Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'ml/encode-header-refactor' (77b30bc)
   1git-grep(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git grep' [--cached]
  13           [-a | --text] [-I] [-i | --ignore-case] [-w | --word-regexp]
  14           [-v | --invert-match] [-h|-H] [--full-name]
  15           [-E | --extended-regexp] [-G | --basic-regexp]
  16           [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n]
  17           [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
  18           [-z | --null]
  19           [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
  20           [--max-depth <depth>]
  21           [--color[=<when>] | --no-color]
  22           [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
  23           [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  24           [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...] [<tree>...]
  25           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  26
  27DESCRIPTION
  28-----------
  29Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  30registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
  31
  32
  33OPTIONS
  34-------
  35--cached::
  36        Instead of searching in the working tree files, check
  37        the blobs registered in the index file.
  38
  39-a::
  40--text::
  41        Process binary files as if they were text.
  42
  43-i::
  44--ignore-case::
  45        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  46        files.
  47
  48-I::
  49        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  50
  51--max-depth <depth>::
  52        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  53        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  54
  55-w::
  56--word-regexp::
  57        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  58        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  59        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  60
  61-v::
  62--invert-match::
  63        Select non-matching lines.
  64
  65-h::
  66-H::
  67        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  68        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  69        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  70        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  71        line.
  72
  73--full-name::
  74        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
  75        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
  76        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
  77        top directory.
  78
  79-E::
  80--extended-regexp::
  81-G::
  82--basic-regexp::
  83        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
  84        is to use basic regexp.
  85
  86-F::
  87--fixed-strings::
  88        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
  89        as a regex).
  90
  91-n::
  92        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
  93
  94-l::
  95--files-with-matches::
  96--name-only::
  97-L::
  98--files-without-match::
  99        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 100        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 101        For better compatibility with 'git diff', --name-only is a
 102        synonym for --files-with-matches.
 103
 104-z::
 105--null::
 106        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 107        file name.
 108
 109-c::
 110--count::
 111        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 112        lines that match.
 113
 114--color[=<when>]::
 115        Show colored matches.
 116        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 117
 118--no-color::
 119        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 120        gives the default to color output.
 121        Same as `--color=never`.
 122
 123-[ABC] <context>::
 124        Show `context` trailing (`A` -- after), or leading (`B`
 125        -- before), or both (`C` -- context) lines, and place a
 126        line containing `--` between contiguous groups of
 127        matches.
 128
 129-<num>::
 130        A shortcut for specifying -C<num>.
 131
 132-p::
 133--show-function::
 134        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 135        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 136        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 137        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 138        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 139
 140-f <file>::
 141        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 142
 143-e::
 144        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 145        used for patterns starting with - and should be used in
 146        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 147        combined by 'or'.
 148
 149--and::
 150--or::
 151--not::
 152( ... )::
 153        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 154        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 155        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 156        patterns.
 157
 158--all-match::
 159        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 160        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 161        have lines to match all of them.
 162
 163-q::
 164--quiet::
 165        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 166        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 167
 168`<tree>...`::
 169        Search blobs in the trees for specified patterns.
 170
 171\--::
 172        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 173        are <pathspec> limiters.
 174
 175<pathspec>...::
 176        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 177        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 178
 179Example
 180-------
 181
 182git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'::
 183        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 184        directory and its subdirectories.
 185
 186git grep -e \'#define\' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)::
 187        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 188        `PATH_MAX`.
 189
 190git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected::
 191        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 192        files that have lines that match both.
 193
 194Author
 195------
 196Originally written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, later
 197revamped by Junio C Hamano.
 198
 199
 200Documentation
 201--------------
 202Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 203
 204GIT
 205---
 206Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite