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



NAME
       git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern

SYNOPSIS
       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
       --cached
	   Instead 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.

       When grepping the object store (with --cached or giving tree objects),
       running with multiple threads might perform slower than single threaded
       if --textconv is given and there're too many text conversions. So if
       you experience low performance in this case, it might be desirable to
       use --threads=1.

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.lineNumber
	   If 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) suite



Git 2.38.4			  02/20/2023			   GIT-GREP(1)