Debian Bug report logs - #435411
grep: Option -e cannot be combined with other options

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@cante.net>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: grep: Option -e cannot be combined with other options

Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:43:00 +0300

Package: grep
Version: 2.5.1.ds2-6
Severity: normal


Consider this:

    $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -eF '--- '
    grep: unrecognized option `--- '
    Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
    Try `grep --help' for more information.

    $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -F -e '--- '
    --- edb-1.21.orig/debian/dirs
    --- edb-1.21.orig/debian/docs
    ...

PROBLEM

It should be possible to combine short options together, including -e.
The effect of "e" could be postponed until the current option "goup". 
An example:

	-eF

That should be equal to

       -Fe

Likewise with any number of other options "grouped", like:

   	-iFe
	-eFi
	...

I understand that the -e is a modifier, like -F is a modifier for the
next argument that follows.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.21-2-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ISO-8859-1) (ignored: LC_ALL set to en_US)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages grep depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.6-2      GNU C Library: Shared libraries

grep recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Schwab <schwab@suse.de>

To: Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@cante.net>

Cc: 435411@bugs.debian.org, Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: Re: Bug#435411: grep: Option -e cannot be combined with other options

Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:39:07 +0200

Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@cante.net> writes:

> Consider this:
>
>     $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -eF '--- '

This is the same as "... | grep -e F '--- '

> It should be possible to combine short options together, including -e.

"-e" takes an argument, that must follow immediately (either directly or
as the next argument).  That's how getopt works for every other utility,
and how POSIX requires that option arguments are handled (see
<http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap12.html>).

> I understand that the -e is a modifier, like -F is a modifier for the
> next argument that follows.

"-F" does take an argument.  It is an option on its own, modifying the
operation of the utility.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, SuSE Labs, schwab@suse.de
SuSE Linux Products GmbH, Maxfeldstraße 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany
PGP key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Message #20 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Tony Abou-Assaleh <taa@acm.org>

To: Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@cante.net>, 435411@bugs.debian.org

Cc: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>, debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, bug-grep@gnu.org, Anibal Monsalve Salazar <anibal@debian.org>

Subject: Re: Bug#435411: grep: Option -e cannot be combined with other options

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 13:45:42 -0300 (ADT)

According the man page, -e expects a pattern following it as an argument
to the option. Therefore, -eF is incorrect as it doesn't follow the syntax
specification. And there is no easy way to make sense out of a syntax that
would allow -eF, since multiple -e options are allowed.

Cheers,

TAA

-----------------------------------------------------
Tony Abou-Assaleh
Email:    taa@acm.org
Web site: http://tony.abou-assaleh.net
----------------------[THE END]----------------------

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Jari Aalto wrote:

> Package: grep
> Version: 2.5.1.ds2-6
> Severity: normal
>
>
> Consider this:
>
>     $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -eF '--- '
>     grep: unrecognized option `--- '
>     Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
>     Try `grep --help' for more information.
>
>     $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -F -e '--- '
>     --- edb-1.21.orig/debian/dirs
>     --- edb-1.21.orig/debian/docs
>     ...
>
> PROBLEM
>
> It should be possible to combine short options together, including -e.
> The effect of "e" could be postponed until the current option "goup".
> An example:
>
> 	-eF
>
> That should be equal to
>
>        -Fe
>
> Likewise with any number of other options "grouped", like:
>
>    	-iFe
> 	-eFi
> 	...
>
> I understand that the -e is a modifier, like -F is a modifier for the
> next argument that follows.
>
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: lenny/sid
>   APT prefers testing
>   APT policy: (990, 'testing')
> Architecture: i386 (i686)
>
> Kernel: Linux 2.6.21-2-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
> Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ISO-8859-1) (ignored: LC_ALL set to en_US)
> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
>
> Versions of packages grep depends on:
> ii  libc6                         2.6-2      GNU C Library: Shared libraries
>
> grep recommends no packages.
>
> -- no debconf information
>
>
>

Message #30 received at 435411-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Aníbal Monsalve Salazar <anibal@debian.org>

To: 435411-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#435411: grep: Option -e cannot be combined with other options

Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 15:23:20 +1000

Version: 2.5.1.ds2-6

On Wed, Aug 01, 2007 at 12:39:07AM +0200, Andreas Schwab wrote:
>Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@cante.net> writes:
>
>>Consider this:
>>
>>    $ gzip -dc edb_1.21-13.diff.gz | grep -eF '--- '
>
>This is the same as "... | grep -e F '--- '
>
>>It should be possible to combine short options together, including
>>-e.
>
>"-e" takes an argument, that must follow immediately (either directly
>or
>as the next argument).  That's how getopt works for every other
>utility,
>and how POSIX requires that option arguments are handled (see
><http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap12.html>).
>
>>I understand that the -e is a modifier, like -F is a modifier for
>>the
>>next argument that follows.
>
>"-F" does take an argument.  It is an option on its own, modifying the
>operation of the utility.

On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 01:45:42PM -0300, Tony Abou-Assaleh wrote:
>According the man page, -e expects a pattern following it as an
>argument to the option. Therefore, -eF is incorrect as it doesn't
>follow the syntax specification. And there is no easy way to make sense
>out of a syntax that would allow -eF, since multiple -e options are
>allowed.

Closing this bug report accordingly.

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