GNU bug report logs - #9226
23.3; [rgrep]; (matches found) ?

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Package: emacs;

Reported by: Dave Abrahams <dave <at> boostpro.com>

Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2011 01:42:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Found in version 23.3

Done: Juri Linkov <juri <at> jurta.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Message #11 received at 9226 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Dave Abrahams <dave <at> boostpro.com>, 9226 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#9226: 23.3; [rgrep]; (matches found) ?
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:35:55 -0400
>> Why does emacs tell me "matches found" when none actually were?
> Because it uses the exit status of the "grep" command to decide whether
> matches were found. For standalone grep, an exit status of 0 means
> matches were found; but for "find -exec grep", an exit status of 0 just
> means "all files were processed successfully". There isn't any way to
> determine whether the grep in a "find -exec grep" succeeded based on
> exit status alone, therefore this Emacs feature as implemented cannot
> work for rgrep. With "find | xargs grep" it will do slightly better, but
> still report "exited abnormally" for the case of a grep that ran fine,
> but did not find any matches.

I suggest we remove this "matches found" thingy.  It was meant to be
a feature, but in the case where it works (i.e. for `grep') the rest of
the output already gives the information anyway.
We can replace it with the exit status code instead: it's more cryptic
but at least it never lies.


        Stefan




This bug report was last modified 13 years and 278 days ago.

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