BUG: grep --color -i

[Kenneth Nellis]

To Whom It May Concern:

 

(This e-mail contains color-coded text.)

 

I wish to report that grep does not correctly color matched strings.

 

Below, I offer commands and their output to demonstrate that  “grep --color -i” 
misses some of the strings it should highlight. In the output, below, the bold 
red highlighting was provided by grep. I added the background highlighting to 
point out strings that grep failed to highlight.

 

     1  $ uname -a

     2  Linux unxcvs 2.4.21-37.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Sep 7 13:28:55 EDT 2005 i686 
i686 i386 GNU/Linux

     3  $ which grep

     4  /bin/grep

     5  $ alias grep

     6  alias grep='grep --color'

     7  $ grep --version > f

     8  $ cat f

     9  grep (GNU grep) 2.5.1

    10

    11  Copyright 1988, 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    12  This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is 
NO

    13  warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
PURPOSE.

    14

    15  $ echo -e "copy\nfree" > pat

    16  $ cat pat

    17  copy

    18  free

    19  $ grep -i -f pat f

    20  Copyright 1988, 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    21  This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is 
NO

    22  $ echo -e "free\ncopy" > pat2

    23  $ cat pat2

    24  free

    25  copy

    26  $ grep -i -f pat2 f

    27  Copyright 1988, 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    28  This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is 
NO

    29  $ 

 

Specifically, in line 21, grep should have highlighted “free” and in line 27, 
it should have highlighted “Copy” (of “Copyright”).

 

—Ken Nellis