Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'va/p4-branch-import' (cfd2f0f)
   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           [--cached | --no-index | <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, not just those tracked by git.
  53
  54-a::
  55--text::
  56        Process binary files as if they were text.
  57
  58-i::
  59--ignore-case::
  60        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  61        files.
  62
  63-I::
  64        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  65
  66--max-depth <depth>::
  67        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  68        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  69
  70-w::
  71--word-regexp::
  72        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  73        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  74        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  75
  76-v::
  77--invert-match::
  78        Select non-matching lines.
  79
  80-h::
  81-H::
  82        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  83        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  84        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  85        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  86        line.
  87
  88--full-name::
  89        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
  90        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
  91        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
  92        top directory.
  93
  94-E::
  95--extended-regexp::
  96-G::
  97--basic-regexp::
  98        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
  99        is to use basic regexp.
 100
 101-P::
 102--perl-regexp::
 103        Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
 104        compiled in.
 105
 106-F::
 107--fixed-strings::
 108        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 109        as a regex).
 110
 111-n::
 112--line-number::
 113        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 114
 115-l::
 116--files-with-matches::
 117--name-only::
 118-L::
 119--files-without-match::
 120        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 121        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 122        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 123        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 124
 125-O [<pager>]::
 126--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 127        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 128        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 129        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 130        the first match automatically.
 131
 132-z::
 133--null::
 134        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 135        file name.
 136
 137-c::
 138--count::
 139        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 140        lines that match.
 141
 142--color[=<when>]::
 143        Show colored matches.
 144        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 145
 146--no-color::
 147        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 148        gives the default to color output.
 149        Same as `--color=never`.
 150
 151--break::
 152        Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 153
 154--heading::
 155        Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 156        at the start of each shown line.
 157
 158-p::
 159--show-function::
 160        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 161        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 162        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 163        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 164        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 165
 166-<num>::
 167-C <num>::
 168--context <num>::
 169        Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 170        containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 171
 172-A <num>::
 173--after-context <num>::
 174        Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 175        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 176
 177-B <num>::
 178--before-context <num>::
 179        Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 180        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 181
 182-W::
 183--function-context::
 184        Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 185        function name up to the one before the next function name,
 186        effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 187        found.
 188
 189-f <file>::
 190        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 191
 192-e::
 193        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 194        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 195        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 196        combined by 'or'.
 197
 198--and::
 199--or::
 200--not::
 201( ... )::
 202        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 203        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 204        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 205        patterns.
 206
 207--all-match::
 208        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 209        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 210        have lines to match all of them.
 211
 212-q::
 213--quiet::
 214        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 215        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 216
 217<tree>...::
 218        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 219        blobs in the given trees.
 220
 221\--::
 222        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 223        are <pathspec> limiters.
 224
 225<pathspec>...::
 226        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 227        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 228
 229Examples
 230--------
 231
 232`git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}`::
 233        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 234        directory and its subdirectories.
 235
 236`git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 237        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 238        `PATH_MAX`.
 239
 240`git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 241        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 242        files that have lines that match both.
 243
 244GIT
 245---
 246Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite