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grep version is 2.10, and it does not respond anything, even on a small set of small files, while the same line on another Ubuntu machine works fine where grep version is 2.16...

The command is:

grep -r "myVariable"

Instead of returning nothing, or some file names and lines, like this:

path/to/file.c:     myVariable++;
path/to/file2.c:    int myVariable;

The command shell stays busy and I have to halt it using ctrl+C

What is the problem or how do I investigate it?

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7
  • 2
    Without specifying, what's the command how can you expect someone to help you? – user495867 Jan 4 '17 at 13:36
  • the command is in the title, Ok I'll edit – Makan Tayebi Jan 4 '17 at 13:40
  • And of course pattern occurs there. – Makan Tayebi Jan 4 '17 at 13:44
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    You should specify which file(s) to search for the pattern. You can use wild cards or a single file, for example grep "alias" ~/.bashrc should produce a few lines of output (there are some aliases in the default .bashrc). – sudodus Jan 4 '17 at 13:49
  • This means that the 2.10 version of grep does not support this feature. – Pilot6 Jan 4 '17 at 13:50
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Since you don't specify any input file, grep waits for you to provide input data on its standard input.

The behavior where -r will use the current directory by default is non-standard (in fact, -r itself is), and was introduced in GNU grep 2.11.

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  • No path, just: (standard input): – Josef Klimuk Jun 14 '18 at 6:50
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I think you are missing file name. From the grep's man page the syntax should be as below :

grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]

Ex : grep -r pattern your_directory_path
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  • I am using grep (GNU grep) 2.16. It doesn't work for me if I don't specify a file name. – Rajesh Keladimath Jan 4 '17 at 14:00

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