Re: [PATCH] [RFC] add support for input/output count of lines

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,

On Fri, Oct 01, 2004 at 11:54:46AM +0200, Roberto Nibali wrote:
> Also I don't really see where the GNU grep authors draw the line between
> 'grep requirement' and 'grep feature' when I look at its man page [...]

I admit that the line is not clear.
The line was crossed with the --recursive option, which later naturally
brought --include and --exclude.

Some people really wanted short alias, like `rgrep', while other still
use find and xargs...

> >gawk '/foobar/{print; n++} END{print n"/"NR > "/dev/stderr"}'
> 
> Yes, we'll try to do that and see if it works with our command chain and 
> the speical requirement of multiple pattern (mixed AND/OR/NEGATE) matching.

If you want to use multiple patterns, then you definitely need
a programming language, like awk.
That /foobar/ can be replaced by any expression.  See ``info gawk''.

> >[that's only my opinion, I'm not a grep developper, I also tend
> >to think that the "-r", "--include"... options would have best
> >be suited in a tree walker command as it has nothing to do with
> >grep's first purpose]

That's reasonable argument.  Fortunately, I don't heve to decide whether
it outweights the pros of -r, as -r is already in.  :-)

> array of options one could specify for desired output, like it is done with 
> the 'ps -o ...' or top commands.

Well, grep -Z gives you an unambiguous output which can be easily parsed.
Then you can reformat the output.

Stepan Kasal