From owner-freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG  Thu Apr 12 15:14:09 2012
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 49863106566B
	for <freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org>; Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:14:09 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from johnandsara2@cox.net)
Received: from eastrmfepo201.cox.net (eastrmfepo201.cox.net [68.230.241.216])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DBB008FC16
	for <freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org>; Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:14:08 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from eastrmimpo110.cox.net ([68.230.241.223])
	by eastrmfepo201.cox.net
	(InterMail vM.8.01.04.00 201-2260-137-20101110) with ESMTP id
	<20120412151408.ONPX5450.eastrmfepo201.cox.net@eastrmimpo110.cox.net>;
	Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:14:08 -0400
Received: from [192.168.3.22] ([70.177.172.35])
	by eastrmimpo110.cox.net with bizsmtp
	id x3E71i00B0mAvba023E7Uf; Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:14:08 -0400
X-CT-Class: Clean
X-CT-Score: 0.00
X-CT-RefID: str=0001.0A02020A.4F86F140.0023,ss=1,re=0.000,fgs=0
X-CT-Spam: 0
X-Authority-Analysis: v=1.1 cv=9p1evl5cAK1ZYNWAcfn8X6IfAmCGuOPdFgneQpdUexw=
	c=1 sm=1 a=f5xKl4ys9bwA:10 a=WqOOypwpByUA:10 a=G8Uczd0VNMoA:10
	a=Wajolswj7cQA:10 a=8nJEP1OIZ-IA:10 a=alU6Bxxa4qBWIf+k8j/ISQ==:17
	a=pGLkceISAAAA:8 a=Q84so9DhaFPdehuReQ0A:9 a=m9-9HRJtwZi349avNVQA:7
	a=wPNLvfGTeEIA:10 a=MSl-tDqOz04A:10 a=alU6Bxxa4qBWIf+k8j/ISQ==:117
X-CM-Score: 0.00
Authentication-Results: cox.net; none
Message-ID: <4F86F142.2010401@cox.net>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:14:10 -0400
From: "John D. Hendrickson and Sara Darnell" <johnandsara2@cox.net>
User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.24 (X11/20100228)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Jim Pryor <dubiousjim@gmail.com>
References: <201204120410.q3C4ACqg071289@freefall.freebsd.org>
In-Reply-To: <201204120410.q3C4ACqg071289@freefall.freebsd.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Cc: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: bin/166842: bsdgrep(1) inconsistently handles ^ in non-anchoring
 positions
X-BeenThere: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
Reply-To: johnandsara2@cox.net
List-Id: Bug reports <freebsd-bugs.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-bugs>,
	<mailto:freebsd-bugs-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-bugs>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-bugs-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-bugs>,
	<mailto:freebsd-bugs-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:14:09 -0000

Your problem is incorrect so there is no sol'n.

	printf 'abc def' | grep -o '^[a-z]'

is only supposed to match against abc.

see grep(1) about pattern matching - there is plenty of online writeups, esp posix ieee std.  see 
also "ant / antlr" for more about patterns and matching.

Jim Pryor wrote:
> The following reply was made to PR bin/166842; it has been noted by GNATS.
> From: Jim Pryor <dubiousjim@gmail.com>
>  $ printf 'abc def' | grep -o '^[a-z]'
>  will match against each of the letters in 'abc', but not against any of
>  the letters in 'def'.
>  dubiousjim@gmail.com