Re: [TCLUG:21649] Limits of grep?

[bob@math.umn.edu]

Subba Rao allegedly wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I have a directory of 10000+ text files and would like to search for
> some strings in these files. When I tried using "grep" command with an
> asterisk, I get the error message somthing to the effect,
> 
> 	"File argument list too long"
> 
> What is the file argument limit for grep? I guess you need the grep source
> for this. I did not find any information in the man page.
> 
> Are there any other recommended tools to search through such large list of
> files?

You might try this:

ls -1 > filelist
cat filelist | sed 's/^/grep a_string_of_importance /' > filelist
chmod 700 filelist
filelist

Yes, it makes a big file.  No, you will not need to worry about the dread
"File argument list too long" message.  And finally, yes, there is probably
a smarter way to do this.

HTH.

Adios,
Chris
-- 
C.S. Cornuelle 
School of Mathematics/MCIM, University of Minnesota
206 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 626-8930v, (612) 624-2333f, bob at math.umn.edu
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