Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Merge branch 'jn/mailinfo-scissors' (d6b5af6)
   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           [-z | --null]
  18           [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
  19           [--max-depth <depth>]
  20           [--color[=<when>] | --no-color]
  21           [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
  22           [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  23           [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
  24           [--cached | --no-index | <tree>...]
  25           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  26
  27DESCRIPTION
  28-----------
  29Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  30registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
  31
  32
  33OPTIONS
  34-------
  35--cached::
  36        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  37        blobs registered in the index file.
  38
  39--no-index::
  40        Search files in the current directory, not just those tracked by git.
  41
  42-a::
  43--text::
  44        Process binary files as if they were text.
  45
  46-i::
  47--ignore-case::
  48        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  49        files.
  50
  51-I::
  52        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  53
  54--max-depth <depth>::
  55        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  56        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  57
  58-w::
  59--word-regexp::
  60        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  61        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  62        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  63
  64-v::
  65--invert-match::
  66        Select non-matching lines.
  67
  68-h::
  69-H::
  70        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  71        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  72        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  73        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  74        line.
  75
  76--full-name::
  77        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
  78        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
  79        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
  80        top directory.
  81
  82-E::
  83--extended-regexp::
  84-G::
  85--basic-regexp::
  86        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
  87        is to use basic regexp.
  88
  89-F::
  90--fixed-strings::
  91        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
  92        as a regex).
  93
  94-n::
  95        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
  96
  97-l::
  98--files-with-matches::
  99--name-only::
 100-L::
 101--files-without-match::
 102        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 103        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 104        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 105        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 106
 107-z::
 108--null::
 109        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 110        file name.
 111
 112-c::
 113--count::
 114        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 115        lines that match.
 116
 117--color[=<when>]::
 118        Show colored matches.
 119        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 120
 121--no-color::
 122        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 123        gives the default to color output.
 124        Same as `--color=never`.
 125
 126-[ABC] <context>::
 127        Show `context` trailing (`A` -- after), or leading (`B`
 128        -- before), or both (`C` -- context) lines, and place a
 129        line containing `--` between contiguous groups of
 130        matches.
 131
 132-<num>::
 133        A shortcut for specifying `-C<num>`.
 134
 135-p::
 136--show-function::
 137        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 138        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 139        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 140        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 141        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 142
 143-f <file>::
 144        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 145
 146-e::
 147        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 148        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 149        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 150        combined by 'or'.
 151
 152--and::
 153--or::
 154--not::
 155( ... )::
 156        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 157        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 158        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 159        patterns.
 160
 161--all-match::
 162        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 163        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 164        have lines to match all of them.
 165
 166-q::
 167--quiet::
 168        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 169        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 170
 171<tree>...::
 172        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 173        blobs in the given trees.
 174
 175\--::
 176        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 177        are <pathspec> limiters.
 178
 179<pathspec>...::
 180        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 181        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 182
 183Examples
 184--------
 185
 186git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'::
 187        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 188        directory and its subdirectories.
 189
 190git grep -e \'#define\' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)::
 191        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 192        `PATH_MAX`.
 193
 194git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected::
 195        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 196        files that have lines that match both.
 197
 198Author
 199------
 200Originally written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, later
 201revamped by Junio C Hamano.
 202
 203
 204Documentation
 205--------------
 206Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 207
 208GIT
 209---
 210Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite