Re: Bug grep

[Bob Proulx]

Burg, G.C.A. van den wrote:
> I just installed the latest Debian OS, basic system only and am
> disovering Linux. So, on a site it said: Also investigate the function
> grep. So I typed in : "grep -help" within the linux command line. This
> did nothing, except that I went inot a mode where I could only type, but
> not quit and go back to the command line.

The grep command reads standard input if no file were given on the
command line.  I assume that you did not give it a file and therefore
grep was reading input from your keyboard.  They keystrokes that you
typed in went into the grep command.  This is normal.  But not very
useful.

> This was very frustrating for me, and I think it is a bug.

This is not a bug.  This is normal.  You failed to provide it with a
file and therefore it was reading from the standard input which was in
this case attached to your keyboard.

> Relogging was good enough for me, but I still would like to now how
> it comes that I get into a mode where I can only type, and do
> nothing else.

Simply executing random commands without knowing how to run them isn't
the best way to learn them.  It is better to read the documentation.

  http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/doc/

You can interrupt commands by typing in CONTROL-C.  This tells the tty
driver (which reads your keyboard) to send an interrupt signal to the
foreground process group.

I think you would benefit most not from reading the grep manual but
from reading an introductory manual on how to use the shell.  There
are several of these available on the network.  You might try a search
such as this one:

  http://www.google.com/search?q=unix+intro

Bob