should ripgrep use : instead of - for separating file paths from matches when --no-heading is used?

[rieje]

EDIT: Never mind, --field-context-separator is fine. As @BurntSushi says, if contextual options are used (which I suppose is my case), then - is used just like in grep, so I'm mistaken.

---

I was thinking if : should be preferable over - for separating between filename and matching string when --no-heading is used. grep uses the former so this would be consistent with that, but even if there's no need for rg to be consistent, : seems to make more sense in general, especially when it's far less likely to be part of a filename (or in strings for that matter) than a -.

I stumbled across this switching from grep to rg in an fzf script and was a little confused with the output since it looked like the beginning of the matching lines was part of the filename until I turned color on. In the script, I want to retrieve the filename of the matching line and it would be much easier to awk it with : as delimiter.

[rieje]

Never mind, --field-context-separator is fine. As @BurntSushi says, if contextual options are used (which I suppose is my case), then - is used just like in grep, so I'm mistaken.

[BurntSushi]

Why not show an example? :-) For example, it seems like an implicit assumption in your question it that ripgrep uses - as a delimiter to separate file paths and the matching string, but it actually uses :, just like grep:

$ rg 'fn line_buffer' --no-heading
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs:207:    fn line_buffer(&self) -> LineBuffer {

Of course, if you add contextual options, then contextual lines use -, just like grep:

$ rg 'fn line_buffer' --no-heading -C2
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-205-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-206-    /// Build a line buffer from this configuration.
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs:207:    fn line_buffer(&self) -> LineBuffer {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-208-        let mut builder = LineBufferBuilder::new();
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-209-        builder

$ grep -r 'fn line_buffer' -C2 -n
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-205-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-206-    /// Build a line buffer from this configuration.
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs:207:    fn line_buffer(&self) -> LineBuffer {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-208-        let mut builder = LineBufferBuilder::new();
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-209-        builder

[BurntSushi]

Looks like you deleted a comment, but : is the default. Even in your example, : is used for matching lines:

$ rg --no-config --color never --fixed-strings --ignore-case --context 20 --no-line-number --no-heading 'fn line_buffer'
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            heap_limit: None,
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            mmap: MmapChoice::default(),
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            binary: BinaryDetection::default(),
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            multi_line: false,
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            encoding: None,
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            bom_sniffing: true,
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        }
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    }
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-}
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-impl Config {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    /// Return the maximal amount of lines needed to fulfill this
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    /// configuration's context.
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    ///
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    /// If this returns `0`, then no context is ever needed.
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    fn max_context(&self) -> usize {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        cmp::max(self.before_context, self.after_context)
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    }
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    /// Build a line buffer from this configuration.
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs:    fn line_buffer(&self) -> LineBuffer {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        let mut builder = LineBufferBuilder::new();
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        builder
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            .line_terminator(self.line_term.as_byte())
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            .binary_detection(self.binary.0);
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        if let Some(limit) = self.heap_limit {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            let (capacity, additional) = if limit <= DEFAULT_BUFFER_CAPACITY {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-                (limit, 0)
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            } else {
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-                (DEFAULT_BUFFER_CAPACITY, limit - DEFAULT_BUFFER_CAPACITY)
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            };
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-            builder
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-                .capacity(capacity)
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-                .buffer_alloc(BufferAllocation::Error(additional));
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        }
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-        builder.build()
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-    }
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-}
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-
crates/searcher/src/searcher/mod.rs-/// An error that can occur when building a searcher.

But you have 20 lines before and after it that use -, and those are contextual lines. Again, this is the same behavior as grep.

[rieje]

Yes I just saw your reply, updated solved answer, this is non-issue because it is same as grep default. I'm just ignorant of grep using - for contextual lines.