How do I search for the string '--branch' using ack?

Question

In ack you can use the -Q option to escape all the characters in your search string, but that doesn't seem to work if the search string you are using looks like an option for ack.

I am trying to search a group of files for the string '--branch'. So I try this ack command

ack -a -Q '--branch'

It responds Unknown option: branch. It is seeing my search string as an option to be interpreted. Does anyone know what escape characters I can use to use the --branch as a string?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 27 '11 at 05:27

4

Ack uses the Getopt::Long module to process command line arguments, so it supports the -- option to indicate that you want option processing to end at that point in the argument list.

ack -a -- --branch

should therefore work (it does for me).

answered Oct 27 '11 at 05:27

martin clayton

76,436
32
213
198

1

Fantastic. Thanks for that. I appreciate you taking the time to explain that command line basic as well. – bryan kennedy Oct 27 '11 at 14:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 26 '11 at 21:52

1

Maybe with --match PATTERN option?

http://betterthangrep.com/

answered Oct 26 '11 at 21:52

yunzen

32,854
11
73
106

How do I search for the string '--branch' using ack?

2 Answers2