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