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), Git will
  63         use as many threads as the number of logical cores available.
  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. This option has no effect
 100         if `--no-index` is given.
 101
 102 -a::
 103 --text::
 104         Process binary files as if they were text.
 105
 106 --textconv::
 107         Honor textconv filter settings.
 108
 109 --no-textconv::
 110         Do not honor textconv filter settings.
 111         This is the default.
 112
 113 -i::
 114 --ignore-case::
 115         Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
 116         files.
 117
 118 -I::
 119         Don't match the pattern in binary files.
 120
 121 --max-depth <depth>::
 122         For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
 123         levels of directories. A value of -1 means no limit.
 124         This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards.
 125         In other words if "a*" matches a directory named "a*",
 126         "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still effective.
 127
 128 -r::
 129 --recursive::
 130         Same as `--max-depth=-1`; this is the default.
 131
 132 --no-recursive::
 133         Same as `--max-depth=0`.
 134
 135 -w::
 136 --word-regexp::
 137         Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
 138         beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
 139         the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
 140
 141 -v::
 142 --invert-match::
 143         Select non-matching lines.
 144
 145 -h::
 146 -H::
 147         By default, the command shows the filename for each
 148         match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
 149         `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
 150         except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
 151         line.
 152
 153 --full-name::
 154         When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 155         outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 156         option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 157         top directory.
 158
 159 -E::
 160 --extended-regexp::
 161 -G::
 162 --basic-regexp::
 163         Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 164         is to use basic regexp.
 165
 166 -P::
 167 --perl-regexp::
 168         Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for patterns.
 169 +
 170 Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
 171 compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
 172 providing this option will cause it to die.
 173
 174 -F::
 175 --fixed-strings::
 176         Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 177         as a regex).
 178
 179 -n::
 180 --line-number::
 181         Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 182
 183 --column::
 184         Prefix the 1-indexed byte-offset of the first match from the start of the
 185         matching line.
 186
 187 -l::
 188 --files-with-matches::
 189 --name-only::
 190 -L::
 191 --files-without-match::
 192         Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 193         names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 194         For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 195         synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 196
 197 -O[<pager>]::
 198 --open-files-in-pager[=<pager>]::
 199         Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 200         If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 201         specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 202         the first match automatically. The `pager` argument is
 203         optional; if specified, it must be stuck to the option
 204         without a space. If `pager` is unspecified, the default pager
 205         will be used (see `core.pager` in linkgit:git-config[1]).
 206
 207 -z::
 208 --null::
 209         Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 210         file name.
 211
 212 -o::
 213 --only-matching::
 214         Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a matching line, with each such
 215         part on a separate output line.
 216
 217 -c::
 218 --count::
 219         Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 220         lines that match.
 221
 222 --color[=<when>]::
 223         Show colored matches.
 224         The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 225
 226 --no-color::
 227         Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 228         gives the default to color output.
 229         Same as `--color=never`.
 230
 231 --break::
 232         Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 233
 234 --heading::
 235         Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 236         at the start of each shown line.
 237
 238 -p::
 239 --show-function::
 240         Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 241         the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 242         The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 243         patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 244         linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 245
 246 -<num>::
 247 -C <num>::
 248 --context <num>::
 249         Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 250         containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 251
 252 -A <num>::
 253 --after-context <num>::
 254         Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 255         `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 256
 257 -B <num>::
 258 --before-context <num>::
 259         Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 260         `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 261
 262 -W::
 263 --function-context::
 264         Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 265         function name up to the one before the next function name,
 266         effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 267         found.
 268
 269 --threads <num>::
 270         Number of grep worker threads to use.
 271         See `grep.threads` in 'CONFIGURATION' for more information.
 272
 273 -f <file>::
 274         Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 275 +
 276 Passing the pattern via <file> allows for providing a search pattern
 277 containing a \0.
 278 +
 279 Not all pattern types support patterns containing \0. Git will error
 280 out if a given pattern type can't support such a pattern. The
 281 `--perl-regexp` pattern type when compiled against the PCRE v2 backend
 282 has the widest support for these types of patterns.
 283 +
 284 In versions of Git before 2.23.0 patterns containing \0 would be
 285 silently considered fixed. This was never documented, there were also
 286 odd and undocumented interactions between e.g. non-ASCII patterns
 287 containing \0 and `--ignore-case`.
 288 +
 289 In future versions we may learn to support patterns containing \0 for
 290 more search backends, until then we'll die when the pattern type in
 291 question doesn't support them.
 292
 293 -e::
 294         The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 295         used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 296         scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 297         combined by 'or'.
 298
 299 --and::
 300 --or::
 301 --not::
 302 ( ... )::
 303         Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 304         expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 305         higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 306         patterns.
 307
 308 --all-match::
 309         When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 310         this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 311         have lines to match all of them.
 312
 313 -q::
 314 --quiet::
 315         Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 316         there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 317
 318 <tree>...::
 319         Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 320         blobs in the given trees.
 321
 322 \--::
 323         Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 324         are <pathspec> limiters.
 325
 326 <pathspec>...::
 327         If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 328         Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 329 +
 330 For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the 'pathspec' entry
 331 in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
 332
 333 EXAMPLES
 334 --------
 335
 336 `git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'`::
 337         Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 338         directory and its subdirectories.
 339
 340 `git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 341         Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 342         `PATH_MAX`.
 343
 344 `git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 345         Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 346         files that have lines that match both.
 347
 348 `git grep solution -- :^Documentation`::
 349         Looks for `solution`, excluding files in `Documentation`.
 350
 351 NOTES ON THREADS
 352 ----------------
 353
 354 The `--threads` option (and the grep.threads configuration) will be ignored when
 355 `--open-files-in-pager` is used, forcing a single-threaded execution.
 356
 357 When grepping the object store (with `--cached` or giving tree objects), running
 358 with multiple threads might perform slower than single threaded if `--textconv`
 359 is given and there're too many text conversions. So if you experience low
 360 performance in this case, it might be desirable to use `--threads=1`.
 361
 362 GIT
 363 ---
 364 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite