Search for a string inside all files in the current directory

find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -i <pattern>

By: xelon

2009-09-22 13:31:23

find grep xargs

5 Alternatives + Submit Alt

Search for a <pattern> 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.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
50

grep -RnisI <pattern> *

birnam · 2009-09-22 15:09:43 33
Search for a <pattern> string inside all files in the current directory

Searches all files,dirs (also hidden) recursively
This is sample output - yours may be different.
3

grep -r <pattern> * .[!.]*

danam · 2009-09-22 14:57:40 5
Search for a <pattern> string inside all files in the current directory

ack seeks for , list all found files and display everything in nice colors. Look for it in http://betterthangrep.com/
This is sample output - yours may be different.
2

ack <pattern>

levenbrech · 2009-09-22 14:08:34 6
Search for a <pattern> string inside all files in the current directory

shorter typing with no need to use xargs.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
1

find . -type f -exec grep -i <pattern> \;

levenbrech · 2009-09-22 14:06:11 7
Search for a <pattern> string inside all files in the current directory

options: -n line nbrs, -i ignore case, -s no "doesn't exist", -I ignore binary args: * for all files of current dir (not hidden), .[!.]* for all hidden files I don't include by default the -R (recursive) option, which is not always useful. You add it by hand when needed.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
1

grep -nisI <pattern> * .[!.]*

lajarre · 2013-04-18 14:33:41 5

What Others Think

If you only want to show the file names: `find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -l "some string"`

CMCDragonkai · 506 weeks and 2 days ago

rahimhh21 · 117 weeks and 3 days ago

Perfecthomepugs · 109 weeks ago

pugpuppies95 · 71 weeks and 1 day ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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