*\.c$' *g*.h /dev/null @end example =20 @noindent -The only line that contains a match is line 1 of @file{argmatch.h}. Note that the regular expression syntax used in the pattern differs from the globbing syntax that the shell uses to match file names. =20 --=20 2.30.2 --------------66BC57D3DBBE54C7096D72B0-- From unknown Mon Aug 18 02:07:04 2025 Received: (at fakecontrol) by fakecontrolmessage; To: internal_control@debbugs.gnu.org From: Debbugs Internal Request Subject: Internal Control Message-Id: bug archived. Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:24:04 +0000 User-Agent: Fakemail v42.6.9 # This is a fake control message. # # The action: # bug archived. thanks # This fakemail brought to you by your local debbugs # administrator