On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM home user via users <users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Good afternoon, > > I'm trying to search a directory sub-tree for a specific string. I use this: > > find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l [string] /dev/null > > (but without the brackets). This often works. But it sometimes fails when the search string contains "printable" characters other than letters and digits. Examples of both: > > bash.32[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l D-_qS_3KXBA /dev/null > ./organ_dir.txt > bash.33[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l -ob9LHPEaKY /dev/null > grep: conflicting matchers specified > bash.34[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l "-ob9LHPEaKY" /dev/null > grep: conflicting matchers specified > bash.35[.Organ]: > bash.35[.Organ]: > bash.35[.Organ]: > > bash.36[.Organ]: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l '-ob9LHPEaKY' /dev/null > grep: conflicting matchers specified > bash.37[.Organ]: > > How do I get this to work even when the search string includes (especially starts with) printable characters other than digits and letters? The problem is that those strings start with a '-', so grep thinks you are specifying more option. Add -e before your search string: find . -type f -print | xargs grep -l -e -ob9LHPEaKY [dir] Also, you're working kind of hard here. You might find grep's recursive search option a little easier to use: grep -rle -ob9LHPEaKY [dir] -- Jerry James http://www.jamezone.org/ -- _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
