Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/maint-doc-em-dash' (7bdaf0b)
   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           [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n]
  16           [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
  17           [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]]
  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>...]
  25           [--cached | --no-index | <tree>...]
  26           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  27
  28DESCRIPTION
  29-----------
  30Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  31registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
  32
  33
  34OPTIONS
  35-------
  36--cached::
  37        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  38        blobs registered in the index file.
  39
  40--no-index::
  41        Search files in the current directory, not just those tracked by git.
  42
  43-a::
  44--text::
  45        Process binary files as if they were text.
  46
  47-i::
  48--ignore-case::
  49        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  50        files.
  51
  52-I::
  53        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  54
  55--max-depth <depth>::
  56        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  57        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  58
  59-w::
  60--word-regexp::
  61        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  62        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  63        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  64
  65-v::
  66--invert-match::
  67        Select non-matching lines.
  68
  69-h::
  70-H::
  71        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  72        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  73        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  74        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  75        line.
  76
  77--full-name::
  78        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
  79        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
  80        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
  81        top directory.
  82
  83-E::
  84--extended-regexp::
  85-G::
  86--basic-regexp::
  87        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
  88        is to use basic regexp.
  89
  90-F::
  91--fixed-strings::
  92        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
  93        as a regex).
  94
  95-n::
  96        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
  97
  98-l::
  99--files-with-matches::
 100--name-only::
 101-L::
 102--files-without-match::
 103        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 104        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 105        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 106        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 107
 108-O [<pager>]::
 109--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 110        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 111        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 112        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 113        the first match automatically.
 114
 115-z::
 116--null::
 117        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 118        file name.
 119
 120-c::
 121--count::
 122        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 123        lines that match.
 124
 125--color[=<when>]::
 126        Show colored matches.
 127        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 128
 129--no-color::
 130        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 131        gives the default to color output.
 132        Same as `--color=never`.
 133
 134-[ABC] <context>::
 135        Show `context` trailing (`A` -- after), or leading (`B`
 136        -- before), or both (`C` -- context) lines, and place a
 137        line containing `--` between contiguous groups of
 138        matches.
 139
 140-<num>::
 141        A shortcut for specifying `-C<num>`.
 142
 143-p::
 144--show-function::
 145        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 146        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 147        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 148        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 149        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 150
 151-f <file>::
 152        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 153
 154-e::
 155        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 156        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 157        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 158        combined by 'or'.
 159
 160--and::
 161--or::
 162--not::
 163( ... )::
 164        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 165        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 166        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 167        patterns.
 168
 169--all-match::
 170        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 171        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 172        have lines to match all of them.
 173
 174-q::
 175--quiet::
 176        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 177        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 178
 179<tree>...::
 180        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 181        blobs in the given trees.
 182
 183\--::
 184        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 185        are <pathspec> limiters.
 186
 187<pathspec>...::
 188        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 189        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 190
 191Examples
 192--------
 193
 194git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}::
 195        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 196        directory and its subdirectories.
 197
 198git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)::
 199        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 200        `PATH_MAX`.
 201
 202git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected::
 203        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 204        files that have lines that match both.
 205
 206Author
 207------
 208Originally written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, later
 209revamped by Junio C Hamano.
 210
 211
 212Documentation
 213--------------
 214Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 215
 216GIT
 217---
 218Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite