path: root/doc/pcre2grep.txt

PCRE2GREP(1)                General Commands Manual               PCRE2GREP(1)



NAME
       pcre2grep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.

SYNOPSIS
       pcre2grep [options] [long options] [pattern] [path1 path2 ...]


DESCRIPTION

       pcre2grep  searches  files  for  character patterns, in the same way as
       other grep commands do,  but  it  uses  the  PCRE2  regular  expression
       library  to  support  patterns  that  are  compatible  with the regular
       expressions of Perl 5. See pcre2syntax(3) for a quick-reference summary
       of  pattern  syntax,  or  pcre2pattern(3) for a full description of the
       syntax and semantics of the regular expressions that PCRE2 supports.

       Patterns, whether supplied on the command line or in a  separate  file,
       are given without delimiters. For example:

         pcre2grep 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.  Con-
       versely, when one or both of these options are  used  to  specify  pat-
       terns, 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, pcre2grep  reads  the  standard  input.  The
       standard  input can also be referenced by a name consisting of a single
       hyphen.  For example:

         pcre2grep some-pattern file1 - file3

       Input files are searched line by  line.  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
       pcre2grep behaves. In particular, the -M option makes  it  possible  to
       search  for  strings  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  parameters  that  can  be  set by the --buffer-size and
       --max-buffer-size options. The first of these sets the size  of  buffer
       that  is obtained at the start of processing. If an input file contains
       very long lines, a larger buffer may be  needed;  this  is  handled  by
       automatically extending the buffer, up to the limit specified by --max-
       buffer-size. The default values for these parameters are specified when
       pcre2grep  is built, with the default defaults being 20K and 1M respec-
       tively. An error occurs if a line is too long and  the  buffer  can  no
       longer be expanded.

       The  block  of  memory that is actually used is three times the "buffer
       size", to allow for buffering "before" and "after" lines. If the buffer
       size  is too small, fewer than requested "before" and "after" lines may
       be output.

       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, pcre2grep uses
       the value to set a locale when calling the PCRE2 library.  The --locale
       option can be used to override this.


SUPPORT FOR COMPRESSED FILES

       It  is  possible to compile pcre2grep 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

       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

       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  file
                 names that start with hyphens.

       -A number, --after-context=number
                 Output  up  to  number  lines  of context after each matching
                 line. Fewer lines are output if the next match or the end  of
                 the  file  is  reached,  or if the processing buffer size has
                 been set too small. If file names  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 contigu-
                 ous in the input file. The value of number is expected to  be
                 relatively small. When -c is used, -A is ignored.

       -a, --text
                 Treat  binary  files as text. This is equivalent to --binary-
                 files=text.

       -B number, --before-context=number
                 Output up to number lines of  context  before  each  matching
                 line.  Fewer  lines  are  output if the previous match or the
                 start of the file is within number lines, or if the  process-
                 ing  buffer size has been set too small. If file names 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.  When  -c  is  used,  -B  is
                 ignored.

       --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 and are skipped without causing
                 any output or affecting the return code.

       --buffer-size=number
                 Set the parameter that controls how much memory  is  obtained
                 at the start of processing for buffering files that are being
                 scanned. See also --max-buffer-size below.

       -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 lines from the files that  are  being  scanned;
                 instead  output  the  number  of  lines  that would have been
                 shown, either because they matched, or, if -v is set, because
                 they  failed  to match. By default, this count is exactly the
                 same as the number of lines that would have been output,  but
                 if  the -M (multiline) option is used (without -v), there may
                 be more suppressed lines than the count (that is, the  number
                 of matches).

                 If  no lines are selected, the number zero is output. If sev-
                 eral files are are being scanned, a count is output for  each
                 of  them and the -t option can be used to cause a total to be
                 output at  the  end.  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 out-
                 put is connected to a terminal. More resources are used  when
                 colouring is enabled, because pcre2grep 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 one of
                 the environment variables PCRE2GREP_COLOUR,  PCRE2GREP_COLOR,
                 PCREGREP_COLOUR, or PCREGREP_COLOR, which are checked in that
                 order.  If  none  of  these  are  set,  pcre2grep  looks  for
                 GREP_COLORS  or  GREP_COLOR (in that order). The value of the
                 variable should be a string of two numbers,  separated  by  a
                 semicolon,  except  in  the  case  of GREP_COLORS, which must
                 start with "ms=" or "mt=" followed by two semicolon-separated
                 colours,  terminated  by the end of the string or by a colon.
                 If GREP_COLORS does not start  with  "ms="  or  "mt="  it  is
                 ignored, and GREP_COLOR is checked.

                 If  the  string obtained from one of the above variables con-
                 tains any characters other than semicolon or digits, the set-
                 ting is ignored and the default colour is used. The string is
                 copied directly into the control string for setting colour on
                 a  terminal,  so it is your responsibility to ensure that the
                 values make sense. If no  relevant  environment  variable  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.

       --depth-limit=number
                 See --match-limit below.

       -e pattern, --regex=pattern, --regexp=pattern
                 Specify a pattern to be matched. This option can be used mul-
                 tiple 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, pcre2grep 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 PCRE2 reg-
                 ular  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 pat-
                 tern, 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 PCRE2 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  direc-
                 tory  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  pat-
                 terns  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 file name 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 file name can be given as "-" to refer to
                 the standard input.  If --file and --file-list are both spec-
                 ified  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 file name at the start of output
                 lines when searching a single file. By default, the file name
                 is not shown in this case.  For matching lines, the file name
                 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. When the -M option causes a pattern  to  match
                 more  than  one  line, only the first is preceded by the file
                 name.

       -h, --no-filename
                 Suppress the output file names when searching multiple files.
                 By  default,  file  names  are  shown when multiple files are
                 searched. For matching lines, the file name 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        Ignore  binary  files.  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 PCRE2 regular  expres-
                 sion,  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  direc-
                 tories  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 PCRE2 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  sepa-
                 rate 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 out-
                 put.  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 sup-
                 pressing 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 pcre2grep can
                 determine that it is reading from a terminal (which  is  cur-
                 rently  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 pcre2grep to buffer up
                 large  amounts  of data. However, its use will affect perfor-
                 mance, 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  sepa-
                 rately. This option is mutually exclusive with --file-offsets
                 and --only-matching.

       --locale=locale-name
                 This option specifies a locale to be used for pattern  match-
                 ing.  It  overrides the value in the LC_ALL or LC_CTYPE envi-
                 ronment variables. If  no  locale  is  specified,  the  PCRE2
                 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 may take  a  very
                 long time to search for all possible matching strings. Others
                 may require a very large amount  of  memory.  There  are  two
                 options that set resource limits for matching.

                 The --match-limit option provides a means of limiting comput-
                 ing resource usage when  processing  patterns  that  are  not
                 going  to match, but which have a very large number of possi-
                 bilities in their search trees. The classic example is a pat-
                 tern  that  uses  nested unlimited repeats. Internally, PCRE2
                 has a counter that is incremented each time around  its  main
                 processing  loop.  If  the  value  set  by  --match-limit  is
                 reached, an error occurs.

                 The --depth-limit option limits the  depth  of  nested  back-
                 tracking  points,  which  in turn limits the amount of memory
                 that is used. This limit is of use only if it is set  smaller
                 than --match-limit.

                 There  are no short forms for these options. The default set-
                 tings are specified when the PCRE2 library is compiled,  with
                 the default default being 10 million.

       --max-buffer-size=number
                 This  limits  the  expansion  of the processing buffer, whose
                 initial size can be set by --buffer-size. The maximum  buffer
                 size  is  silently  forced to be no smaller than the starting
                 buffer size.

       -M, --multiline
                 Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this  option
                 is set, the PCRE2 library is called in "multiline" mode. This
                 allows a matched string to extend past the end of a line  and
                 continue  on one or more subsequent lines. Patterns used with
                 -M may usefully contain literal newline characters and inter-
                 nal  occurrences of ^ and $ characters. The output for a suc-
                 cessful match may consist of more than one  line.  The  first
                 line  is  the  line  in which the match started, and the last
                 line is the line in which the match  ended.  If  the  matched
                 string  ends  with a newline sequence, the output ends at the
                 end of that line.  If -v is set,  none  of  the  lines  in  a
                 multi-line  match  are output. Once a match has been handled,
                 scanning restarts at the beginning of the line after the  one
                 in which the match ended.

                 The  newline  sequence  that separates multiple lines must be
                 matched as part of the pattern.  For  example,  to  find  the
                 phrase  "regular  expression" in a file where "regular" might
                 be at the end of a line and "expression" at the start of  the
                 next line, you could use this command:

                   pcre2grep -M 'regular\s+expression' <file>

                 The  \s  escape  sequence  matches any white space character,
                 including newlines, and is followed  by  +  so  as  to  match
                 trailing  white  space  on the first line as well as possibly
                 handling a two-character newline sequence.

                 There is a limit to the number of lines that can be  matched,
                 imposed  by  the way that pcre2grep buffers the input file as
                 it scans it. With a  sufficiently  large  processing  buffer,
                 this should not be a problem, but the -M option does not work
                 when input is read line by line (see --line-buffered.)

       -N newline-type, --newline=newline-type
                 The PCRE2 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 rec-
                 ognizes any of the preceding three types, and an  "any"  con-
                 vention, in which any Unicode line ending sequence is assumed
                 to end a line. The Unicode sequences are the three just  men-
                 tioned,  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  PCRE2  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, pcre2grep uses the  library's  default.   The
                 possible values for this option are CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or
                 ANY. This makes it possible to use pcre2grep  to  scan  files
                 that have come from other environments without having to mod-
                 ify their line endings. If the data  that  is  being  scanned
                 does  not  agree  with  the  convention  set  by this option,
                 pcre2grep 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, fol-
                 lowed by a colon for matching lines or a hyphen  for  context
                 lines. If the file name is also being output, it precedes the
                 line number. When the -M option causes  a  pattern  to  match
                 more  than  one  line, only the first is preceded by its line
                 number. This option is forced if --line-offsets is used.

       --no-jit  If the PCRE2 library is built with support  for  just-in-time
                 compiling (which speeds up matching), pcre2grep 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  prob-
                 lems.  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,
                 on  a  separate  line  of  output.  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 appropri-
                 ately. 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 parenthe-
                 ses are supported, and -o0 is equivalent to -o without a num-
                 ber.  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 out-
                 put.

                 If this option is given multiple times,  multiple  substrings
                 are  output  for  each  match,  in  the order the options are
                 given, and all on one line. 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  set-
                 tings.  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.

       -t, --total-count
                 This option is useful when scanning more than  one  file.  If
                 used  on its own, -t suppresses all output except for a grand
                 total number of matching lines (or non-matching lines  if  -v
                 is  used)  in  all  the files. If -t is used with -c, a grand
                 total is output except when the previous output is  just  one
                 line.  In  other words, it is not output when just one file's
                 count is listed. If file names are being  output,  the  grand
                 total  is preceded by "TOTAL:". Otherwise, it appears as just
                 another number. The -t option is ignored when  used  with  -L
                 (list  files  without matches), because the grand total would
                 always be zero.

       -u, --utf-8
                 Operate in UTF-8 mode. This option is available only if PCRE2
                 has been compiled with UTF-8 support. All patterns (including
                 those for any --exclude and --include options) and  all  sub-
                 ject  lines  that  are scanned must be valid strings of UTF-8
                 characters.

       -V, --version
                 Write the version numbers of pcre2grep and the PCRE2  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 equiva-
                 lent 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  speci-
                 fied 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. In multiline mode the match may be more
                 than one line. This is equivalent to having \A and \Z charac-
                 ters  at  the  start  and  end  of each alternative top-level
                 branch in every pattern. This option applies only to the pat-
                 terns 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

       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 PCRE2
       library's default (usually the "C" locale) is used.


NEWLINES

       The -N (--newline) option allows pcre2grep 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  what-
       ever  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 pcre2grep 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

       Many of the short and long forms of pcre2grep'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 (PCRE2 terminology). How-
       ever,  the  --file-list, --file-offsets, --include-dir, --line-offsets,
       --locale, --match-limit, -M, --multiline, -N,  --newline,  --om-separa-
       tor,  --recursion-limit,  -u,  and  --utf-8  options  are  specific  to
       pcre2grep, 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 dif-
       ferent in pcre2grep. For example, the --include option's argument is  a
       glob  for GNU grep, but a regular expression for pcre2grep. If both the
       -c and -l options are given, GNU grep lists only  file  names,  without
       counts, but pcre2grep gives the counts as well.


OPTIONS WITH DATA

       There are four different ways in which an option with data can be spec-
       ified.  If a short form option is used, the  data  may  follow  immedi-
       ately, or (with one exception) in the next command line item. For exam-
       ple:

         -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 pcre2grep will assume that it has no data.


CALLING EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

       pcre2grep has, by default, support for  calling  external  programs  or
       scripts during matching by making use of PCRE2's callout facility. How-
       ever, this support can be disabled when pcre2grep  is  built.  You  can
       find  out  whether  your  binary has support for callouts by running it
       with the --help option. If the support is not enabled, all callouts  in
       patterns are ignored by pcre2grep.

       A  callout  in a PCRE2 pattern is of the form (?C<arg>) where the argu-
       ment is either a number or a quoted string (see the pcre2callout  docu-
       mentation  for  details).  Numbered  callouts are ignored by pcre2grep.
       String arguments are parsed as a list of substrings separated  by  pipe
       (vertical  bar)  characters.  The first substring must be an executable
       name, with the following substrings specifying arguments:

         executable_name|arg1|arg2|...

       Any substring  (including  the  executable  name)  may  contain  escape
       sequences  started  by  a dollar character: $<digits> or ${<digits>} is
       replaced by the captured substring of the given decimal  number,  which
       must  be greater than zero. If the number is greater than the number of
       capturing substrings, or if the capture is unset,  the  replacement  is
       empty.

       Any  other  character  is  substituted  by itself. In particular, $$ is
       replaced by a single dollar and $| is replaced  by  a  pipe  character.
       Here is an example:

         echo -e "abcde\n12345" | pcre2grep \
           '(?x)(.)(..(.))
           (?C"/bin/echo|Arg1: [$1] [$2] [$3]|Arg2: $|${1}$| ($4)")()' -

         Output:

           Arg1: [a] [bcd] [d] Arg2: |a| ()
           abcde
           Arg1: [1] [234] [4] Arg2: |1| ()
           12345

       The parameters for the execv() system call that is used to run the pro-
       gram or script are zero-terminated strings. This means that binary zero
       characters  in the callout argument will cause premature termination of
       their substrings, and therefore  should  not  be  present.  Any  syntax
       errors  in  the  string  (for example, a dollar not followed by another
       character) cause the callout to be  ignored.  If  running  the  program
       fails for any reason (including the non-existence of the executable), a
       local matching failure occurs and the matcher backtracks in the  normal
       way.


MATCHING ERRORS

       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  PCRE2  matching  function  has  a
       resource  limit that causes it to abort in these circumstances. If this
       happens, pcre2grep outputs an error message and the  line  that  caused
       the  problem  to  the  standard error stream. If there are more than 20
       such errors, pcre2grep gives up.

       The --match-limit option of pcre2grep can be used to  set  the  overall
       resource limit; there is a second option called --depth-limit that sets
       a limit on the amount of memory that is used  (see  the  discussion  of
       these options above).


DIAGNOSTICS

       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 inaccessi-
       ble files does not affect the return code.


SEE ALSO

       pcre2pattern(3), pcre2syntax(3), pcre2callout(3).


AUTHOR

       Philip Hazel
       University Computing Service
       Cambridge, England.


REVISION

       Last updated: 21 March 2017
       Copyright (c) 1997-2017 University of Cambridge.