How to write a search pattern to include a space in findstr?

Question

I want to search all files in a certain directory for occurrences of statements such as

  Load frmXYZ

I am on Windows 7, using the f

Answer 1

Use word delimiter regex

I used the the special \< "beginning of word" regex symbol.

I tried this on the Win10 version of findstr. But according to Microsoft this special \< symbol has been in findstr.exe ever since WinXP.

Full (and painful) breakdown of many options that do NOT work below.

At the very bottom: what actually worked.

The sample file itself

C:\>type lines.txt
Load frmXYZ                         // This line should match.
If ABCFormLoaded Then Unload frmPQR // This line should NOT match.
pears Load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.
                                    // This blank line should NOT match.
LOAD FRMXYZ                         // This line should match.
IF ABCFORMLOADED THEN UNLOAD FRMPQR // This line should NOT match.
PEARS LOAD FRM GRAPES PINEAPPLES    // This line should match.
                                    // This blank line should NOT match.
load frmxyz                         // This line should match.
if abcformloaded then unload frmpqr // This line should NOT match.
pears load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.

Wrong. With regular execution space is treated as delimiter.

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N "Load frm"
1:Load frmXYZ                         // This line should match.
2:If ABCFormLoaded Then Unload frmPQR // This line should NOT match.
3:pears Load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.
9:load frmxyz                         // This line should match.
10:if abcformloaded then unload frmpqr // This line should NOT match.
11:pears load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.

Wrong: With Regex option space is STILL treated as delimiter.

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N /R "Load frm"
1:Load frmXYZ                         // This line should match.
2:If ABCFormLoaded Then Unload frmPQR // This line should NOT match.
3:pears Load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.
9:load frmxyz                         // This line should match.
10:if abcformloaded then unload frmpqr // This line should NOT match.
11:pears load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.    

More right but still wrong. With /C option we now get preserved spaces but don't find other character cases.

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N /R /C:"Load frm"
1:Load frmXYZ                         // This line should match.
3:pears Load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.

Wrong. /I for "Ignore Case" does not help. We get matches from within words we did not want.

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N /R /I /C:"Load frm"
1:Load frmXYZ                         // This line should match.
2:If ABCFormLoaded Then Unload frmPQR // This line should NOT match.
3:pears Load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.
5:LOAD FRMXYZ                         // This line should match.
6:IF ABCFORMLOADED THEN UNLOAD FRMPQR // This line should NOT match.
7:PEARS LOAD FRM GRAPES PINEAPPLES    // This line should match.
9:load frmxyz                         // This line should match.
10:if abcformloaded then unload frmpqr // This line should NOT match.
11:pears load frm grapes pineapples    // This line should match.

Right. Use special "Beginning of word" regex symbol. Matches beginning-of-line or space.

Either case sensitive:

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N /R /C:"\

or ignoring case

C:\>type lines.txt | findstr /N /R /I /C:"\