GNU bug report logs - #35159
Bug in grep -e (GNU grep 2.51)

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

From: Andrew Browne <andrew.p.browne-nr <at> raytheon.com>
To: "bug-grep <at> gnu.org" <bug-grep <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Bug in grep -e (GNU grep 2.51)
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2019 13:18:08 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

I am using GNU grep 2.5.1, so maybe this has been fixed by now.

Bug: 'grep -e <pattern1> -e <pattern2> <file>' sometimes doesn't show all of the matches for one pattern.
Example: 'grep -e blah -e stuff <file>' finds all "blah", but only some of "stuff", when <file> contains lots of "blah" and only a few "stuff" mixed in.

As an alternative that works, I used 'grep -E '<pattern1>|<patter2>' <file>'


Andrew Browne

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Message #8 received at 35159 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Andrew Browne <andrew.p.browne-nr <at> raytheon.com>
Cc: 35159 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#35159: Bug in grep -e (GNU grep 2.51)
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2019 22:25:32 -0700

Can you give a specific test case illustrating the bug?

Message #13 received at 35159-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Andrew Browne <andrew.p.browne-nr <at> raytheon.com>
Cc: 35159-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#35159: Bug in grep -e (GNU grep 2.51)
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2019 11:53:29 -0700

On 4/8/19 6:03 AM, Andrew Browne wrote:
> * dummyfile1.txt contains "blah blah blah one two three blah blah blah one two three blah blah blah"
> * dummyfile2.txt contains "blah blah blah one two three blah blah blah one two three"
> * 'grep --color -i -e blah -e two dummyfile1.txt' produces the file with all colored "blah" and none of the "two" are colored.
> * 'grep --color -i -e blah -e two dummyfile2.txt' produces the file with all colored "blah" and only the second "two" is colored. (It seems to like finding <pattern2> on a line only after all of <pattern1> are found on that line.)

I don't observe these symptoms in grep 3.3, the current version. So I
think the bug has been fixed, and am closing the bug report. Thanks
anyway for reporting it. grep 2.5.1 was released in 2004, and it's time
to upgrade for other reasons.

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