[PLUG] grep and binary file response

Russell Senior seniorr at aracnet.com
Sat Nov 26 07:10:03 UTC 2005


>>>>> "Keith" == Keith Morse <kgmorse at mpcu.com> writes:

Keith> When I issue a " grep 8119 .bash_history ", grep returns "
Keith> Binary file .bash_history matches " in the output.  I
Keith> understand the implications on grepping a binary file, but
Keith> .bash_history certainly not one.  Applying a " -a " to grep
Keith> works, but why should I have to?  Is there something in the
Keith> enviroment that would cause this behaviour?

$ man grep

and look for "binary".

Searching from the top, the first one is:

       -a, --text
              Process  a binary file as if it were text; this is equivalent to
              the --binary-files=text option.


The next "hit" is this, which I think explains what you are seeing:

       --binary-files=TYPE
              If the first few bytes of a file indicate that the file contains
              binary data, assume that the file is of type TYPE.  By  default,
              TYPE is binary, and grep normally outputs either a one-line mes-
              sage saying that a binary file matches, or no message  if  there
              is  no  match. [...]

I'd recommend taking a look at the top of .bash_history to see if
there are any accented characters that aren't strictly ASCII.


-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com



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