a2p
accept
access
acct
addftinfo
addr2line
adjtime
afmtodit
after
aio_cancel
aio_error
aio_read
aio_return
aio_suspend
aio_waitcomplete
aio_write
alias
aliases
alloc
anvil
append
apply
apropos
ar
array
as
asa
asn1parse
at
atq
atrm
attemptckalloc
attemptckrealloc
authlib
authtest
autopoint
awk
b64decode
b64encode
basename
batch
bc
bdes
bell
bg
bgerror
biff
big5
binary
bind
bindkey
bindtags
bindtextdomain
bio
bitmap
blowfish
bn
bootparams
bootptab
bounce
brandelf
break
breaksw
brk
bsdiff
bsdtar
bsnmpd
bspatch
bthost
btsockstat
buffer
builtin
builtins
bunzip2
button
byacc
bzcat
bzegrep
bzfgrep
bzgrep
bzip2
c2ph
c89
c99
ca
cal
calendar
canvas
cap_mkdb
case
cat
catch
catman
cc
cd
cdcontrol
chdir
checkbutton
checknr
chflags
chfn
chgrp
chio
chkey
chmod
chown
chpass
chroot
chsh
ci
ciphers
ckalloc
ckdist
ckfree
ckrealloc
cksum
cleanup
clear
clipboard
clock
clock_getres
clock_gettime
clock_settime
close
cmp
co
col
colcrt
colldef
colors
colrm
column
comm
command
compile_et
complete
compress
concat
config
connect
console
continue
core
courierlogger
couriertcpd
cp
cpan
cpio
cpp
creat
crl
crontab
crunchgen
crunchide
crypt
crypto
csh
csplit
ctags
ctm
ctm_dequeue
ctm_rmail
ctm_smail
cu
cursor
cursors
cut
cvs
date
dbiprof
dbiproxy
dc
dcgettext
dcngettext
dd
dde
default
defer
deliverquota
des
destroy
devfs
df
dgettext
dgst
dh
dhparam
dialog
diff
diff3
dig
dir
dirent
dirname
dirs
discard
disktab
dngettext
do
domainname
done
dprofpp
dsa
dsaparam
dtmfdecode
du
dup
dup2
eaccess
ec
ecdsa
echo
echotc
ecparam
ed
edit
editrc
ee
egrep
elf
elfdump
elif
else
enc
enc2xs
encoding
end
endif
endsw
engine
enigma
entry
env
envsubst
eof
eqn
err
errno
error
errstr
esac
ethers
euc
eui64
eval
event
evp
ex
exec
execve
exit
expand
export
exports
expr
extattr
extattr_delete_fd
extattr_delete_file
extattr_get_fd
extattr_get_file
extattr_set_fd
extattr_set_file
f77
false
famm
famx
fblocked
fbtab
fc
fchdir
fchflags
fchmod
fchown
fcntl
fconfigure
fcopy
fdescfs
fdformat
fdread
fdwrite
fetch
fg
fgrep
fhopen
fhstat
fhstatfs
fi
file
file2c
fileevent
filename
filetest
find
find2perl
finger
flex
flock
flush
fmt
focus
fold
font
fontedit
for
foreach
fork
format
forward
fpathconf
frame
from
fs
fstab
fstat
fstatfs
fsync
ftp
ftpchroot
ftpusers
ftruncate
futimes
g711conv
gb2312
gb18030
gbk
gcc
gcore
gcov
gdb
gencat
gendsa
genrsa
gensnmptree
getconf
getdents
getdirentries
getdtablesize
getegid
geteuid
getfacl
getfh
getfsstat
getgid
getgroups
getitimer
getlogin
getopt
getopts
getpeername
getpgid
getpgrp
getpid
getppid
getpriority
getresgid
getresuid
getrlimit
getrusage
gets
getsid
getsockname
getsockopt
gettext
gettextize
gettimeofday
gettytab
getuid
glob
global
gmake
goto
gperf
gprof
grab
grep
grid
grn
grodvi
groff
groff_font
groff_out
groff_tmac
grog
grolbp
grolj4
grops
grotty
group
groups
gunzip
gzcat
gzexe
gzip
h2ph
h2xs
hash
hashstat
hd
head
help2man
hesinfo
hexdump
history
host
hostname
hosts
hosts_access
hosts_options
hpftodit
http
hup
i386_get_ioperm
i386_get_ldt
i386_set_ioperm
i386_set_ldt
i386_vm86
iconv
id
ident
idprio
if
ifnames253
ifnames259
image
imapd
incr
indent
indxbib
info
infokey
inode
install
instmodsh
interp
intro
introduction
ioctl
ipcrm
ipcs
ipf
ipftest
ipnat
ippool
ipresend
issetugid
jail
jail_attach
jobid
jobs
join
jot
kbdcontrol
kbdmap
kcon
kdestroy
kdump
kenv
kevent
keycap
keylogin
keylogout
keymap
keysyms
kgdb
kill
killall
killpg
kinit
kldfind
kldfirstmod
kldload
kldnext
kldstat
kldsym
kldunload
klist
kpasswd
kqueue
kse
kse_create
kse_exit
kse_release
kse_switchin
kse_thr_interrupt
kse_wakeup
ktrace
label
labelframe
lam
lappend
last
lastcomm
lastlog
lchflags
lchmod
lchown
ld
ldap
ldapadd
ldapcompare
ldapdelete
ldapmodify
ldapmodrdn
ldappasswd
ldapsearch
ldapwhoami
ldd
leave
less
lesskey
lex
lgetfh
lhash
libnetcfg
library
limit
limits
lindex
link
linprocfs
linsert
lint
lio_listio
list
listbox
listen
lj4_font
lkbib
llength
lmtp
ln
load
loadfont
local
locale
locate
lock
lockf
log
logger
login
logins
logname
logout
look
lookbib
lorder
lower
lp
lpq
lpr
lprm
lptest
lrange
lreplace
ls
lsearch
lseek
lset
lsort
lstat
lsvfs
lutimes
lynx
m4
madvise
magic
mail
maildiracl
maildirkw
maildirmake
mailq
mailx
make
makeinfo
makewhatis
man
manpath
master
mc
mcedit
mcview
md2
md4
md5
mdc2
memory
menu
menubar
menubutton
merge
mesg
message
mincore
minherit
minigzip
mkdep
mkdir
mkfifo
mkimapdcert
mklocale
mknod
mkpop3dcert
mkstr
mktemp
mlock
mlockall
mmap
mmroff
modfind
modfnext
modnext
modstat
moduli
more
motd
mount
mprotect
mptable
msdos
msdosfs
msgattrib
msgcat
msgcmp
msgcomm
msgconv
msgen
msgexec
msgfilter
msgfmt
msggrep
msginit
msgmerge
msgs
msgunfmt
msguniq
mskanji
msql2mysql
msync
mt
munlock
munlockall
munmap
mv
myisamchk
myisamlog
myisampack
mysql
mysqlaccess
mysqladmin
mysqlbinlog
mysqlcheck
mysqld
mysqldump
mysqld_multi
mysqld_safe
mysqlhotcopy
mysqlimport
mysqlshow
mysql_config
mysql_fix_privilege_tables
mysql_zap
namespace
nanosleep
nawk
nc
ncal
ncplist
ncplogin
ncplogout
neqn
netconfig
netgroup
netid
netstat
networks
newaliases
newgrp
nex
nfsstat
nfssvc
ngettext
nice
nl
nm
nmount
nohup
nologin
notify
nroff
nseq
nslookup
ntp_adjtime
ntp_gettime
nvi
nview
objcopy
objdump
objformat
ocsp
od
onintr
open
openssl
opieaccess
opieinfo
opiekey
opiekeys
opiepasswd
option
options
oqmgr
pack
package
packagens
pagesize
palette
pam_auth
panedwindow
parray
passwd
paste
patch
pathchk
pathconf
pawd
pax
pbm
pcre
pcreapi
pcrebuild
pcrecallout
pcrecompat
pcrecpp
pcregrep
pcrematching
pcrepartial
pcrepattern
pcreperform
pcreposix
pcreprecompile
pcresample
pcretest
perl
perl56delta
perl58delta
perl561delta
perl570delta
perl571delta
perl572delta
perl573delta
perl581delta
perl582delta
perl583delta
perl584delta
perl585delta
perl586delta
perl587delta
perl588delta
perl5004delta
perl5005delta
perlaix
perlamiga
perlapi
perlapio
perlapollo
perlartistic
perlbeos
perlbook
perlboot
perlbot
perlbs2000
perlbug
perlcall
perlcc
perlce
perlcheat
perlclib
perlcn
perlcompile
perlcygwin
perldata
perldbmfilter
perldebguts
perldebtut
perldebug
perldelta
perldgux
perldiag
perldoc
perldos
perldsc
perlebcdic
perlembed
perlepoc
perlfaq
perlfaq1
perlfaq2
perlfaq3
perlfaq4
perlfaq5
perlfaq6
perlfaq7
perlfaq8
perlfaq9
perlfilter
perlfork
perlform
perlfreebsd
perlfunc
perlglossary
perlgpl
perlguts
perlhack
perlhist
perlhpux
perlhurd
perlintern
perlintro
perliol
perlipc
perlirix
perlivp
perljp
perlko
perllexwarn
perllinux
perllocale
perllol
perlmachten
perlmacos
perlmacosx
perlmint
perlmod
perlmodinstall
perlmodlib
perlmodstyle
perlmpeix
perlnetware
perlnewmod
perlnumber
perlobj
perlop
perlopenbsd
perlopentut
perlos2
perlos390
perlos400
perlothrtut
perlpacktut
perlplan9
perlpod
perlpodspec
perlport
perlqnx
perlre
perlref
perlreftut
perlrequick
perlreref
perlretut
perlrun
perlsec
perlsolaris
perlstyle
perlsub
perlsyn
perlthrtut
perltie
perltoc
perltodo
perltooc
perltoot
perltrap
perltru64
perltw
perlunicode
perluniintro
perlutil
perluts
perlvar
perlvmesa
perlvms
perlvos
perlwin32
perlxs
perlxstut
perror
pfbtops
pftp
pgrep
phones
photo
pic
pickup
piconv
pid
pipe
pkcs7
pkcs8
pkcs12
pkg_add
pkg_check
pkg_create
pkg_delete
pkg_info
pkg_sign
pkg_version
pkill
pl2pm
place
pod2html
pod2latex
pod2man
pod2text
pod2usage
podchecker
podselect
poll
popd
popup
posix_madvise
postalias
postcat
postconf
postdrop
postfix
postkick
postlock
postlog
postmap
postqueue
postsuper
pr
pread
preadv
printcap
printenv
printf
proc
procfs
profil
protocols
prove
proxymap
ps
psed
psroff
pstruct
ptrace
publickey
pushd
puts
pwd
pwrite
pwritev
qmgr
qmqpd
quota
quotactl
radiobutton
raise
rand
ranlib
rcp
rcs
rcsclean
rcsdiff
rcsfile
rcsfreeze
rcsintro
rcsmerge
read
readelf
readlink
readonly
readv
realpath
reboot
recv
recvfrom
recvmsg
red
ree
refer
regexp
registry
regsub
rehash
remote
rename
repeat
replace
req
reset
resolver
resource
return
rev
revoke
rfcomm_sppd
rfork
rhosts
ripemd
ripemd160
rlog
rlogin
rm
rmd160
rmdir
rpc
rpcgen
rs
rsa
rsautl
rsh
rtld
rtprio
rup
ruptime
rusers
rwall
rwho
s2p
safe
sasl
sasldblistusers2
saslpasswd2
sbrk
scache
scale
scan
sched
sched_getparam
sched_getscheduler
sched_get_priority_max
sched_get_priority_min
sched_rr_get_interval
sched_setparam
sched_setscheduler
sched_yield
scon
scp
script
scrollbar
sdiff
sed
seek
select
selection
semctl
semget
semop
send
sendbug
sendfile
sendmail
sendmsg
sendto
services
sess_id
set
setegid
setenv
seteuid
setfacl
setgid
setgroups
setitimer
setlogin
setpgid
setpgrp
setpriority
setregid
setresgid
setresuid
setreuid
setrlimit
setsid
setsockopt
settc
settimeofday
setty
setuid
setvar
sftp
sh
sha
sha1
sha256
shar
shells
shift
shmat
shmctl
shmdt
shmget
showq
shutdown
sigaction
sigaltstack
sigblock
sigmask
sigpause
sigpending
sigprocmask
sigreturn
sigsetmask
sigstack
sigsuspend
sigvec
sigwait
size
slapadd
slapcat
slapd
slapdn
slapindex
slappasswd
slaptest
sleep
slogin
slurpd
smbutil
smime
smtp
smtpd
socket
socketpair
sockstat
soelim
sort
source
spawn
speed
spinbox
spkac
splain
split
squid
squid_ldap_auth
squid_ldap_group
squid_unix_group
sscop
ssh
sshd_config
ssh_config
stab
startslip
stat
statfs
stop
string
strings
strip
stty
su
subst
sum
suspend
swapoff
swapon
switch
symlink
sync
sysarch
syscall
sysconftool
sysconftoolcheck
systat
s_client
s_server
s_time
tabs
tail
talk
tar
tbl
tclsh
tcltest
tclvars
tcopy
tcpdump
tcpslice
tcsh
tee
tell
telltc
telnet
term
termcap
terminfo
test
texindex
texinfo
text
textdomain
tfmtodit
tftp
then
threads
time
tip
tk
tkerror
tkvars
tkwait
tlsmgr
tmac
top
toplevel
touch
tput
tr
trace
trafshow
trap
troff
true
truncate
truss
tset
tsort
tty
ttys
type
tzfile
ui
ul
ulimit
umask
unalias
uname
uncomplete
uncompress
undelete
unexpand
unhash
unifdef
unifdefall
uniq
units
unknown
unlimit
unlink
unmount
unset
unsetenv
until
unvis
update
uplevel
uptime
upvar
usbhidaction
usbhidctl
users
utf8
utimes
utmp
utrace
uudecode
uuencode
uuidgen
vacation
variable
verify
version
vfork
vgrind
vgrindefs
vi
vidcontrol
vidfont
view
virtual
vis
vt220keys
vwait
w
wait
wait3
wait4
waitpid
wall
wc
wget
what
whatis
where
whereis
which
while
who
whoami
whois
window
winfo
wish
wm
write
writev
wtmp
x509
xargs
xgettext
xmlwf
xstr
xsubpp
yacc
yes
ypcat
ypchfn
ypchpass
ypchsh
ypmatch
yppasswd
ypwhich
yyfix
zcat
zcmp
zdiff
zegrep
zfgrep
zforce
zgrep
zmore
znew
_exit
__syscall
 
FreeBSD/Linux/UNIX General Commands Manual
Hypertext Man Pages
pcregrep
 
PCREGREP(1)							   PCREGREP(1)



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

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

DESCRIPTION

       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 pcrepattern for a full description of 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 on the  command  line
       because they are interpreted by the shell, and indeed they 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, pcregrep reads the standard input. The stan-
       dard  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 the pattern is copied to  the  stan-
       dard  output, and if there is more than one file, the file name is out-
       put at the start of each line. However,	there  are  options  that  can
       change how pcregrep behaves. In particular, the -M option makes it pos-
       sible to search for patterns that span line boundaries.

       Patterns are limited to 8K  or  BUFSIZ  characters,  whichever  is  the
       greater.  BUFSIZ is defined in .

       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.

OPTIONS

       --	 This  terminate 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 number lines of context after each matching  line.  If
		 filenames and/or line numbers are being output, a hyphen sep-
		 arator 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 avail-
		 able for context output.

       -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 sep-
		 arator  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 avail-
		 able for context output.

       -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; instead just output  a  count
		 of the number of lines that would otherwise have been output.
		 If several files are given, a count is  output  for  each  of
		 them. In this mode, 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 part of a
		 line that matched a pattern should be coloured in the output.
		 The  value may be "never" (the default), "always", or "auto".
		 In the latter case, colouring happens only  if  the  standard
		 output  is  connected to a terminal. The colour can be speci-
		 fied 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 ter-
		 minal, 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),
		 "recurse"  (equivalent to the -r option), or "skip" (silently
		 skip the path). In the default 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.

       -e pattern, --regex=pattern,
		 --regexp=pattern Specify a pattern to be matched. This option
		 can be used multiple times in order to specify  several  pat-
		 terns.  It  can  also be used as a way of specifying a single
		 pattern that starts with a hyphen. When -e is used, no  argu-
		 ment  pattern	is  taken from the command line; all arguments
		 are treated as file names. There is an overall maximum of 100
		 patterns. They are applied to each line in the order in which
		 they are defined until one matches (or fails to match	if  -v
		 is  used).  If  -f is used with -e, the command line patterns
		 are matched first, followed by the patterns  from  the  file,
		 independent  of  the  order in which these options are speci-
		 fied. Note that multiple use of -e is not the same as a  sin-
		 gle  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,  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 really matters only if you
		 are using -o to show the portion of the line that matched.

       --exclude=pattern
		 When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-
		 sequence of the -r (recursive search) option, any files whose
		 names match the pattern are excluded. The pattern is  a  PCRE
		 regular expression. If a file name matches both --include and
		 --exclude, it is excluded. There is no short  form  for  this
		 option.

       -F, --fixed-strings
		 Interpret  each pattern as a list of fixed strings, separated
		 by newlines, instead of  as  a  regular  expression.  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 (sub-
		 ject to -w or -x, if present).

       -f filename, --file=filename
		 Read a number of patterns from the file, one  per  line,  and
		 match	them against each line of input. A data line is output
		 if any of the patterns match it. The 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  file  names.  There is an overall maximum of 100
		 patterns. Trailing white space is removed from each line, and
		 blank	lines  are ignored. An empty file contains no patterns
		 and therefore matches nothing.

       -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  and a space; for context lines, a
		 hyphen separator is used. If a line number is also being out-
		 put, it follows the file name without a space.

       -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 and a space; for context lines, a hyphen  separator  is
		 used.	If  a line number is also being output, it follows the
		 file name without a space.

       --help	 Output a brief help message and exit.

       -i, --ignore-case
		 Ignore upper/lower case distinctions during comparisons.

       --include=pattern
		 When pcregrep is searching the files in a directory as a con-
		 sequence  of  the  -r	(recursive  search) option, only those
		 files whose names match the pattern are included. The pattern
		 is  a	PCRE  regular  expression. If a file name matches both
		 --include and --exclude, 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  stops  as  soon  as  a matching line is found in a
		 file.

       --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.

       --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  PCRE
		 library's  default (usually the "C" locale) is used. There is
		 no short form for this option.

       -M, --multiline
		 Allow patterns to match more than one line. When this	option
		 is given, patterns may usefully contain literal newline char-
		 acters and internal occurrences of ^ and  $  characters.  The
		 output  for  any one match may consist of more than one line.
		 When this option is set, the PCRE library is called in  "mul-
		 tiline"  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 simi-
		 larly the previous 8K characters (or all the previous charac-
		 ters,	if  fewer  than 8K) are guaranteed to be available for
		 lookbehind assertions.

       -n, --line-number
		 Precede each output line by its line number in the file, fol-
		 lowed	by  a colon and a space for matching lines or a hyphen
		 and a space for context lines. If the filename is also  being
		 output, it precedes the line number.

       -o, --only-matching
		 Show  only  the  part	of the line that matched a pattern. In
		 this mode, no context is shown. That is, the -A, -B,  and  -C
		 options are ignored.

       -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".

       -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. Both patterns and sub-
		 ject lines must be valid strings of UTF-8 characters.

       -V, --version
		 Write the version numbers of pcregrep and  the  PCRE  library
		 that is being used to the standard error stream.

       -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.

       -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.

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

OPTIONS COMPATIBILITY

       The majority of 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  --locale,  -M,  --multiline, -u, and --utf-8 options are
       specific to pcregrep.

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 in the next command line item. For example:

	 -f/some/file
	 -f /some/file

       If a long form option is used, the data may appear in the same  command
       line item, separated by an equals character, or (with one exception) 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 exception to the above is the --colour  (or	--color)  option,  for
       which  the  data is optional. If this option does have data, it must be
       given in the first form, using an equals character. Otherwise  it  will
       be assumed that it has no data.

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  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.

DIAGNOSTICS

       Exit status is 0 if any matches were found, 1 if no matches were found,
       and  2 for syntax errors and non-existent or inacessible files (even if
       matches were found in other files) or too many matching	errors.  Using
       the  -s	option to suppress error messages about inaccessble files does
       not affect the return code.

AUTHOR

       Philip Hazel
       University Computing Service
       Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.

Last updated: 23 January 2006
Copyright (c) 1997-2006 University of Cambridge.



								   PCREGREP(1)
=19441
+759
(87)