GNU bug report logs - #59639
Is this a bug?

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

From: Klaus Dittrich <kladit <at> t-online.de>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: Is this a bug?
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:29:28 +0100

Given file.txt with three lines:

/usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0
empty
/usr/local/lib/libgd2

When I do:

grep gdk file.txt
this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0

Which looks ok for me.

When I do:

grep  gdk* file.txt
this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2
                  /usr/local/lib/libgd2.0

This looks like then '*' eats the 'k'
from 'gdk*' and looks for 'gd'' instead of 'gdk*'.
Or equivalent to grep  gd* file.txt
Or equivalent to grep  gd file.txt

grep   gdk.* file.txt
this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0

Which looks ok for me.
Either now the point is eaten or the point is correctly replaced by 'any 
character'



grep is grep-3.8 and linked with


Can you please verify if this is a bug or anything in my thinking is 
wrong beacuse I have overlooked something?

-- 
Regards Klaus

Message #10 received at 59639-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Klaus Dittrich <kladit <at> t-online.de>
Cc: 59639-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#59639: Is this a bug?
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2022 10:11:57 -0800

On 2022-11-27 09:29, Klaus Dittrich wrote:
> grep  gdk* file.txt

You should quote the pattern for the shell, e.g.:

grep 'gdk*' file.txt

You can see what's going on by using the shell command 'set -x' before 
running 'grep'.

Message #13 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Gary Johnson <garyjohn <at> spocom.com>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#59639: Is this a bug?
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2022 10:54:07 -0800

On 2022-11-27, Klaus Dittrich wrote:
> Given file.txt with three lines:
> 
> /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0
> empty
> /usr/local/lib/libgd2
> 
> When I do:
> 
> grep gdk file.txt
> this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0
> 
> Which looks ok for me.
> 
> When I do:
> 
> grep  gdk* file.txt
> this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2
>                   /usr/local/lib/libgd2.0
> 
> This looks like then '*' eats the 'k'
> from 'gdk*' and looks for 'gd'' instead of 'gdk*'.
> Or equivalent to grep  gd* file.txt
> Or equivalent to grep  gd file.txt
> 
> grep   gdk.* file.txt
> this results in : /usr/local/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0
> 
> Which looks ok for me.
> Either now the point is eaten or the point is correctly replaced by
> 'any character'

> Can you please verify if this is a bug or anything in my thinking is
> wrong beacuse I have overlooked something?

I think you are confusing regular expressions with globs.

The pattern used by most if not all shells for file-name expansion
is a glob.  In a glob, an asterisk is replaced by zero or more
characters.  In a glob, gdk* means gdk followed by zero or more
characters.

The pattern argument to grep is a regular expression.  In a regular
expression, an asterisk means zero or more of the preceding element,
which in the simplest case is a single character.  In a regular
expression, gdk* means gd followed by zero or more of the letter k.

HTH,
Gary

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