On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 03:00:21PM -0600, home user via users wrote:
Good afternoon,
I'm trying to search a directory sub-tree for a specific string. I use this:
find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l [string] /dev/null
(but without the brackets). This often works. But it sometimes fails when the search
string contains "printable" characters other than letters and digits. Examples
of both:
bash.32[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l D-_qS_3KXBA /dev/null
./organ_dir.txt
bash.33[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l -ob9LHPEaKY /dev/null
grep: conflicting matchers specified
bash.34[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l "-ob9LHPEaKY" /dev/null
grep: conflicting matchers specified
bash.35[.Organ]:
bash.35[.Organ]:
bash.35[.Organ]:
bash.36[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l '-ob9LHPEaKY' /dev/null
grep: conflicting matchers specified
bash.37[.Organ]:
How do I get this to work even when the search string includes (especially
starts with) printable characters other than digits and letters?
Your search strings look like options. For example, -ob9... looks
like the -o option, not a search string.
A very common way around this is to use "--" at the end of
your options. Many commands recognize the solo double dash
to mean no more options follow. So:
find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l -- '-ob9LHPEaKY' /dev/null
should work.
--
Jon H. LaBadie jo...@jgcomp.com
--
_______________________________________________
users mailing list -- users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe send an email to users-le...@lists.fedoraproject.org
Fedora Code of Conduct:
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
List Archives:
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org
Do not reply to spam, report it:
https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
