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doc/pcre2grep.1

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.TH PCRE2GREP 1 "20 November 2023" "PCRE2 10.43"
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.TH PCRE2GREP 1 "22 December 2023" "PCRE2 10.43"
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.SH NAME
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pcre2grep - a grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions.
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.sp
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pcre2grep some-pattern file1 - file3
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.sp
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By default, input files are searched line by line. Each line that matches a
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pattern is copied to the standard output, and if there is more than one file,
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the file name is output at the start of each line, followed by a colon.
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However, there are options that can change how \fBpcre2grep\fP behaves. For
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example, the \fB-M\fP option makes it possible to search for strings that span
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line boundaries. What defines a line boundary is controlled by the \fB-N\fP
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(\fB--newline\fP) option. The \fB-h\fP and \fB-H\fP options control whether or
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not file names are shown, and the \fB-Z\fP option changes the file name
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terminator to a zero byte.
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By default, input files are searched line by line, so pattern assertions about
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the beginning and end of a subject string (^, $, \eA, \eZ, and \ez) match at
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the beginning and end of each line. When a line matches a pattern, it is copied
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to the standard output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is
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output at the start of each line, followed by a colon. However, there are
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options that can change how \fBpcre2grep\fP behaves. For example, the \fB-M\fP
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option makes it possible to search for strings that span line boundaries. What
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defines a line boundary is controlled by the \fB-N\fP (\fB--newline\fP) option.
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The \fB-h\fP and \fB-H\fP options control whether or not file names are shown,
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and the \fB-Z\fP option changes the file name terminator to a zero byte.
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.P
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The amount of memory used for buffering files that are being scanned is
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controlled by parameters that can be set by the \fB--buffer-size\fP and
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.TP
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\fB-M\fP, \fB--multiline\fP
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Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this option is set, the PCRE2
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library is called in "multiline" mode. This allows a matched string to extend
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past the end of a line and continue on one or more subsequent lines. Patterns
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used with \fB-M\fP may usefully contain literal newline characters and internal
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occurrences of ^ and $ characters. The output for a successful match may
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consist of more than one line. The first line is the line in which the match
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started, and the last line is the line in which the match ended. If the matched
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string ends with a newline sequence, the output ends at the end of that line.
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If \fB-v\fP is set, none of the lines in a multi-line match are output. Once a
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match has been handled, scanning restarts at the beginning of the line after
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the one in which the match ended.
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library is called in "multiline" mode, and a match is allowed to continue past
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the end of the initial line and onto one or more subsequent lines.
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.sp
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Patterns used with \fB-M\fP may usefully contain literal newline characters and
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internal occurrences of ^ and $ characters, because in multiline mode these can
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match at internal newlines. Because \fBpcre2grep\fP is scanning multiple lines,
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the \eZ and \ez assertions match only at the end of the last line in the file.
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The \eA assertion matches at the start of the first line of a match. This can
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be any line in the file; it is not anchored to the first line.
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.sp
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The output for a successful match may consist of more than one line. The first
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line is the line in which the match started, and the last line is the line in
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which the match ended. If the matched string ends with a newline sequence, the
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output ends at the end of that line. If \fB-v\fP is set, none of the lines in a
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multi-line match are output. Once a match has been handled, scanning restarts
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at the beginning of the line after the one in which the match ended.
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.sp
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The newline sequence that separates multiple lines must be matched as part of
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the pattern. For example, to find the phrase "regular expression" in a file
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.rs
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.sp
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.nf
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Last updated: 20 November 2023
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Last updated: 22 December 2023
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Copyright (c) 1997-2023 University of Cambridge.
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.fi

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