Git grep command not interpreting flags correctly when an argument

Git grep command not interpreting flags correctly when an argument

[Sam Houston]

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In a `bash` shell, in some empty directory, I can run the commands:

```bash
git init
echo "pattern" > file.txt
FLAGS="--untracked --color"
git grep $FLAGS pattern
```

And see the output:

```
file.txt:pattern
```

But in a `zsh` shell, when I run the same commands, I get the following
error:

```
error: unknown option `untracked --color'
```

The error only seems to occur when I pass in with more than one `--` in the
`FLAGS` variable.

My `zsh --version` is `zsh 5.3 (x86_64-apple-darwin18.0)`.

Let me know if I am doing something wrong, or if you need more information.

Thanks,

Sam

Re: Git grep command not interpreting flags correctly when an argument

[Roman Perepelitsa]

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ZSH doesn't perform word splitting by default, so `git grep $FLAGS pattern`
in ZSH is equivalent to `git grep "$FLAGS" pattern` in bash. You can
explicitly request word-slitting via `$=FLAGS`. There is also an option to
do this automatically but it's not a good idea to turn it on. Most of the
time you really don't want word splitting when you type $FOO.

Roman.

On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 8:10 PM Sam Houston <sehouston3@gmail.com> wrote:

> In a `bash` shell, in some empty directory, I can run the commands:
>
> ```bash
> git init
> echo "pattern" > file.txt
> FLAGS="--untracked --color"
> git grep $FLAGS pattern
> ```
>
> And see the output:
>
> ```
> file.txt:pattern
> ```
>
> But in a `zsh` shell, when I run the same commands, I get the following
> error:
>
> ```
> error: unknown option `untracked --color'
> ```
>
> The error only seems to occur when I pass in with more than one `--` in the
> `FLAGS` variable.
>
> My `zsh --version` is `zsh 5.3 (x86_64-apple-darwin18.0)`.
>
> Let me know if I am doing something wrong, or if you need more information.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sam
>

Re: Git grep command not interpreting flags correctly when an argument

[Matthew Martin]

On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 07:09:22PM +0100, Sam Houston wrote:
> In a `bash` shell, in some empty directory, I can run the commands:
> 
> ```bash
> git init
> echo "pattern" > file.txt
> FLAGS="--untracked --color"
> git grep $FLAGS pattern
> ```
> 
> And see the output:
> 
> ```
> file.txt:pattern
> ```
> 
> But in a `zsh` shell, when I run the same commands, I get the following
> error:
> 
> ```
> error: unknown option `untracked --color'
> ```

The better way (both in zsh and in bash) would be to use an array.

flags=(--untracked --color)
git grep "${flags[@]}" pattern
# git grep $flags pattern   would also work, but just in zsh

Relying on word splitting means that arguments that contain spaces or
other IFS characters are mangled into two or more arguments.

Re: Git grep command not interpreting flags correctly when an argument

[Sam Houston]

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Very helpful Matthew, I've changed my implementation to use a zsh array.

Thanks to you both, I've solved my problem :)

On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 7:32 PM Matthew Martin <phy1729@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 07:09:22PM +0100, Sam Houston wrote:
> > In a `bash` shell, in some empty directory, I can run the commands:
> >
> > ```bash
> > git init
> > echo "pattern" > file.txt
> > FLAGS="--untracked --color"
> > git grep $FLAGS pattern
> > ```
> >
> > And see the output:
> >
> > ```
> > file.txt:pattern
> > ```
> >
> > But in a `zsh` shell, when I run the same commands, I get the following
> > error:
> >
> > ```
> > error: unknown option `untracked --color'
> > ```
>
> The better way (both in zsh and in bash) would be to use an array.
>
> flags=(--untracked --color)
> git grep "${flags[@]}" pattern
> # git grep $flags pattern   would also work, but just in zsh
>
> Relying on word splitting means that arguments that contain spaces or
> other IFS characters are mangled into two or more arguments.
>