NAME
git-grep - Print lines matching a patternSYNOPSIS
git grep [-a | --text] [-I] [--textconv] [-i | --ignore-case] [-w | --word-regexp] [-v | --invert-match] [-h|-H] [--full-name] [-E | --extended-regexp] [-G | --basic-regexp] [-P | --perl-regexp] [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n | --line-number] [--column] [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match] [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]] [-z | --null] [ -o | --only-matching ] [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet] [--max-depth <depth>] [--[no-]recursive] [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [--break] [--heading] [-p | --show-function] [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>] [-W | --function-context] [(-m | --max-count) <num>] [--threads <num>] [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern> [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...] [--recurse-submodules] [--parent-basename <basename>] [ [--[no-]exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...] [--] [<pathspec>...]
DESCRIPTION
Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects. Patterns are lists of one or more search expressions separated by newline characters. An empty string as search expression matches all lines.OPTIONS
--cachedInstead of searching tracked files in the
working tree, search blobs registered in the index file.
--no-index
Search files in the current directory that is
not managed by Git.
--untracked
In addition to searching in the tracked files
in the working tree, search also in untracked files.
--no-exclude-standard
Also search in ignored files by not honoring
the .gitignore mechanism. Only useful with --untracked.
--exclude-standard
Do not pay attention to ignored files
specified via the .gitignore mechanism. Only useful when searching
files in the current directory with --no-index.
--recurse-submodules
Recursively search in each submodule that is
active and checked out in the repository. When used in combination with the
<tree> option the prefix of all submodule output will be the name of the
parent project’s <tree> object. This option has no effect if
--no-index is given.
-a, --text
Process binary files as if they were
text.
--textconv
Honor textconv filter settings.
--no-textconv
Do not honor textconv filter settings. This is
the default.
-i, --ignore-case
Ignore case differences between the patterns
and the files.
-I
Don’t match the pattern in binary
files.
--max-depth <depth>
For each <pathspec> given on command
line, descend at most <depth> levels of directories. A value of -1 means
no limit. This option is ignored if <pathspec> contains active
wildcards. In other words if "a*" matches a directory named
"a*", "*" is matched literally so --max-depth is still
effective.
-r, --recursive
Same as --max-depth=-1; this is the
default.
--no-recursive
Same as --max-depth=0.
-w, --word-regexp
Match the pattern only at word boundary
(either begin at the beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character;
end at the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
-v, --invert-match
Select non-matching lines.
-h, -H
By default, the command shows the filename for
each match. -h option is used to suppress this output. -H is
there for completeness and does not do anything except it overrides -h
given earlier on the command line.
--full-name
When run from a subdirectory, the command
usually outputs paths relative to the current directory. This option forces
paths to be output relative to the project top directory.
-E, --extended-regexp, -G, --basic-regexp
Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.
Default is to use basic regexp.
-P, --perl-regexp
Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for
patterns.
Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional compile-time
dependency. If Git wasn’t compiled with support for them providing this
option will cause it to die.
-F, --fixed-strings
Use fixed strings for patterns (don’t
interpret pattern as a regex).
-n, --line-number
Prefix the line number to matching
lines.
--column
Prefix the 1-indexed byte-offset of the first
match from the start of the matching line.
-l, --files-with-matches, --name-only, -L, --files-without-match
Instead of showing every matched line, show
only the names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches. For better
compatibility with git diff, --name-only is a synonym for
--files-with-matches.
-O[<pager>], --open-files-in-pager[=<pager>]
Open the matching files in the pager (not the
output of grep). If the pager happens to be "less" or
"vi", and the user specified only one pattern, the first file is
positioned at the first match automatically. The pager argument is
optional; if specified, it must be stuck to the option without a space. If
pager is unspecified, the default pager will be used (see
core.pager in git-config(1)).
-z, --null
Use \0 as the delimiter for pathnames in the
output, and print them verbatim. Without this option, pathnames with
"unusual" characters are quoted as explained for the configuration
variable core.quotePath (see git-config(1)).
-o, --only-matching
Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a
matching line, with each such part on a separate output line.
-c, --count
Instead of showing every matched line, show
the number of lines that match.
--color[=<when>]
Show colored matches. The value must be always
(the default), never, or auto.
--no-color
Turn off match highlighting, even when the
configuration file gives the default to color output. Same as
--color=never.
--break
Print an empty line between matches from
different files.
--heading
Show the filename above the matches in that
file instead of at the start of each shown line.
-p, --show-function
Show the preceding line that contains the
function name of the match, unless the matching line is a function name
itself. The name is determined in the same way as git diff works out
patch hunk headers (see Defining a custom hunk-header in
gitattributes(5)).
-<num>, -C <num>, --context <num>
Show <num> leading and trailing lines,
and place a line containing -- between contiguous groups of
matches.
-A <num>, --after-context <num>
Show <num> trailing lines, and place a
line containing -- between contiguous groups of matches.
-B <num>, --before-context <num>
Show <num> leading lines, and place a
line containing -- between contiguous groups of matches.
-W, --function-context
Show the surrounding text from the previous
line containing a function name up to the one before the next function name,
effectively showing the whole function in which the match was found. The
function names are determined in the same way as git diff works out
patch hunk headers (see Defining a custom hunk-header in
gitattributes(5)).
-m <num>, --max-count <num>
Limit the amount of matches per file. When
using the -v or --invert-match option, the search stops after
the specified number of non-matches. A value of -1 will return unlimited
results (the default). A value of 0 will exit immediately with a non-zero
status.
--threads <num>
Number of grep worker threads to use. See
grep.threads in CONFIGURATION for more information.
-f <file>
Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
Passing the pattern via <file> allows for providing a search pattern
containing a \0.
Not all pattern types support patterns containing \0. Git will error out if a
given pattern type can’t support such a pattern. The
--perl-regexp pattern type when compiled against the PCRE v2 backend
has the widest support for these types of patterns.
In versions of Git before 2.23.0 patterns containing \0 would be silently
considered fixed. This was never documented, there were also odd and
undocumented interactions between e.g. non-ASCII patterns containing \0 and
--ignore-case.
In future versions we may learn to support patterns containing \0 for more
search backends, until then we’ll die when the pattern type in question
doesn’t support them.
-e
The next parameter is the pattern. This option
has to be used for patterns starting with - and should be used in
scripts passing user input to grep. Multiple patterns are combined by
or.
--and, --or, --not, ( ... )
Specify how multiple patterns are combined
using Boolean expressions. --or is the default operator. --and
has higher precedence than --or. -e has to be used for all
patterns.
--all-match
When giving multiple pattern expressions
combined with --or, this flag is specified to limit the match to files
that have lines to match all of them.
-q, --quiet
Do not output matched lines; instead, exit
with status 0 when there is a match and with non-zero status when there
isn’t.
<tree>...
Instead of searching tracked files in the
working tree, search blobs in the given trees.
--
Signals the end of options; the rest of the
parameters are <pathspec> limiters.
<pathspec>...
If given, limit the search to paths matching
at least one pattern. Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are
supported.
For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the pathspec
entry in gitglossary(7).
EXAMPLES
git grep 'time_t' -- '*.[ch]'Looks for time_t in all tracked .c and
.h files in the working directory and its subdirectories.
git grep -e '#define' --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)
Looks for a line that has #define and
either MAX_PATH or PATH_MAX.
git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected
Looks for a line that has NODE or
Unexpected in files that have lines that match both.
git grep solution -- :^Documentation
Looks for solution, excluding files in
Documentation.
NOTES ON THREADS
The --threads option (and the grep.threads configuration) will be ignored when --open-files-in-pager is used, forcing a single-threaded execution.CONFIGURATION
Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the git-config(1) documentation. The content is the same as what’s found there: grep.lineNumberIf set to true, enable -n option by
default.
grep.column
If set to true, enable the --column
option by default.
grep.patternType
Set the default matching behavior. Using a
value of basic, extended, fixed, or perl will
enable the --basic-regexp, --extended-regexp,
--fixed-strings, or --perl-regexp option accordingly, while the
value default will use the grep.extendedRegexp option to choose
between basic and extended.
grep.extendedRegexp
If set to true, enable
--extended-regexp option by default. This option is ignored when the
grep.patternType option is set to a value other than
default.
grep.threads
Number of grep worker threads to use. If unset
(or set to 0), Git will use as many threads as the number of logical cores
available.
grep.fullName
If set to true, enable --full-name
option by default.
grep.fallbackToNoIndex
If set to true, fall back to git grep
--no-index if git grep is executed outside of a git repository. Defaults to
false.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite02/28/2023 | Git 2.39.2 |