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Functions

Search for a string inside all files in the current directory

Terminal - Search for a string inside all files in the current directory
grep -RnisI <pattern> *
2009-09-22 15:09:43
User: birnam
Functions: grep
24
Search for a string inside all files in the current directory

This is how I typically grep. -R recurse into subdirectories, -n show line numbers of matches, -i ignore case, -s suppress "doesn't exist" and "can't read" messages, -I ignore binary files (technically, process them as having no matches, important for showing inverted results with -v)

I have grep aliased to "grep --color=auto" as well, but that's a matter of formatting not function.

Alternatives

There is 1 alternative - vote for the best!

Terminal - Alternatives
find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -i <pattern>
find . -type f -exec grep -i <pattern> \;
2009-09-22 14:06:11
User: levenbrech
Functions: find grep
1

shorter typing with no need to use xargs.

ack <pattern>
2009-09-22 14:08:34
User: levenbrech
1

ack seeks for , list all found files and display everything in nice colors. Look for it in http://betterthangrep.com/

grep -r <pattern> * .[!.]*
2009-09-22 14:57:40
User: danam
Functions: grep
1

Searches all files,dirs (also hidden) recursively

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