Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Sync with 1.7.8.6 (b2bab5b)
   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.
  35
  36
  37CONFIGURATION
  38-------------
  39
  40grep.lineNumber::
  41        If set to true, enable '-n' option by default.
  42
  43grep.extendedRegexp::
  44        If set to true, enable '--extended-regexp' option by default.
  45
  46
  47OPTIONS
  48-------
  49--cached::
  50        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  51        blobs registered in the index file.
  52
  53--no-index::
  54        Search files in the current directory that is not managed by git.
  55
  56--untracked::
  57        In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working
  58        tree, search also in untracked files.
  59
  60--no-exclude-standard::
  61        Also search in ignored files by not honoring the `.gitignore`
  62        mechanism. Only useful with `--untracked`.
  63
  64--exclude-standard::
  65        Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the `.gitignore`
  66        mechanism.  Only useful when searching files in the current directory
  67        with `--no-index`.
  68
  69-a::
  70--text::
  71        Process binary files as if they were text.
  72
  73-i::
  74--ignore-case::
  75        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  76        files.
  77
  78-I::
  79        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  80
  81--max-depth <depth>::
  82        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  83        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  84        This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards.
  85        In other words if "a*" matches a directory named "a*",
  86        "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still effective.
  87
  88-w::
  89--word-regexp::
  90        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  91        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  92        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  93
  94-v::
  95--invert-match::
  96        Select non-matching lines.
  97
  98-h::
  99-H::
 100        By default, the command shows the filename for each
 101        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
 102        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
 103        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
 104        line.
 105
 106--full-name::
 107        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 108        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 109        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 110        top directory.
 111
 112-E::
 113--extended-regexp::
 114-G::
 115--basic-regexp::
 116        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 117        is to use basic regexp.
 118
 119-P::
 120--perl-regexp::
 121        Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
 122        compiled in.
 123
 124-F::
 125--fixed-strings::
 126        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 127        as a regex).
 128
 129-n::
 130--line-number::
 131        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 132
 133-l::
 134--files-with-matches::
 135--name-only::
 136-L::
 137--files-without-match::
 138        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 139        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 140        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 141        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 142
 143-O [<pager>]::
 144--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 145        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 146        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 147        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 148        the first match automatically.
 149
 150-z::
 151--null::
 152        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 153        file name.
 154
 155-c::
 156--count::
 157        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 158        lines that match.
 159
 160--color[=<when>]::
 161        Show colored matches.
 162        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 163
 164--no-color::
 165        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 166        gives the default to color output.
 167        Same as `--color=never`.
 168
 169--break::
 170        Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 171
 172--heading::
 173        Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 174        at the start of each shown line.
 175
 176-p::
 177--show-function::
 178        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 179        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 180        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 181        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 182        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 183
 184-<num>::
 185-C <num>::
 186--context <num>::
 187        Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 188        containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 189
 190-A <num>::
 191--after-context <num>::
 192        Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 193        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 194
 195-B <num>::
 196--before-context <num>::
 197        Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 198        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 199
 200-W::
 201--function-context::
 202        Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 203        function name up to the one before the next function name,
 204        effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 205        found.
 206
 207-f <file>::
 208        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 209
 210-e::
 211        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 212        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 213        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 214        combined by 'or'.
 215
 216--and::
 217--or::
 218--not::
 219( ... )::
 220        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 221        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 222        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 223        patterns.
 224
 225--all-match::
 226        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 227        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 228        have lines to match all of them.
 229
 230-q::
 231--quiet::
 232        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 233        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 234
 235<tree>...::
 236        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 237        blobs in the given trees.
 238
 239\--::
 240        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 241        are <pathspec> limiters.
 242
 243<pathspec>...::
 244        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 245        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 246
 247Examples
 248--------
 249
 250`git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}`::
 251        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 252        directory and its subdirectories.
 253
 254`git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 255        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 256        `PATH_MAX`.
 257
 258`git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 259        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 260        files that have lines that match both.
 261
 262GIT
 263---
 264Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite