2 messages, 2 authors, 2016-12-16 · open the first message on its own page
From: Junio C Hamano <hidden>
Date: 2016-12-16 05:00:24
Joe Perches [off-list ref] writes:
grep 2.5.4 was the last version that supported the -P option to grep through for multiple lines.
Does anybody know why it was dropped?
From: Joe Perches <joe@perches.com>
Date: 2016-12-16 06:04:47
On Thu, 2016-12-15 at 21:00 -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Joe Perches [off-list ref] writes:quoted
grep 2.5.4 was the last version that supported the -P option to grep through for multiple lines.Does anybody know why it was dropped?
perl compatible regexes in grep have always been "experimental"
and never officially supported.
From the grep manual https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manual/grep.html
--perl-regexp
Interpret the pattern as a Perl-compatible regular expression
(PCRE). This is highly experimental, particularly when combined with
the -z (--null-data) option, and ‘grep -P’ may warn of unimplemented
features. See Other Options.
It wasn't dropped so much as "enhanced" away.
Oh well.