The Windows FINDSTR command is horribly documented. There is very basic command line help available through FINDSTR /?, or HELP FINDSTR, but it is woefully inadequate. There is a wee bit more documentation online at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/findstr.
There are many FINDSTR features and limitations that are not even hinted at in the documentation. Nor could they be anticipated without prior knowledge and/or careful experimentation.
So the question is – What are the undocumented FINDSTR features and limitations?
The purpose of this question is to provide a one stop repository of the many undocumented features so that:
A) Developers can take full advantage of the features that are there.
B) Developers don’t waste their time wondering why something doesn’t work when it seems like it should.
Please make sure you know the existing documentation before responding. If the information is covered by the HELP, then it does not belong here.
Neither is this a place to show interesting uses of FINDSTR. If a logical person could anticipate the behavior of a particular usage of FINDSTR based on the documentation, then it does not belong here.
Along the same lines, if a logical person could anticipate the behavior of a particular usage based on information contained in any existing answers, then again, it does not belong here.
