Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/maint-doc-checkout-b-always-takes-branch-name' into maint-1.7.11 (1b8bc86)
   1git-grep(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git grep' [-a | --text] [-I] [-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]
  17           [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
  18           [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]]
  19           [-z | --null]
  20           [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
  21           [--max-depth <depth>]
  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           [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  27           [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
  28           [ [--exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...]
  29           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  30
  31DESCRIPTION
  32-----------
  33Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  34registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.  Patterns
  35are lists of one or more search expressions separated by newline
  36characters.  An empty string as search expression matches all lines.
  37
  38
  39CONFIGURATION
  40-------------
  41
  42grep.lineNumber::
  43        If set to true, enable '-n' option by default.
  44
  45grep.extendedRegexp::
  46        If set to true, enable '--extended-regexp' option by default.
  47
  48
  49OPTIONS
  50-------
  51--cached::
  52        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  53        blobs registered in the index file.
  54
  55--no-index::
  56        Search files in the current directory that is not managed by git.
  57
  58--untracked::
  59        In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working
  60        tree, search also in untracked files.
  61
  62--no-exclude-standard::
  63        Also search in ignored files by not honoring the `.gitignore`
  64        mechanism. Only useful with `--untracked`.
  65
  66--exclude-standard::
  67        Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the `.gitignore`
  68        mechanism.  Only useful when searching files in the current directory
  69        with `--no-index`.
  70
  71-a::
  72--text::
  73        Process binary files as if they were text.
  74
  75-i::
  76--ignore-case::
  77        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  78        files.
  79
  80-I::
  81        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  82
  83--max-depth <depth>::
  84        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  85        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  86        This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards.
  87        In other words if "a*" matches a directory named "a*",
  88        "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still effective.
  89
  90-w::
  91--word-regexp::
  92        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  93        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  94        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  95
  96-v::
  97--invert-match::
  98        Select non-matching lines.
  99
 100-h::
 101-H::
 102        By default, the command shows the filename for each
 103        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
 104        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
 105        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
 106        line.
 107
 108--full-name::
 109        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 110        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 111        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 112        top directory.
 113
 114-E::
 115--extended-regexp::
 116-G::
 117--basic-regexp::
 118        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 119        is to use basic regexp.
 120
 121-P::
 122--perl-regexp::
 123        Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
 124        compiled in.
 125
 126-F::
 127--fixed-strings::
 128        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 129        as a regex).
 130
 131-n::
 132--line-number::
 133        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 134
 135-l::
 136--files-with-matches::
 137--name-only::
 138-L::
 139--files-without-match::
 140        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 141        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 142        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 143        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 144
 145-O [<pager>]::
 146--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 147        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 148        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 149        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 150        the first match automatically.
 151
 152-z::
 153--null::
 154        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 155        file name.
 156
 157-c::
 158--count::
 159        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 160        lines that match.
 161
 162--color[=<when>]::
 163        Show colored matches.
 164        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 165
 166--no-color::
 167        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 168        gives the default to color output.
 169        Same as `--color=never`.
 170
 171--break::
 172        Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 173
 174--heading::
 175        Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 176        at the start of each shown line.
 177
 178-p::
 179--show-function::
 180        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 181        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 182        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 183        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 184        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 185
 186-<num>::
 187-C <num>::
 188--context <num>::
 189        Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 190        containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 191
 192-A <num>::
 193--after-context <num>::
 194        Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 195        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 196
 197-B <num>::
 198--before-context <num>::
 199        Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 200        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 201
 202-W::
 203--function-context::
 204        Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 205        function name up to the one before the next function name,
 206        effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 207        found.
 208
 209-f <file>::
 210        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 211
 212-e::
 213        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 214        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 215        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 216        combined by 'or'.
 217
 218--and::
 219--or::
 220--not::
 221( ... )::
 222        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 223        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 224        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 225        patterns.
 226
 227--all-match::
 228        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 229        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 230        have lines to match all of them.
 231
 232-q::
 233--quiet::
 234        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 235        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 236
 237<tree>...::
 238        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 239        blobs in the given trees.
 240
 241\--::
 242        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 243        are <pathspec> limiters.
 244
 245<pathspec>...::
 246        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 247        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 248
 249Examples
 250--------
 251
 252`git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'`::
 253        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 254        directory and its subdirectories.
 255
 256`git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 257        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 258        `PATH_MAX`.
 259
 260`git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 261        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 262        files that have lines that match both.
 263
 264GIT
 265---
 266Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite