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

[Jari Aalto]

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