bug#17799: grep 2.5.4 ignoring parts of expression

[Paul Eggert]

Jim Michaels wrote:
> grep random "#include <(bits/)?random(\.h)?>" *
> expected: on the include/c++/bits dir of a gcc compiler should produce a couple 
> of results.
>
> actual: produces pages and pages with just about every file in it. anything 
> with the word random in it

That's because your command asked to find the word 'random'.  It's of 
the form:

grep random LIST-OF-FILE-NAMES

The first file name is "#include <(bits/)?random(\.h)?>", which grep 
complained to you about.