1GIT-GREP(1) Git Manual GIT-GREP(1)
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6 git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
7
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 [(-m | --max-count) <num>]
24 [--threads <num>]
25 [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
26 [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
27 [--recurse-submodules] [--parent-basename <basename>]
28 [ [--[no-]exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...]
29 [--] [<pathspec>...]
30
32 Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree,
33 blobs registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
34 Patterns are lists of one or more search expressions separated by
35 newline characters. An empty string as search expression matches all
36 lines.
37
39 --cached
40 Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
41 blobs registered in the index file.
42 --no-index
44 Search files in the current directory that is not managed by Git.
45 --untracked
47 In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working tree,
48 search also in untracked files.
49 --no-exclude-standard
51 Also search in ignored files by not honoring the .gitignore
52 mechanism. Only useful with --untracked.
53 --exclude-standard
55 Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the .gitignore
56 mechanism. Only useful when searching files in the current
57 directory with --no-index.
58 --recurse-submodules
60 Recursively search in each submodule that is active and checked out
61 in the repository. When used in combination with the <tree> option
62 the prefix of all submodule output will be the name of the parent
63 project’s <tree> object. This option has no effect if --no-index is
64 given.
65 -a, --text
67 Process binary files as if they were text.
68 --textconv
70 Honor textconv filter settings.
71 --no-textconv
73 Do not honor textconv filter settings. This is the default.
74 -i, --ignore-case
76 Ignore case differences between the patterns and the files.
77 -I
79 Don’t match the pattern in binary files.
80 --max-depth <depth>
82 For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
83 levels of directories. A value of -1 means no limit. This option is
84 ignored if <pathspec> contains active wildcards. In other words if
85 "a*" matches a directory named "a*", "*" is matched literally so
86 --max-depth is still effective.
87 -r, --recursive
89 Same as --max-depth=-1; this is the default.
90 --no-recursive
92 Same as --max-depth=0.
93 -w, --word-regexp
95 Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
96 beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
97 the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
98 -v, --invert-match
100 Select non-matching lines.
101 -h, -H
103 By default, the command shows the filename for each match. -h
104 option is used to suppress this output. -H is there for
105 completeness and does not do anything except it overrides -h given
106 earlier on the command line.
107 --full-name
109 When run from a subdirectory, the command usually outputs paths
110 relative to the current directory. This option forces paths to be
111 output relative to the project top directory.
112 -E, --extended-regexp, -G, --basic-regexp
114 Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns. Default is to use
115 basic regexp.
116 -P, --perl-regexp
118 Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for patterns.
119 Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
121 compile-time dependency. If Git wasn’t compiled with support for
122 them providing this option will cause it to die.
123 -F, --fixed-strings
125 Use fixed strings for patterns (don’t interpret pattern as a
126 regex).
127 -n, --line-number
129 Prefix the line number to matching lines.
130 --column
132 Prefix the 1-indexed byte-offset of the first match from the start
133 of the matching line.
134 -l, --files-with-matches, --name-only, -L, --files-without-match
136 Instead of showing every matched line, show only the names of files
137 that contain (or do not contain) matches. For better compatibility
138 with git diff, --name-only is a synonym for --files-with-matches.
139 -O[<pager>], --open-files-in-pager[=<pager>]
141 Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of grep). If
142 the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user specified only
143 one pattern, the first file is positioned at the first match
144 automatically. The pager argument is optional; if specified, it
145 must be stuck to the option without a space. If pager is
146 unspecified, the default pager will be used (see core.pager in git-
147 config(1)).
148 -z, --null
150 Use \0 as the delimiter for pathnames in the output, and print them
151 verbatim. Without this option, pathnames with "unusual" characters
152 are quoted as explained for the configuration variable
153 core.quotePath (see git-config(1)).
154 -o, --only-matching
156 Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a matching line, with
157 each such part on a separate output line.
158 -c, --count
160 Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of lines
161 that match.
162 --color[=<when>]
164 Show colored matches. The value must be always (the default),
165 never, or auto.
166 --no-color
168 Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file gives
169 the default to color output. Same as --color=never.
170 --break
172 Print an empty line between matches from different files.
173 --heading
175 Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of at the
176 start of each shown line.
177 -p, --show-function
179 Show the preceding line that contains the function name of the
180 match, unless the matching line is a function name itself. The name
181 is determined in the same way as git diff works out patch hunk
182 headers (see Defining a custom hunk-header in gitattributes(5)).
183 -<num>, -C <num>, --context <num>
185 Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line containing
186 -- between contiguous groups of matches.
187 -A <num>, --after-context <num>
189 Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing -- between
190 contiguous groups of matches.
191 -B <num>, --before-context <num>
193 Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing -- between
194 contiguous groups of matches.
195 -W, --function-context
197 Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
198 function name up to the one before the next function name,
199 effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
200 found. The function names are determined in the same way as git
201 diff works out patch hunk headers (see Defining a custom
202 hunk-header in gitattributes(5)).
203 -m <num>, --max-count <num>
205 Limit the amount of matches per file. When using the -v or
206 --invert-match option, the search stops after the specified number
207 of non-matches. A value of -1 will return unlimited results (the
208 default). A value of 0 will exit immediately with a non-zero
209 status.
210 --threads <num>
212 Number of grep worker threads to use. See grep.threads in
213 CONFIGURATION for more information.
214 -f <file>
216 Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
217 Passing the pattern via <file> allows for providing a search
219 pattern containing a \0.
220 Not all pattern types support patterns containing \0. Git will
222 error out if a given pattern type can’t support such a pattern. The
223 --perl-regexp pattern type when compiled against the PCRE v2
224 backend has the widest support for these types of patterns.
225 In versions of Git before 2.23.0 patterns containing \0 would be
227 silently considered fixed. This was never documented, there were
228 also odd and undocumented interactions between e.g. non-ASCII
229 patterns containing \0 and --ignore-case.
230 In future versions we may learn to support patterns containing \0
232 for more search backends, until then we’ll die when the pattern
233 type in question doesn’t support them.
234 -e
236 The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be used for
237 patterns starting with - and should be used in scripts passing user
238 input to grep. Multiple patterns are combined by or.
239 --and, --or, --not, ( ... )
241 Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
242 expressions. --or is the default operator. --and has higher
243 precedence than --or. -e has to be used for all patterns.
244 --all-match
246 When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with --or, this
247 flag is specified to limit the match to files that have lines to
248 match all of them.
249 -q, --quiet
251 Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when there
252 is a match and with non-zero status when there isn’t.
253 <tree>...
255 Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
256 blobs in the given trees.
257 --
259 Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters are
260 <pathspec> limiters.
261 <pathspec>...
263 If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
264 Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
265 For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the pathspec
267 entry in gitglossary(7).
268
270 git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'
271 Looks for time_t in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
272 directory and its subdirectories.
273 git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)
275 Looks for a line that has #define and either MAX_PATH or PATH_MAX.
276 git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected
278 Looks for a line that has NODE or Unexpected in files that have
279 lines that match both.
280 git grep solution -- :^Documentation
282 Looks for solution, excluding files in Documentation.
283
285 The --threads option (and the grep.threads configuration) will be
286 ignored when --open-files-in-pager is used, forcing a single-threaded
287 execution.
288 When grepping the object store (with --cached or giving tree objects),
290 running with multiple threads might perform slower than single threaded
291 if --textconv is given and there are too many text conversions. So if
292 you experience low performance in this case, it might be desirable to
293 use --threads=1.
294
296 Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from
297 the git-config(1) documentation. The content is the same as what’s
298 found there:
299 grep.lineNumber
301 If set to true, enable -n option by default.
302 grep.column
304 If set to true, enable the --column option by default.
305 grep.patternType
307 Set the default matching behavior. Using a value of basic,
308 extended, fixed, or perl will enable the --basic-regexp,
309 --extended-regexp, --fixed-strings, or --perl-regexp option
310 accordingly, while the value default will use the
311 grep.extendedRegexp option to choose between basic and extended.
312 grep.extendedRegexp
314 If set to true, enable --extended-regexp option by default. This
315 option is ignored when the grep.patternType option is set to a
316 value other than default.
317 grep.threads
319 Number of grep worker threads to use. If unset (or set to 0), Git
320 will use as many threads as the number of logical cores available.
321 grep.fullName
323 If set to true, enable --full-name option by default.
324 grep.fallbackToNoIndex
326 If set to true, fall back to git grep --no-index if git grep is
327 executed outside of a git repository. Defaults to false.
328
330 Part of the git(1) suite
331Git 2.43.0 11/20/2023 GIT-GREP(1)