specifically, grep --perl-regexp gives me this error
grep --perl-regexp
Is there a *BSD equivalent option? (can provide context if necessary)
pfr About a year ago, I've enabled the -P flag on ripgrep, you could use that instead. Base grep on NetBSD does not support this option, as you already found out.
-P
ripgrep
grep
pfr are you sure you can't do it with egrep? Or printf? If not, you use plain perl -nle. See perlrun, and this tutorial
egrep
perl -nle
pfr Just use pcregrep. If you have pcre installed (very likely), then you have pcregrep.
pcregrep
pcre
rvp Any flags needed or just simply pcregrep?
pfr Should work w/o any flags.