# HG changeset patch
# User Andreas Nolda <andreas@nolda.org>
# Date 1587901479 -7200
#      Sun Apr 26 13:44:39 2020 +0200
# Node ID 254dec1347bf8be5a621307b2eb6bd7aba7b8473
# Parent  e7ca88397ceaef67399335c29d3f5cbf7b1a0e99
add option "-a" ("--abbreviate")

diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
+2020-04-26:
+
+* add option `-a` (`--abbreviate`)
+* bump version to 2.9
+
+
 2020-04-25:
 
 * add option `-M` (`--files-and-matches`)
 * bump version to 2.8
 
+
 2020-04-24:
 
 * rename option `-n` (`--declare-ns`) to `-N`
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
 
 Usage:
 
-    xgrep.py [-c] [--count]
+    xgrep.py [-a] [--abbreviate]
+             [-c] [--count]
              [-C] [--force-color]
              [-i] [--indent]
              [-l] [--files-with-matches]
@@ -46,8 +47,9 @@
 [EXSLT function `<ns>:test()`](http://exslt.org/regexp/functions/test/) can be
 used in the XPath expression for matching regular expressions. The option `-i`
 indents the matching parts, and the option `-N` includes namespace declarations.
-The `-C` option preserves color and formatting codes when piping output through
-[GNU less](http://www.gnu.org/software/less/) and similar programs.
+Matching parts can be abbreviated to their first line by means of the option
+`-a`. The `-C` option preserves color and formatting codes when piping output
+through [GNU less](http://www.gnu.org/software/less/) or similar programs.
 
 The options `-c`, `-l`, `-L`, `-n`, and `-q` mimic the behaviour of
 [GNU grep](http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/). The latter option suppresses any
diff --git a/xgrep.py b/xgrep.py
--- a/xgrep.py
+++ b/xgrep.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #! /usr/bin/python3
 # xgrep.py -- search for elements in XML files, using XPath 1.0 expressions
-# Andreas Nolda 2020-04-25
+# Andreas Nolda 2020-04-26
 
 import sys
 import argparse
@@ -8,13 +8,15 @@
 from blessings import Terminal
 from lxml import etree
 
-version=2.8
+version=2.9
 
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 parser.add_argument("expr",
                     help="XPath 1.0 expression")
 parser.add_argument("files", metavar="file", nargs="+",
                     help="XML file")
+parser.add_argument("-a", "--abbreviate", action="store_true",
+                    help="abbreviate matches")
 parser.add_argument("-c", "--count", action="store_true",
                     help="count matches")
 parser.add_argument("-C", "--force-color", action="store_true",
@@ -78,6 +80,11 @@
                                 pretty_print=args.indent).decode()
     if not args.indent:
         string = re.sub("\n\s+", "\n", string)
+    if args.abbreviate:
+        lines = string.splitlines()
+        string = lines[0]
+        if len(lines) > 1:
+            string += " ..."
     if string.endswith("\n"):
         string = string[:-1]
     return string