PCREGREP(1) General Commands Manual PCREGREP(1)
pcregrep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
SYNOPSIS top
pcregrep [options] [long options] [pattern] [path1 path2 ...]
DESCRIPTION top
pcregrep searches files for character patterns, in the same way as
other grep commands do, but it uses the PCRE regular expression
library to support patterns that are compatible with the regular
expressions of Perl 5. See pcresyntax(3) for a quick-reference
summary of pattern syntax, or pcrepattern(3) for a full description
of the syntax and semantics of the regular expressions that PCRE
supports.
Patterns, whether supplied on the command line or in a separate file,
are given without delimiters. For example:
pcregrep Thursday /etc/motd
If you attempt to use delimiters (for example, by surrounding a
pattern with slashes, as is common in Perl scripts), they are
interpreted as part of the pattern. Quotes can of course be used to
delimit patterns on the command line because they are interpreted by
the shell, and indeed quotes are required if a pattern contains white
space or shell metacharacters.
The first argument that follows any option settings is treated as the
single pattern to be matched when neither -e nor -f is present.
Conversely, when one or both of these options are used to specify
patterns, all arguments are treated as path names. At least one of
-e, -f, or an argument pattern must be provided.
If no files are specified, pcregrep reads the standard input. The
standard input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a
single hyphen. For example:
pcregrep some-pattern /file1 - /file3
By default, each line that matches a pattern is copied to the
standard output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is
output at the start of each line, followed by a colon. However, there
are options that can change how pcregrep behaves. In particular, the
-M option makes it possible to search for patterns that span line
boundaries. What defines a line boundary is controlled by the -N
(--newline) option.
The amount of memory used for buffering files that are being scanned
is controlled by a parameter that can be set by the --buffer-size
option. The default value for this parameter is specified when
pcregrep is built, with the default default being 20K. A block of
memory three times this size is used (to allow for buffering "before"
and "after" lines). An error occurs if a line overflows the buffer.
Patterns can be no longer than 8K or BUFSIZ bytes, whichever is the
greater. BUFSIZ is defined in <stdio.h>. When there is more than one
pattern (specified by the use of -e and/or -f), each pattern is
applied to each line in the order in which they are defined, except
that all the -e patterns are tried before the -f patterns.
By default, as soon as one pattern matches a line, no further
patterns are considered. However, if --colour (or --color) is used to
colour the matching substrings, or if --only-matching, --file-
offsets, or --line-offsets is used to output only the part of the
line that matched (either shown literally, or as an offset), scanning
resumes immediately following the match, so that further matches on
the same line can be found. If there are multiple patterns, they are
all tried on the remainder of the line, but patterns that follow the
one that matched are not tried on the earlier part of the line.
This behaviour means that the order in which multiple patterns are
specified can affect the output when one of the above options is
used. This is no longer the same behaviour as GNU grep, which now
manages to display earlier matches for later patterns (as long as
there is no overlap).
Patterns that can match an empty string are accepted, but empty
string matches are never recognized. An example is the pattern
"(super)?(man)?", in which all components are optional. This pattern
finds all occurrences of both "super" and "man"; the output differs
from matching with "super|man" when only the matching substrings are
being shown.
If the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE environment variable is set, pcregrep uses
the value to set a locale when calling the PCRE library. The
--locale option can be used to override this.
SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES top
It is possible to compile pcregrep so that it uses libz or libbz2 to
read files whose names end in .gz or .bz2, respectively. You can find
out whether your binary has support for one or both of these file
types by running it with the --help option. If the appropriate
support is not present, files are treated as plain text. The standard
input is always so treated.
BINARY FILES top
By default, a file that contains a binary zero byte within the first
1024 bytes is identified as a binary file, and is processed
specially. (GNU grep also identifies binary files in this manner.)
See the --binary-files option for a means of changing the way binary
files are handled.
OPTIONS top
The order in which some of the options appear can affect the output.
For example, both the -h and -l options affect the printing of file
names. Whichever comes later in the command line will be the one that
takes effect. Similarly, except where noted below, if an option is
given twice, the later setting is used. Numerical values for options
may be followed by K or M, to signify multiplication by 1024 or
1024*1024 respectively.
-- This terminates the list of options. It is useful if the
next item on the command line starts with a hyphen but is
not an option. This allows for the processing of patterns
and filenames that start with hyphens.
-A number, --after-context=number
Output number lines of context after each matching line. If
filenames and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen
separator is used instead of a colon for the context lines.
A line containing "--" is output between each group of
lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input
file. The value of number is expected to be relatively
small. However, pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of
following text available for context output.
-a, --text
Treat binary files as text. This is equivalent to --binary-
files=text.
-B number, --before-context=number
Output number lines of context before each matching line.
If filenames and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen
separator is used instead of a colon for the context lines.
A line containing "--" is output between each group of
lines, unless they are in fact contiguous in the input
file. The value of number is expected to be relatively
small. However, pcregrep guarantees to have up to 8K of
preceding text available for context output.
--binary-files=word
Specify how binary files are to be processed. If the word
is "binary" (the default), pattern matching is performed on
binary files, but the only output is "Binary file <name>
matches" when a match succeeds. If the word is "text",
which is equivalent to the -a or --text option, binary
files are processed in the same way as any other file. In
this case, when a match succeeds, the output may be binary
garbage, which can have nasty effects if sent to a
terminal. If the word is "without-match", which is
equivalent to the -I option, binary files are not processed
at all; they are assumed not to be of interest.
--buffer-size=number
Set the parameter that controls how much memory is used for
buffering files that are being scanned.
-C number, --context=number
Output number lines of context both before and after each
matching line. This is equivalent to setting both -A and
-B to the same value.
-c, --count
Do not output individual lines from the files that are
being scanned; instead output the number of lines that
would otherwise have been shown. If no lines are selected,
the number zero is output. If several files are are being
scanned, a count is output for each of them. However, if
the --files-with-matches option is also used, only those
files whose counts are greater than zero are listed. When
-c is used, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored.
--colour, --color
If this option is given without any data, it is equivalent
to "--colour=auto". If data is required, it must be given
in the same shell item, separated by an equals sign.
--colour=value, --color=value
This option specifies under what circumstances the parts of
a line that matched a pattern should be coloured in the
output. By default, the output is not coloured. The value
(which is optional, see above) may be "never", "always", or
"auto". In the latter case, colouring happens only if the
standard output is connected to a terminal. More resources
are used when colouring is enabled, because pcregrep has to
search for all possible matches in a line, not just one, in
order to colour them all.
The colour that is used can be specified by setting the
environment variable PCREGREP_COLOUR or PCREGREP_COLOR. The
value of this variable should be a string of two numbers,
separated by a semicolon. They are copied directly into the
control string for setting colour on a terminal, so it is
your responsibility to ensure that they make sense. If
neither of the environment variables is set, the default is
"1;31", which gives red.
-D action, --devices=action
If an input path is not a regular file or a directory,
"action" specifies how it is to be processed. Valid values
are "read" (the default) or "skip" (silently skip the
path).
-d action, --directories=action
If an input path is a directory, "action" specifies how it
is to be processed. Valid values are "read" (the default
in non-Windows environments, for compatibility with GNU
grep), "recurse" (equivalent to the -r option), or "skip"
(silently skip the path, the default in Windows
environments). In the "read" case, directories are read as
if they were ordinary files. In some operating systems the
effect of reading a directory like this is an immediate
end-of-file; in others it may provoke an error.
-e pattern, --regex=pattern, --regexp=pattern
Specify a pattern to be matched. This option can be used
multiple times in order to specify several patterns. It can
also be used as a way of specifying a single pattern that
starts with a hyphen. When -e is used, no argument pattern
is taken from the command line; all arguments are treated
as file names. There is no limit to the number of patterns.
They are applied to each line in the order in which they
are defined until one matches.
If -f is used with -e, the command line patterns are
matched first, followed by the patterns from the file(s),
independent of the order in which these options are
specified. Note that multiple use of -e is not the same as
a single pattern with alternatives. For example, X|Y finds
the first character in a line that is X or Y, whereas if
the two patterns are given separately, with X first,
pcregrep finds X if it is present, even if it follows Y in
the line. It finds Y only if there is no X in the line.
This matters only if you are using -o or --colo(u)r to show
the part(s) of the line that matched.
--exclude=pattern
Files (but not directories) whose names match the pattern
are skipped without being processed. This applies to all
files, whether listed on the command line, obtained from
--file-list, or by scanning a directory. The pattern is a
PCRE regular expression, and is matched against the final
component of the file name, not the entire path. The -F,
-w, and -x options do not apply to this pattern. The option
may be given any number of times in order to specify
multiple patterns. If a file name matches both an --include
and an --exclude pattern, it is excluded. There is no short
form for this option.
--exclude-from=filename
Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an
--exclude option. What constitutes a newline when reading
the file is the operating system's default. The --newline
option has no effect on this option. This option may be
given more than once in order to specify a number of files
to read.
--exclude-dir=pattern
Directories whose names match the pattern are skipped
without being processed, whatever the setting of the
--recursive option. This applies to all directories,
whether listed on the command line, obtained from --file-
list, or by scanning a parent directory. The pattern is a
PCRE regular expression, and is matched against the final
component of the directory name, not the entire path. The
-F, -w, and -x options do not apply to this pattern. The
option may be given any number of times in order to specify
more than one pattern. If a directory matches both
--include-dir and --exclude-dir, it is excluded. There is
no short form for this option.
-F, --fixed-strings
Interpret each data-matching pattern as a list of fixed
strings, separated by newlines, instead of as a regular
expression. What constitutes a newline for this purpose is
controlled by the --newline option. The -w (match as a
word) and -x (match whole line) options can be used with
-F. They apply to each of the fixed strings. A line is
selected if any of the fixed strings are found in it
(subject to -w or -x, if present). This option applies only
to the patterns that are matched against the contents of
files; it does not apply to patterns specified by any of
the --include or --exclude options.
-f filename, --file=filename
Read patterns from the file, one per line, and match them
against each line of input. What constitutes a newline when
reading the file is the operating system's default. The
--newline option has no effect on this option. Trailing
white space is removed from each line, and blank lines are
ignored. An empty file contains no patterns and therefore
matches nothing. See also the comments about multiple
patterns versus a single pattern with alternatives in the
description of -e above.
If this option is given more than once, all the specified
files are read. A data line is output if any of the
patterns match it. A filename can be given as "-" to refer
to the standard input. When -f is used, patterns specified
on the command line using -e may also be present; they are
tested before the file's patterns. However, no other
pattern is taken from the command line; all arguments are
treated as the names of paths to be searched.
--file-list=filename
Read a list of files and/or directories that are to be
scanned from the given file, one per line. Trailing white
space is removed from each line, and blank lines are
ignored. These paths are processed before any that are
listed on the command line. The filename can be given as
"-" to refer to the standard input. If --file and --file-
list are both specified as "-", patterns are read first.
This is useful only when the standard input is a terminal,
from which further lines (the list of files) can be read
after an end-of-file indication. If this option is given
more than once, all the specified files are read.
--file-offsets
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show
each match as an offset from the start of the file and a
length, separated by a comma. In this mode, no context is
shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If
there is more than one match in a line, each of them is
shown separately. This option is mutually exclusive with
--line-offsets and --only-matching.
-H, --with-filename
Force the inclusion of the filename at the start of output
lines when searching a single file. By default, the
filename is not shown in this case. For matching lines, the
filename is followed by a colon; for context lines, a
hyphen separator is used. If a line number is also being
output, it follows the file name.
-h, --no-filename
Suppress the output filenames when searching multiple
files. By default, filenames are shown when multiple files
are searched. For matching lines, the filename is followed
by a colon; for context lines, a hyphen separator is used.
If a line number is also being output, it follows the file
name.
--help Output a help message, giving brief details of the command
options and file type support, and then exit. Anything else
on the command line is ignored.
-I Treat binary files as never matching. This is equivalent to
--binary-files=without-match.
-i, --ignore-case
Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.
--include=pattern
If any --include patterns are specified, the only files
that are processed are those that match one of the patterns
(and do not match an --exclude pattern). This option does
not affect directories, but it applies to all files,
whether listed on the command line, obtained from --file-
list, or by scanning a directory. The pattern is a PCRE
regular expression, and is matched against the final
component of the file name, not the entire path. The -F,
-w, and -x options do not apply to this pattern. The option
may be given any number of times. If a file name matches
both an --include and an --exclude pattern, it is excluded.
There is no short form for this option.
--include-from=filename
Treat each non-empty line of the file as the data for an
--include option. What constitutes a newline for this
purpose is the operating system's default. The --newline
option has no effect on this option. This option may be
given any number of times; all the files are read.
--include-dir=pattern
If any --include-dir patterns are specified, the only
directories that are processed are those that match one of
the patterns (and do not match an --exclude-dir pattern).
This applies to all directories, whether listed on the
command line, obtained from --file-list, or by scanning a
parent directory. The pattern is a PCRE regular expression,
and is matched against the final component of the directory
name, not the entire path. The -F, -w, and -x options do
not apply to this pattern. The option may be given any
number of times. If a directory matches both --include-dir
and --exclude-dir, it is excluded. There is no short form
for this option.
-L, --files-without-match
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the
names of the files that do not contain any lines that would
have been output. Each file name is output once, on a
separate line.
-l, --files-with-matches
Instead of outputting lines from the files, just output the
names of the files containing lines that would have been
output. Each file name is output once, on a separate line.
Searching normally stops as soon as a matching line is
found in a file. However, if the -c (count) option is also
used, matching continues in order to obtain the correct
count, and those files that have at least one match are
listed along with their counts. Using this option with -c
is a way of suppressing the listing of files with no
matches.
--label=name
This option supplies a name to be used for the standard
input when file names are being output. If not supplied,
"(standard input)" is used. There is no short form for this
option.
--line-buffered
When this option is given, input is read and processed line
by line, and the output is flushed after each write. By
default, input is read in large chunks, unless pcregrep can
determine that it is reading from a terminal (which is
currently possible only in Unix-like environments). Output
to terminal is normally automatically flushed by the
operating system. This option can be useful when the input
or output is attached to a pipe and you do not want
pcregrep to buffer up large amounts of data. However, its
use will affect performance, and the -M (multiline) option
ceases to work.
--line-offsets
Instead of showing lines or parts of lines that match, show
each match as a line number, the offset from the start of
the line, and a length. The line number is terminated by a
colon (as usual; see the -n option), and the offset and
length are separated by a comma. In this mode, no context
is shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored.
If there is more than one match in a line, each of them is
shown separately. This option is mutually exclusive with
--file-offsets and --only-matching.
--locale=locale-name
This option specifies a locale to be used for pattern
matching. It overrides the value in the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE
environment variables. If no locale is specified, the PCRE
library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used. There
is no short form for this option.
--match-limit=number
Processing some regular expression patterns can require a
very large amount of memory, leading in some cases to a
program crash if not enough is available. Other patterns
may take a very long time to search for all possible
matching strings. The pcre_exec() function that is called
by pcregrep to do the matching has two parameters that can
limit the resources that it uses.
The --match-limit option provides a means of limiting
resource usage when processing patterns that are not going
to match, but which have a very large number of
possibilities in their search trees. The classic example is
a pattern that uses nested unlimited repeats. Internally,
PCRE uses a function called match() which it calls
repeatedly (sometimes recursively). The limit set by
--match-limit is imposed on the number of times this
function is called during a match, which has the effect of
limiting the amount of backtracking that can take place.
The --recursion-limit option is similar to --match-limit,
but instead of limiting the total number of times that
match() is called, it limits the depth of recursive calls,
which in turn limits the amount of memory that can be used.
The recursion depth is a smaller number than the total
number of calls, because not all calls to match() are
recursive. This limit is of use only if it is set smaller
than --match-limit.
There are no short forms for these options. The default
settings are specified when the PCRE library is compiled,
with the default default being 10 million.
-M, --multiline
Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this
option is given, patterns may usefully contain literal
newline characters and internal occurrences of ^ and $
characters. The output for a successful match may consist
of more than one line, the last of which is the one in
which the match ended. If the matched string ends with a
newline sequence the output ends at the end of that line.
When this option is set, the PCRE library is called in
"multiline" mode. There is a limit to the number of lines
that can be matched, imposed by the way that pcregrep
buffers the input file as it scans it. However, pcregrep
ensures that at least 8K characters or the rest of the
document (whichever is the shorter) are available for
forward matching, and similarly the previous 8K characters
(or all the previous characters, if fewer than 8K) are
guaranteed to be available for lookbehind assertions. This
option does not work when input is read line by line (see
--line-buffered.)
-N newline-type, --newline=newline-type
The PCRE library supports five different conventions for
indicating the ends of lines. They are the single-character
sequences CR (carriage return) and LF (linefeed), the two-
character sequence CRLF, an "anycrlf" convention, which
recognizes any of the preceding three types, and an "any"
convention, in which any Unicode line ending sequence is
assumed to end a line. The Unicode sequences are the three
just mentioned, plus VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form
feed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator,
U+2028), and PS (paragraph separator, U+2029).
When the PCRE library is built, a default line-ending
sequence is specified. This is normally the standard
sequence for the operating system. Unless otherwise
specified by this option, pcregrep uses the library's
default. The possible values for this option are CR, LF,
CRLF, ANYCRLF, or ANY. This makes it possible to use
pcregrep to scan files that have come from other
environments without having to modify their line endings.
If the data that is being scanned does not agree with the
convention set by this option, pcregrep may behave in
strange ways. Note that this option does not apply to files
specified by the -f, --exclude-from, or --include-from
options, which are expected to use the operating system's
standard newline sequence.
-n, --line-number
Precede each output line by its line number in the file,
followed by a colon for matching lines or a hyphen for
context lines. If the filename is also being output, it
precedes the line number. This option is forced if --line-
offsets is used.
--no-jit If the PCRE library is built with support for just-in-time
compiling (which speeds up matching), pcregrep
automatically makes use of this, unless it was explicitly
disabled at build time. This option can be used to disable
the use of JIT at run time. It is provided for testing and
working round problems. It should never be needed in
normal use.
-o, --only-matching
Show only the part of the line that matched a pattern
instead of the whole line. In this mode, no context is
shown. That is, the -A, -B, and -C options are ignored. If
there is more than one match in a line, each of them is
shown separately. If -o is combined with -v (invert the
sense of the match to find non-matching lines), no output
is generated, but the return code is set appropriately. If
the matched portion of the line is empty, nothing is output
unless the file name or line number are being printed, in
which case they are shown on an otherwise empty line. This
option is mutually exclusive with --file-offsets and
--line-offsets.
-onumber, --only-matching=number
Show only the part of the line that matched the capturing
parentheses of the given number. Up to 32 capturing
parentheses are supported, and -o0 is equivalent to -o
without a number. Because these options can be given
without an argument (see above), if an argument is present,
it must be given in the same shell item, for example, -o3
or --only-matching=2. The comments given for the non-
argument case above also apply to this case. If the
specified capturing parentheses do not exist in the
pattern, or were not set in the match, nothing is output
unless the file name or line number are being printed.
If this option is given multiple times, multiple substrings
are output, in the order the options are given. For
example, -o3 -o1 -o3 causes the substrings matched by
capturing parentheses 3 and 1 and then 3 again to be
output. By default, there is no separator (but see the next
option).
--om-separator=text
Specify a separating string for multiple occurrences of -o.
The default is an empty string. Separating strings are
never coloured.
-q, --quiet
Work quietly, that is, display nothing except error
messages. The exit status indicates whether or not any
matches were found.
-r, --recursive
If any given path is a directory, recursively scan the
files it contains, taking note of any --include and
--exclude settings. By default, a directory is read as a
normal file; in some operating systems this gives an
immediate end-of-file. This option is a shorthand for
setting the -d option to "recurse".
--recursion-limit=number
See --match-limit above.
-s, --no-messages
Suppress error messages about non-existent or unreadable
files. Such files are quietly skipped. However, the return
code is still 2, even if matches were found in other files.
-u, --utf-8
Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if
PCRE has been compiled with UTF-8 support. All patterns
(including those for any --exclude and --include options)
and all subject lines that are scanned must be valid
strings of UTF-8 characters.
-V, --version
Write the version numbers of pcregrep and the PCRE library
to the standard output and then exit. Anything else on the
command line is ignored.
-v, --invert-match
Invert the sense of the match, so that lines which do not
match any of the patterns are the ones that are found.
-w, --word-regex, --word-regexp
Force the patterns to match only whole words. This is
equivalent to having \b at the start and end of the
pattern. This option applies only to the patterns that are
matched against the contents of files; it does not apply to
patterns specified by any of the --include or --exclude
options.
-x, --line-regex, --line-regexp
Force the patterns to be anchored (each must start matching
at the beginning of a line) and in addition, require them
to match entire lines. This is equivalent to having ^ and $
characters at the start and end of each alternative branch
in every pattern. This option applies only to the patterns
that are matched against the contents of files; it does not
apply to patterns specified by any of the --include or
--exclude options.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES top
The environment variables LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE are examined, in that
order, for a locale. The first one that is set is used. This can be
overridden by the --locale option. If no locale is set, the PCRE
library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used.
NEWLINES top
The -N (--newline) option allows pcregrep to scan files with
different newline conventions from the default. Any parts of the
input files that are written to the standard output are copied
identically, with whatever newline sequences they have in the input.
However, the setting of this option does not affect the
interpretation of files specified by the -f, --exclude-from, or
--include-from options, which are assumed to use the operating
system's standard newline sequence, nor does it affect the way in
which pcregrep writes informational messages to the standard error
and output streams. For these it uses the string "\n" to indicate
newlines, relying on the C I/O library to convert this to an
appropriate sequence.
OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY top
Many of the short and long forms of pcregrep's options are the same
as in the GNU grep program. Any long option of the form --xxx-regexp
(GNU terminology) is also available as --xxx-regex (PCRE
terminology). However, the --file-list, --file-offsets, --include-
dir, --line-offsets, --locale, --match-limit, -M, --multiline, -N,
--newline, --om-separator, --recursion-limit, -u, and --utf-8 options
are specific to pcregrep, as is the use of the --only-matching option
with a capturing parentheses number.
Although most of the common options work the same way, a few are
different in pcregrep. For example, the --include option's argument
is a glob for GNU grep, but a regular expression for pcregrep. If
both the -c and -l options are given, GNU grep lists only file names,
without counts, but pcregrep gives the counts.
OPTIONS WITH DATA top
There are four different ways in which an option with data can be
specified. If a short form option is used, the data may follow
immediately, or (with one exception) in the next command line item.
For example:
-f/some/file
-f /some/file
The exception is the -o option, which may appear with or without
data. Because of this, if data is present, it must follow
immediately in the same item, for example -o3.
If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same
command line item, separated by an equals character, or (with two
exceptions) it may appear in the next command line item. For example:
--file=/some/file
--file /some/file
Note, however, that if you want to supply a file name beginning with
~ as data in a shell command, and have the shell expand ~ to a home
directory, you must separate the file name from the option, because
the shell does not treat ~ specially unless it is at the start of an
item.
The exceptions to the above are the --colour (or --color) and --only-
matching options, for which the data is optional. If one of these
options does have data, it must be given in the first form, using an
equals character. Otherwise pcregrep will assume that it has no data.
MATCHING ERRORS top
It is possible to supply a regular expression that takes a very long
time to fail to match certain lines. Such patterns normally involve
nested indefinite repeats, for example: (a+)*\d when matched against
a line of a's with no final digit. The PCRE matching function has a
resource limit that causes it to abort in these circumstances. If
this happens, pcregrep outputs an error message and the line that
caused the problem to the standard error stream. If there are more
than 20 such errors, pcregrep gives up.
The --match-limit option of pcregrep can be used to set the overall
resource limit; there is a second option called --recursion-limit
that sets a limit on the amount of memory (usually stack) that is
used (see the discussion of these options above).
DIAGNOSTICS top
Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were
found, and 2 for syntax errors, overlong lines, non-existent or
inaccessible files (even if matches were found in other files) or too
many matching errors. Using the -s option to suppress error messages
about inaccessible files does not affect the return code.
SEE ALSO top
pcrepattern(3), pcresyntax(3), pcretest(1).
AUTHOR top
Philip Hazel
University Computing Service
Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
REVISION top
Last updated: 03 April 2014
Copyright (c) 1997-2014 University of Cambridge.
COLOPHON top
This page is part of the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions)
project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.pcre.org/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, see ⟨http://bugs.exim.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=PCRE⟩. This
page was obtained from the tarball pcre-8.40.tar.gz fetched from
⟨ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/⟩ on
2017-07-05. If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML ver‐
sion of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date
source for the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the
information in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original man‐
ual page), send a mail to man-pages@man7.org