1GIT-GREP(1)                       Git Manual                       GIT-GREP(1)
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NAME

6       git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
7

SYNOPSIS

9       git grep [-a | --text] [-I] [--textconv] [-i | --ignore-case] [-w | --word-regexp]
10                  [-v | --invert-match] [-h|-H] [--full-name]
11                  [-E | --extended-regexp] [-G | --basic-regexp]
12                  [-P | --perl-regexp]
13                  [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n | --line-number] [--column]
14                  [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
15                  [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]]
16                  [-z | --null]
17                  [ -o | --only-matching ] [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
18                  [--max-depth <depth>] [--[no-]recursive]
19                  [--color[=<when>] | --no-color]
20                  [--break] [--heading] [-p | --show-function]
21                  [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
22                  [-W | --function-context]
23                  [--threads <num>]
24                  [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
25                  [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
26                  [--recurse-submodules] [--parent-basename <basename>]
27                  [ [--[no-]exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...]
28                  [--] [<pathspec>...]
29

DESCRIPTION

31       Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree,
32       blobs registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
33       Patterns are lists of one or more search expressions separated by
34       newline characters. An empty string as search expression matches all
35       lines.
36

CONFIGURATION

38       grep.lineNumber
39           If set to true, enable -n option by default.
40
41       grep.column
42           If set to true, enable the --column option by default.
43
44       grep.patternType
45           Set the default matching behavior. Using a value of basic,
46           extended, fixed, or perl will enable the --basic-regexp,
47           --extended-regexp, --fixed-strings, or --perl-regexp option
48           accordingly, while the value default will return to the default
49           matching behavior.
50
51       grep.extendedRegexp
52           If set to true, enable --extended-regexp option by default. This
53           option is ignored when the grep.patternType option is set to a
54           value other than default.
55
56       grep.threads
57           Number of grep worker threads to use. If unset (or set to 0), Git
58           will use as many threads as the number of logical cores available.
59
60       grep.fullName
61           If set to true, enable --full-name option by default.
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63       grep.fallbackToNoIndex
64           If set to true, fall back to git grep --no-index if git grep is
65           executed outside of a git repository. Defaults to false.
66

OPTIONS

68       --cached
69           Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
70           blobs registered in the index file.
71
72       --no-index
73           Search files in the current directory that is not managed by Git.
74
75       --untracked
76           In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working tree,
77           search also in untracked files.
78
79       --no-exclude-standard
80           Also search in ignored files by not honoring the .gitignore
81           mechanism. Only useful with --untracked.
82
83       --exclude-standard
84           Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the .gitignore
85           mechanism. Only useful when searching files in the current
86           directory with --no-index.
87
88       --recurse-submodules
89           Recursively search in each submodule that is active and checked out
90           in the repository. When used in combination with the <tree> option
91           the prefix of all submodule output will be the name of the parent
92           project’s <tree> object. This option has no effect if --no-index is
93           given.
94
95       -a, --text
96           Process binary files as if they were text.
97
98       --textconv
99           Honor textconv filter settings.
100
101       --no-textconv
102           Do not honor textconv filter settings. This is the default.
103
104       -i, --ignore-case
105           Ignore case differences between the patterns and the files.
106
107       -I
108           Don’t match the pattern in binary files.
109
110       --max-depth <depth>
111           For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
112           levels of directories. A value of -1 means no limit. This option is
113           ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards. In other words if
114           "a*" matches a directory named "a*", "*" is matched literally so
115           --max-depth is still effective.
116
117       -r, --recursive
118           Same as --max-depth=-1; this is the default.
119
120       --no-recursive
121           Same as --max-depth=0.
122
123       -w, --word-regexp
124           Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
125           beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
126           the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
127
128       -v, --invert-match
129           Select non-matching lines.
130
131       -h, -H
132           By default, the command shows the filename for each match.  -h
133           option is used to suppress this output.  -H is there for
134           completeness and does not do anything except it overrides -h given
135           earlier on the command line.
136
137       --full-name
138           When run from a subdirectory, the command usually outputs paths
139           relative to the current directory. This option forces paths to be
140           output relative to the project top directory.
141
142       -E, --extended-regexp, -G, --basic-regexp
143           Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns. Default is to use
144           basic regexp.
145
146       -P, --perl-regexp
147           Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for patterns.
148
149           Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
150           compile-time dependency. If Git wasn’t compiled with support for
151           them providing this option will cause it to die.
152
153       -F, --fixed-strings
154           Use fixed strings for patterns (don’t interpret pattern as a
155           regex).
156
157       -n, --line-number
158           Prefix the line number to matching lines.
159
160       --column
161           Prefix the 1-indexed byte-offset of the first match from the start
162           of the matching line.
163
164       -l, --files-with-matches, --name-only, -L, --files-without-match
165           Instead of showing every matched line, show only the names of files
166           that contain (or do not contain) matches. For better compatibility
167           with git diff, --name-only is a synonym for --files-with-matches.
168
169       -O[<pager>], --open-files-in-pager[=<pager>]
170           Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of grep). If
171           the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user specified only
172           one pattern, the first file is positioned at the first match
173           automatically. The pager argument is optional; if specified, it
174           must be stuck to the option without a space. If pager is
175           unspecified, the default pager will be used (see core.pager in git-
176           config(1)).
177
178       -z, --null
179           Use \0 as the delimiter for pathnames in the output, and print them
180           verbatim. Without this option, pathnames with "unusual" characters
181           are quoted as explained for the configuration variable
182           core.quotePath (see git-config(1)).
183
184       -o, --only-matching
185           Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a matching line, with
186           each such part on a separate output line.
187
188       -c, --count
189           Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of lines
190           that match.
191
192       --color[=<when>]
193           Show colored matches. The value must be always (the default),
194           never, or auto.
195
196       --no-color
197           Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file gives
198           the default to color output. Same as --color=never.
199
200       --break
201           Print an empty line between matches from different files.
202
203       --heading
204           Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of at the
205           start of each shown line.
206
207       -p, --show-function
208           Show the preceding line that contains the function name of the
209           match, unless the matching line is a function name itself. The name
210           is determined in the same way as git diff works out patch hunk
211           headers (see Defining a custom hunk-header in gitattributes(5)).
212
213       -<num>, -C <num>, --context <num>
214           Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line containing
215           -- between contiguous groups of matches.
216
217       -A <num>, --after-context <num>
218           Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing -- between
219           contiguous groups of matches.
220
221       -B <num>, --before-context <num>
222           Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing -- between
223           contiguous groups of matches.
224
225       -W, --function-context
226           Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
227           function name up to the one before the next function name,
228           effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
229           found. The function names are determined in the same way as git
230           diff works out patch hunk headers (see Defining a custom
231           hunk-header in gitattributes(5)).
232
233       --threads <num>
234           Number of grep worker threads to use. See grep.threads in
235           CONFIGURATION for more information.
236
237       -f <file>
238           Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
239
240           Passing the pattern via <file> allows for providing a search
241           pattern containing a \0.
242
243           Not all pattern types support patterns containing \0. Git will
244           error out if a given pattern type can’t support such a pattern. The
245           --perl-regexp pattern type when compiled against the PCRE v2
246           backend has the widest support for these types of patterns.
247
248           In versions of Git before 2.23.0 patterns containing \0 would be
249           silently considered fixed. This was never documented, there were
250           also odd and undocumented interactions between e.g. non-ASCII
251           patterns containing \0 and --ignore-case.
252
253           In future versions we may learn to support patterns containing \0
254           for more search backends, until then we’ll die when the pattern
255           type in question doesn’t support them.
256
257       -e
258           The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be used for
259           patterns starting with - and should be used in scripts passing user
260           input to grep. Multiple patterns are combined by or.
261
262       --and, --or, --not, ( ... )
263           Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
264           expressions.  --or is the default operator.  --and has higher
265           precedence than --or.  -e has to be used for all patterns.
266
267       --all-match
268           When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with --or, this
269           flag is specified to limit the match to files that have lines to
270           match all of them.
271
272       -q, --quiet
273           Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when there
274           is a match and with non-zero status when there isn’t.
275
276       <tree>...
277           Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
278           blobs in the given trees.
279
280       --
281           Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters are
282           <pathspec> limiters.
283
284       <pathspec>...
285           If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
286           Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
287
288           For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the pathspec
289           entry in gitglossary(7).
290

EXAMPLES

292       git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'
293           Looks for time_t in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
294           directory and its subdirectories.
295
296       git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)
297           Looks for a line that has #define and either MAX_PATH or PATH_MAX.
298
299       git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected
300           Looks for a line that has NODE or Unexpected in files that have
301           lines that match both.
302
303       git grep solution -- :^Documentation
304           Looks for solution, excluding files in Documentation.
305

NOTES ON THREADS

307       The --threads option (and the grep.threads configuration) will be
308       ignored when --open-files-in-pager is used, forcing a single-threaded
309       execution.
310
311       When grepping the object store (with --cached or giving tree objects),
312       running with multiple threads might perform slower than single threaded
313       if --textconv is given and there’re too many text conversions. So if
314       you experience low performance in this case, it might be desirable to
315       use --threads=1.
316

GIT

318       Part of the git(1) suite
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322Git 2.31.1                        2021-03-26                       GIT-GREP(1)
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