To search for an erroneous pattern like this: {{{ for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {} ... if (i > n) ... }}} This is wrong because at the end of the loop i equals n and cannot be greater than n. To match this: {{{ gres -A40 "^ for \(" \ "for \( (@V) = @d ; \1 < @d ; \1 \+\+ \) \{.8.\} @n if \( \1 > \3 \)" | less }}} The first string is used to get the git grep query. To see what is queried for see {{{bli2 "^ for \("}}}. @V is translated to {{{[[:alpha:]_]+[[:alnum:]_]*}}}, which matches a local variable. @d matches any number and contains parentheses, that's why we have to use \3, as a back-reference to match the second @d. This currently results after about 10 seconds in a match: {{{ ---[ vi drivers/mmc/host/s3cmci.c +1209 ]--- /* Set clock */ for (mci_psc = 0; mci_psc < 255; mci_psc++) { ... } if (mci_psc > 255) mci_psc = 255; ... }}} Quite harmless so I left it. More advanced examples can be found here [wiki:roelkluin/gres_tests/loops gres_tests/loops]