Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Git 1.7.9.1 (90020e3)
   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           [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
  24           [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  25           [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
  26           [ [--exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...]
  27           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  28
  29DESCRIPTION
  30-----------
  31Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  32registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
  33
  34
  35CONFIGURATION
  36-------------
  37
  38grep.lineNumber::
  39        If set to true, enable '-n' option by default.
  40
  41grep.extendedRegexp::
  42        If set to true, enable '--extended-regexp' option by default.
  43
  44
  45OPTIONS
  46-------
  47--cached::
  48        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  49        blobs registered in the index file.
  50
  51--no-index::
  52        Search files in the current directory that is not managed by git.
  53
  54--untracked::
  55        In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working
  56        tree, search also in untracked files.
  57
  58--no-exclude-standard::
  59        Also search in ignored files by not honoring the `.gitignore`
  60        mechanism. Only useful with `--untracked`.
  61
  62--exclude-standard::
  63        Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the `.gitignore`
  64        mechanism.  Only useful when searching files in the current directory
  65        with `--no-index`.
  66
  67-a::
  68--text::
  69        Process binary files as if they were text.
  70
  71-i::
  72--ignore-case::
  73        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  74        files.
  75
  76-I::
  77        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  78
  79--max-depth <depth>::
  80        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  81        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  82        This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards.
  83        In other words if "a*" matches a directory named "a*",
  84        "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still effective.
  85
  86-w::
  87--word-regexp::
  88        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  89        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  90        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  91
  92-v::
  93--invert-match::
  94        Select non-matching lines.
  95
  96-h::
  97-H::
  98        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  99        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
 100        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
 101        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
 102        line.
 103
 104--full-name::
 105        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 106        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 107        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 108        top directory.
 109
 110-E::
 111--extended-regexp::
 112-G::
 113--basic-regexp::
 114        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 115        is to use basic regexp.
 116
 117-P::
 118--perl-regexp::
 119        Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
 120        compiled in.
 121
 122-F::
 123--fixed-strings::
 124        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 125        as a regex).
 126
 127-n::
 128--line-number::
 129        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 130
 131-l::
 132--files-with-matches::
 133--name-only::
 134-L::
 135--files-without-match::
 136        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 137        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 138        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 139        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 140
 141-O [<pager>]::
 142--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 143        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 144        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 145        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 146        the first match automatically.
 147
 148-z::
 149--null::
 150        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 151        file name.
 152
 153-c::
 154--count::
 155        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 156        lines that match.
 157
 158--color[=<when>]::
 159        Show colored matches.
 160        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 161
 162--no-color::
 163        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 164        gives the default to color output.
 165        Same as `--color=never`.
 166
 167--break::
 168        Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 169
 170--heading::
 171        Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 172        at the start of each shown line.
 173
 174-p::
 175--show-function::
 176        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 177        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 178        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 179        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 180        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 181
 182-<num>::
 183-C <num>::
 184--context <num>::
 185        Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 186        containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 187
 188-A <num>::
 189--after-context <num>::
 190        Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 191        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 192
 193-B <num>::
 194--before-context <num>::
 195        Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 196        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 197
 198-W::
 199--function-context::
 200        Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 201        function name up to the one before the next function name,
 202        effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 203        found.
 204
 205-f <file>::
 206        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 207
 208-e::
 209        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 210        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 211        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 212        combined by 'or'.
 213
 214--and::
 215--or::
 216--not::
 217( ... )::
 218        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 219        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 220        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 221        patterns.
 222
 223--all-match::
 224        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 225        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 226        have lines to match all of them.
 227
 228-q::
 229--quiet::
 230        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 231        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 232
 233<tree>...::
 234        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 235        blobs in the given trees.
 236
 237\--::
 238        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 239        are <pathspec> limiters.
 240
 241<pathspec>...::
 242        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 243        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 244
 245Examples
 246--------
 247
 248`git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}`::
 249        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 250        directory and its subdirectories.
 251
 252`git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 253        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 254        `PATH_MAX`.
 255
 256`git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 257        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 258        files that have lines that match both.
 259
 260GIT
 261---
 262Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite