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