Documentation/git-grep.txt

   1 git-grep(1)
   2 ===========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git grep' [-a | --text] [-I] [--textconv] [-i | --ignore-case] [-w | --word-regexp]
  13            [-v | --invert-match] [-h|-H] [--full-name]
  14            [-E | --extended-regexp] [-G | --basic-regexp]
  15            [-P | --perl-regexp]
  16            [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n | --line-number] [--column]
  17            [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
  18            [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]]
  19            [-z | --null]
  20            [ -o | --only-matching ] [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
  21            [--max-depth <depth>] [--[no-]recursive]
  22            [--color[=<when>] | --no-color]
  23            [--break] [--heading] [-p | --show-function]
  24            [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
  25            [-W | --function-context]
  26            [(-m | --max-count) <num>]
  27            [--threads <num>]
  28            [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  29            [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
  30            [--recurse-submodules] [--parent-basename <basename>]
  31            [ [--[no-]exclude-standard] [--cached | --untracked | --no-index] | <tree>...]
  32            [--] [<pathspec>...]
  33
  34 DESCRIPTION
  35 -----------
  36 Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  37 registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.  Patterns
  38 are lists of one or more search expressions separated by newline
  39 characters.  An empty string as search expression matches all lines.
  40
  41
  42 OPTIONS
  43 -------
  44 --cached::
  45         Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  46         blobs registered in the index file.
  47
  48 --untracked::
  49         In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working
  50         tree, search also in untracked files.
  51
  52 --no-index::
  53         Search files in the current directory that is not managed by Git,
  54         or by ignoring that the current directory is managed by Git.  This
  55         is rather similar to running the regular `grep(1)` utility with its
  56         `-r` option specified, but with some additional benefits, such as
  57         using pathspec patterns to limit paths;  see the 'pathspec' entry
  58         in linkgit:gitglossary[7] for more information.
  59 +
  60 This option cannot be used together with `--cached` or `--untracked`.
  61 See also `grep.fallbackToNoIndex` in 'CONFIGURATION' below.
  62
  63 --no-exclude-standard::
  64         Also search in ignored files by not honoring the `.gitignore`
  65         mechanism. Only useful with `--untracked`.
  66
  67 --exclude-standard::
  68         Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the `.gitignore`
  69         mechanism.  Only useful when searching files in the current directory
  70         with `--no-index`.
  71
  72 --recurse-submodules::
  73         Recursively search in each submodule that is active and
  74         checked out in the repository.  When used in combination with the
  75         _<tree>_ option the prefix of all submodule output will be the name of
  76         the parent project's _<tree>_ object.  This option cannot be used together
  77         with `--untracked`, and it has no effect if `--no-index` is specified.
  78
  79 -a::
  80 --text::
  81         Process binary files as if they were text.
  82
  83 --textconv::
  84         Honor textconv filter settings.
  85
  86 --no-textconv::
  87         Do not honor textconv filter settings.
  88         This is the default.
  89
  90 -i::
  91 --ignore-case::
  92         Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  93         files.
  94
  95 -I::
  96         Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  97
  98 --max-depth <depth>::
  99         For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
 100         levels of directories. A value of -1 means no limit.
 101         This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards.
 102         In other words if "a*" matches a directory named "a*",
 103         "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still effective.
 104
 105 -r::
 106 --recursive::
 107         Same as `--max-depth=-1`; this is the default.
 108
 109 --no-recursive::
 110         Same as `--max-depth=0`.
 111
 112 -w::
 113 --word-regexp::
 114         Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
 115         beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
 116         the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
 117
 118 -v::
 119 --invert-match::
 120         Select non-matching lines.
 121
 122 -h::
 123 -H::
 124         By default, the command shows the filename for each
 125         match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
 126         `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
 127         except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
 128         line.
 129
 130 --full-name::
 131         When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 132         outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 133         option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 134         top directory.
 135
 136 -E::
 137 --extended-regexp::
 138 -G::
 139 --basic-regexp::
 140         Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 141         is to use basic regexp.
 142
 143 -P::
 144 --perl-regexp::
 145         Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for patterns.
 146 +
 147 Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
 148 compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
 149 providing this option will cause it to die.
 150
 151 -F::
 152 --fixed-strings::
 153         Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 154         as a regex).
 155
 156 -n::
 157 --line-number::
 158         Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 159
 160 --column::
 161         Prefix the 1-indexed byte-offset of the first match from the start of the
 162         matching line.
 163
 164 -l::
 165 --files-with-matches::
 166 --name-only::
 167 -L::
 168 --files-without-match::
 169         Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 170         names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 171         For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 172         synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 173
 174 -O[<pager>]::
 175 --open-files-in-pager[=<pager>]::
 176         Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 177         If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 178         specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 179         the first match automatically. The `pager` argument is
 180         optional; if specified, it must be stuck to the option
 181         without a space. If `pager` is unspecified, the default pager
 182         will be used (see `core.pager` in linkgit:git-config[1]).
 183
 184 -z::
 185 --null::
 186         Use \0 as the delimiter for pathnames in the output, and print
 187         them verbatim. Without this option, pathnames with "unusual"
 188         characters are quoted as explained for the configuration
 189         variable `core.quotePath` (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 190
 191 -o::
 192 --only-matching::
 193         Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a matching line, with each such
 194         part on a separate output line.
 195
 196 -c::
 197 --count::
 198         Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 199         lines that match.
 200
 201 --color[=<when>]::
 202         Show colored matches.
 203         The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 204
 205 --no-color::
 206         Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 207         gives the default to color output.
 208         Same as `--color=never`.
 209
 210 --break::
 211         Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 212
 213 --heading::
 214         Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 215         at the start of each shown line.
 216
 217 -p::
 218 --show-function::
 219         Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 220         the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 221         The name is determined in the same way as `git diff` works out
 222         patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 223         linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 224
 225 -<num>::
 226 -C <num>::
 227 --context <num>::
 228         Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 229         containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 230
 231 -A <num>::
 232 --after-context <num>::
 233         Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 234         `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 235
 236 -B <num>::
 237 --before-context <num>::
 238         Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 239         `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 240
 241 -W::
 242 --function-context::
 243         Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 244         function name up to the one before the next function name,
 245         effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 246         found. The function names are determined in the same way as
 247         `git diff` works out patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a
 248         custom hunk-header' in linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 249
 250 -m <num>::
 251 --max-count <num>::
 252         Limit the amount of matches per file. When using the `-v` or
 253         `--invert-match` option, the search stops after the specified
 254         number of non-matches. A value of -1 will return unlimited
 255         results (the default). A value of 0 will exit immediately with
 256         a non-zero status.
 257
 258 --threads <num>::
 259         Number of `grep` worker threads to use.  See 'NOTES ON THREADS'
 260         and `grep.threads` in 'CONFIGURATION' for more information.
 261
 262 -f <file>::
 263         Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 264 +
 265 Passing the pattern via <file> allows for providing a search pattern
 266 containing a \0.
 267 +
 268 Not all pattern types support patterns containing \0. Git will error
 269 out if a given pattern type can't support such a pattern. The
 270 `--perl-regexp` pattern type when compiled against the PCRE v2 backend
 271 has the widest support for these types of patterns.
 272 +
 273 In versions of Git before 2.23.0 patterns containing \0 would be
 274 silently considered fixed. This was never documented, there were also
 275 odd and undocumented interactions between e.g. non-ASCII patterns
 276 containing \0 and `--ignore-case`.
 277 +
 278 In future versions we may learn to support patterns containing \0 for
 279 more search backends, until then we'll die when the pattern type in
 280 question doesn't support them.
 281
 282 -e::
 283         The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 284         used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 285         scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 286         combined by 'or'.
 287
 288 --and::
 289 --or::
 290 --not::
 291 ( ... )::
 292         Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 293         expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 294         higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 295         patterns.
 296
 297 --all-match::
 298         When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 299         this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 300         have lines to match all of them.
 301
 302 -q::
 303 --quiet::
 304         Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 305         there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 306
 307 <tree>...::
 308         Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 309         blobs in the given trees.
 310
 311 \--::
 312         Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 313         are <pathspec> limiters.
 314
 315 <pathspec>...::
 316         If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 317         Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 318 +
 319 For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the 'pathspec' entry
 320 in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
 321
 322 EXAMPLES
 323 --------
 324
 325 `git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'`::
 326         Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 327         directory and its subdirectories.
 328
 329 `git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 330         Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 331         `PATH_MAX`.
 332
 333 `git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 334         Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 335         files that have lines that match both.
 336
 337 `git grep solution -- :^Documentation`::
 338         Looks for `solution`, excluding files in `Documentation`.
 339
 340 NOTES ON THREADS
 341 ----------------
 342
 343 The `--threads` option (and the `grep.threads` configuration) will be ignored when
 344 `--open-files-in-pager` is used, forcing a single-threaded execution.
 345
 346 When grepping the object store (with `--cached` or giving tree objects), running
 347 with multiple threads might perform slower than single-threaded if `--textconv`
 348 is given and there are too many text conversions.  Thus, if low performance is
 349 experienced in this case, it might be desirable to use `--threads=1`.
 350
 351 CONFIGURATION
 352 -------------
 353
 354 include::includes/cmd-config-section-all.txt[]
 355
 356 include::config/grep.txt[]
 357
 358 GIT
 359 ---
 360 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite