On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 4:00 PM, <tlaro...@polynum.com> wrote: > On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 09:44:25AM -0400, erik quanstrom wrote: >> > > nope, that's not right. * starting a pattern escapes the whole string. >> > > this is unique to grep. > > I guess this is surprising because with a POSIX grep(1), if I read the > description correctly: > > 1) If the * is the very character of a BRE (since POSIX has BRE and ERE) > it shall be treated as is---but the remaining of the expression is > interpreted. > > 2) In a ERE, if the * is the very first character, or follows |, > ^ or ( this is undefined.
Also this: cpu% echo hola | grep '*' grep: *: syntax error cpu% echo hola | grep '' grep: empty pattern grep '*' and grep '' should still be the same, shouldn't they? G.
