Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2017 01:19:48 +0000 From: RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: grep problem Message-ID: <20171207011948.65dbfa00@gumby.homeunix.com> In-Reply-To: <20171207005542.43a7f55f@gumby.homeunix.com> References: <20171207005542.43a7f55f@gumby.homeunix.com>
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On Thu, 7 Dec 2017 00:55:42 +0000 RW wrote: > Can anyone explain why '-' needs escaping in the following. What > special meaning does it have outside of []? > > $ echo 'a-b' | grep 'a-b' > a-b > > $ echo 'a-b' | grep '-b' > Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]... Never mind, the shell handles the quotes, so grep sees -b as an option rather than a pattern.
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