What are the undocumented features and limitations of the Windows FINDSTR command?

Question

The Windows FINDSTR command is horribly documented. There is very basic command line help available through FINDSTR /?, or HELP FINDSTR, but it is

Answer 1

findstr sometimes hangs unexpectedly when searching large files.

I haven't confirmed the exact conditions or boundary sizes. I suspect any file larger 2GB may be at risk.

I have had mixed experiences with this, so it is more than just file size. This looks like it may be a variation on FINDSTR hangs on XP and Windows 7 if redirected input does not end with LF, but as demonstrated this particular problem manifests when input is not redirected.

The following command line session (Windows 7) demonstrates how findstr can hang when searching a 3GB file.

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>echo 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890> T100B.txt

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>for /L %i in (1,1,10) do @type T100B.txt >> T1KB.txt

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>for /L %i in (1,1,1000) do @type T1KB.txt >> T1MB.txt

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>for /L %i in (1,1,1000) do @type T1MB.txt >> T1GB.txt

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>echo find this line>> T1GB.txt

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>copy T1GB.txt + T1GB.txt + T1GB.txt T3GB.txt
T1GB.txt
T1GB.txt
T1GB.txt
        1 file(s) copied.

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is D2B2-FFDF

 Directory of C:\Data\Temp\2014-04

2014/04/08  04:28 PM              .
2014/04/08  04:28 PM              ..
2014/04/08  04:22 PM               102 T100B.txt
2014/04/08  04:28 PM     1 020 000 016 T1GB.txt
2014/04/08  04:23 PM             1 020 T1KB.txt
2014/04/08  04:23 PM         1 020 000 T1MB.txt
2014/04/08  04:29 PM     3 060 000 049 T3GB.txt
               5 File(s)  4 081 021 187 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  51 881 050 112 bytes free
C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>rem Findstr on the 1GB file does not hang

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>findstr "this" T1GB.txt
find this line

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>rem On the 3GB file, findstr hangs and must be aborted... even though it clearly reaches end of file

C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>findstr "this" T3GB.txt
find this line
find this line
find this line
^C
C:\Data\Temp\2014-04>

Note, I've verified in a hex editor that all lines are terminated with CRLF. The only anomaly is that the file is terminated with 0x1A due to the way copy works. Note however, that this anomaly doesn't cause a problem on "small" files.

With additional testing I have confirmed the following:

• Using copy with the /b option for binary files prevents the addition of the 0x1A character, and findstr doesn't hang on the 3GB file.
• Terminating the 3GB file with a different character also causes a findstr to hang.
• The 0x1A character doesn't cause any problems on a "small" file. (Similarly for other terminating characters.)
• Adding CRLF after 0x1A resolves the problem. (LF by itself would probably suffice.)
• Using type to pipe the file into findstr works without hanging. (This might be due to a side effect of either type or | that inserts an additional End Of Line.)
• Use redirected input < also causes findstr to hang. But this is expected; as explained in dbenham's post: "redirected input must end in LF".