some arguments not work from AppleScript to grep thru do shell script

Question

in applescript editor:

do shell script "grep -w 'SomeText' /tmp/test"

ignores -w

in Bash:

grep -w 'SomeText' /tmp/test

not ignores arguments

But for example arguments -v (negative) works in AppleScript with do shell script

it is happening on both different computers with different systems

how i can use -w argument in grep from applescript?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Regardless of where I run the grep -w ... command from, Terminal or ApplesScript's do shell script command, I get identical output .

The manual page for the -w option in grep states the following:

−w, −−word-regexp
The expression is searched for as a word (as if surrounded by '[[:<:]]' and '[[:>:]]'; see
re_format(7)).

The manual page for re_format states:

There are two special cases‡ of bracket expressions: the bracket expressions [[:<:]] and [[:>:]] match the null string at the beginning and end of a word respectively. A word is defined as a sequence of word characters which is neither preceded nor followed by word characters. A word character is an alnum character (as defined by ctype(3)) or an underscore.

In Terminal:

• Contents of /tmp/test :

   $ cat /tmp/test SomeText MoreText ASomeTextZ Other Text 0 SomeText 1 $

  
  

• Using grep without -w on /tmp/test :

   $ grep 'SomeText' /tmp/test SomeText ASomeTextZ 0 SomeText 1 $

  • As it should, grep finds all three lines containing 'SomeText' .
    
    

• Using grep with -w on /tmp/test :

   $ grep -w 'SomeText' /tmp/test SomeText 0 SomeText 1 $

  • As it should, grep -w finds only the lines conforming to what's stated in the manual page excerpts shown above. In this case, only two of the three lines that contain 'SomeText' .

The output of each grep command , show above, when wrapped in a do shell script command in AppleScript are identical, as should be.

In Script Editor:

---

Because these are the expected results is why I'm adamant about following How to create a Minimal, Complete,and Verifiable example , when asking questions such that you have, in the manner you have!

I'd suggest you show us the actual content of your /tmp/test file and the actual output you get from each of the grep commands , with and without the -w option , from both Terminal and AppleScript's do shell script command .

Although it shouldn't make a difference, nonetheless you should also provide macOS version info so we can test this under the actual version of macOS you're using, so as to see if that's a relevant factor in the equation.