Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'vr/merge-base-doc' into maint (8de4338)
   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
  34CONFIGURATION
  35-------------
  36
  37grep.lineNumber::
  38        If set to true, enable '-n' option by default.
  39
  40grep.extendedRegexp::
  41        If set to true, enable '--extended-regexp' option by default.
  42
  43
  44OPTIONS
  45-------
  46--cached::
  47        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  48        blobs registered in the index file.
  49
  50--no-index::
  51        Search files in the current directory, not just those tracked by git.
  52
  53-a::
  54--text::
  55        Process binary files as if they were text.
  56
  57-i::
  58--ignore-case::
  59        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  60        files.
  61
  62-I::
  63        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  64
  65--max-depth <depth>::
  66        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  67        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  68
  69-w::
  70--word-regexp::
  71        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  72        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  73        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  74
  75-v::
  76--invert-match::
  77        Select non-matching lines.
  78
  79-h::
  80-H::
  81        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  82        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  83        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  84        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  85        line.
  86
  87--full-name::
  88        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
  89        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
  90        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
  91        top directory.
  92
  93-E::
  94--extended-regexp::
  95-G::
  96--basic-regexp::
  97        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
  98        is to use basic regexp.
  99
 100-F::
 101--fixed-strings::
 102        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 103        as a regex).
 104
 105-n::
 106--line-number::
 107        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 108
 109-l::
 110--files-with-matches::
 111--name-only::
 112-L::
 113--files-without-match::
 114        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 115        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 116        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 117        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 118
 119-O [<pager>]::
 120--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 121        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 122        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 123        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 124        the first match automatically.
 125
 126-z::
 127--null::
 128        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 129        file name.
 130
 131-c::
 132--count::
 133        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 134        lines that match.
 135
 136--color[=<when>]::
 137        Show colored matches.
 138        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 139
 140--no-color::
 141        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 142        gives the default to color output.
 143        Same as `--color=never`.
 144
 145-[ABC] <context>::
 146        Show `context` trailing (`A` -- after), or leading (`B`
 147        -- before), or both (`C` -- context) lines, and place a
 148        line containing `--` between contiguous groups of
 149        matches.
 150
 151-<num>::
 152        A shortcut for specifying `-C<num>`.
 153
 154-p::
 155--show-function::
 156        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 157        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 158        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 159        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 160        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 161
 162-f <file>::
 163        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 164
 165-e::
 166        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 167        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 168        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 169        combined by 'or'.
 170
 171--and::
 172--or::
 173--not::
 174( ... )::
 175        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 176        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 177        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 178        patterns.
 179
 180--all-match::
 181        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 182        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 183        have lines to match all of them.
 184
 185-q::
 186--quiet::
 187        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 188        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 189
 190<tree>...::
 191        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 192        blobs in the given trees.
 193
 194\--::
 195        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 196        are <pathspec> limiters.
 197
 198<pathspec>...::
 199        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 200        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 201
 202Examples
 203--------
 204
 205git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}::
 206        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 207        directory and its subdirectories.
 208
 209git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)::
 210        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 211        `PATH_MAX`.
 212
 213git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected::
 214        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 215        files that have lines that match both.
 216
 217GIT
 218---
 219Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite