ripgrep Fast Search

What it is

ripgrep is a blazingly fast, line-oriented search tool that recursively searches the current directory for a regex, respecting .gitignore and other ignore files by default.

Installation

Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ripgrep

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ripgrep

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S ripgrep

macOS

# Homebrew
brew install ripgrep

Windows

# Scoop
scoop install ripgrep

# Chocolatey
choco install ripgrep

Core Concepts

ripgrep’s primary advantage comes from its intelligent use of ignore files. It automatically respects:

• .gitignore files
• .ignore files
• .rgignore files
• git:ignore configuration in .git/config
• hg:ignore configuration in .hg/hgrc

This means that by default, you won’t search ignored files, making searches much faster and more relevant.

Commands / Usage

Basic Searching

• Search for a literal string:

  rg "hello world"
  

  Searches for the exact string "hello world" in all files in the current directory and its subdirectories.

• Search for a regular expression:

  rg "error [0-9]+"
  

  Searches for lines containing "error" followed by one or more digits.

• Case-insensitive search:

  rg -i "debug"
  

  Searches for "debug", "Debug", "DEBUG", etc.

• Search for a whole word:

  rg -w "the"
  

  Searches for the word "the" and not "there" or "other".

• Search for a specific file type:

  rg -t py "import requests"
  

  Searches for lines containing "import requests" only in Python files (.py).

• Search for multiple file types:

  rg -t {js,ts} "console.log"
  

  Searches for lines containing "console.log" in JavaScript (.js) and TypeScript (.ts) files.

• Search across all files (ignoring ignore files):

  rg -u "config_value"
  

  Searches for "config_value" in all files, including those that would normally be ignored.

• Search across all files, including hidden files (but still respecting ignore files):

  rg -uu "secret_key"
  

  Searches for "secret_key" in all files, including hidden ones, but still respects ignore files.

• Search across all files, including hidden and ignored files:

  rg -uuu "old_api_endpoint"
  

  Searches for "old_api_endpoint" in all files, including hidden and ignored ones.

Filtering by File Path

• Search only in specific files:

  rg "function setup()" --glob "src/**/*.js"
  

  Searches for "function setup()" only within JavaScript files in the src directory and its subdirectories.

• Search only in files matching a glob pattern:

  rg "TODO" --glob "*.md"
  

  Searches for "TODO" only in Markdown files (.md).

• Exclude specific directories:

  rg "database_connection" --glob '!db/*'
  

  Searches for "database_connection" but excludes any files within the db directory.

• Exclude specific files:

  rg "license_key" --glob '!third-party/*'
  

  Searches for "license_key" but excludes any files within the third-party directory.

• Search in files NOT matching a glob pattern:

  rg "deprecated_function" --glob '!tests/*'
  

  Searches for "deprecated_function" in all files except those in the tests directory.

Output Control

• Show line numbers:

  rg -n "important_variable"
  

  Prints the line number for each match.

• Show column numbers:

  rg -o --column "pattern"
  

  Prints the column number for each match. The -o flag prints only the matching text.

• List only files containing matches:

  rg -l "error message"
  

  Prints only the names of files that contain the string "error message".

• List only files NOT containing matches:

  rg -L "success"
  

  Prints only the names of files that do NOT contain the string "success".

• Print context lines before and after the match:

  rg -C 3 "critical_section"
  

  Prints 3 lines of context before and after each match for "critical_section".

• Print context lines after the match:

  rg -A 2 "start_process"
  

  Prints 2 lines of context after each match for "start_process".

• Print context lines before the match:

  rg -B 1 "end_process"
  

  Prints 1 line of context before each match for "end_process".

• Show path to the file:

  rg --with-filename "configuration_setting"
  

  Always prints the filename before the matching line (useful when searching a single file to differentiate output). This is the default behavior when searching multiple files.

• Disable path display:

  rg --no-filename "single_match"
  

  Disables printing the filename before the matching line.

• Disable line number display:

  rg --no-linenum "plain_text"
  

  Disables printing line numbers.

• Show only the matching part of the line:

  rg -o "regex_match"
  

  Prints only the substring that matched the regex, not the entire line.

• Show all matches on a single line:

  rg -Q "unique_id"
  

  Prints each match on its own line, even if the match spans multiple lines in the original file.

• Colorize output:

  rg --color=always "important_keyword"
  

  Forces colorization of the output. Useful when piping to other commands or redirecting to a file where you want ANSI color codes.

• Disable colorization:

  rg --color=never "plain_output"
  

  Disables colorization of the output.

Advanced Searching

• Search for a literal string, not a regex:

  rg -F "literal string with symbols *"
  

  Treats the search pattern as a fixed string, not a regular expression.

• Use a file containing patterns:

  rg -f patterns.txt
  

  Reads search patterns from the file patterns.txt, one pattern per line.

• Use a file containing file paths to search:

  rg -f file_list.txt
  

  Searches only in the files listed in file_list.txt, one path per line.

• Search in binary files:

  rg -a "binary_data_pattern"
  

  Processes binary files as if they were text. Use with caution as it might produce garbled output.

• Search for empty lines:

  rg ^$
  

  Finds all empty lines.

• Search for lines containing only whitespace:

  rg '^\s*$'
  

  Finds all lines that contain only whitespace characters.

Configuration

• Show the configuration ripgrep is using:

  rg --config
  

  Prints the configuration ripgrep is currently using, including loaded ignore files and command-line flags.

Common Patterns

• Find all TODOs in the project and show line numbers:

  rg -n "TODO"
  

• Search for a specific function definition in JavaScript files:

  rg -t js "function myFunction("
  

• Find all occurrences of a deprecated API call in Python code, excluding tests:

  rg "old_api_call" --glob '!tests/*' -t py
  

• List all files that contain the string "sensitive_info":

  rg -l "sensitive_info"
  

• Find all files containing "error" and pipe the list of files to xargs to delete them:

  rg -l "error" | xargs rm
  

  Caution: Use with extreme care!

• Search for a pattern and count the total number of matches:

  rg "pattern" | wc -l
  

• Search for a pattern, ignoring case, and show only matching files:

  rg -i -l "config_setting"
  

• Search for a specific pattern in markdown files and show context:

  rg -C 2 --glob '*.md' "important_note"
  

• Search for a pattern across all files, including hidden ones, but excluding a specific directory:

  rg -uu "debug_log" --glob '!logs/*'
  

Gotchas

• Default behavior with Git: ripgrep respects .gitignore by default. If you want to search files that are ignored by Git, you need to use the -u flags (-u, -uu, or -uuu).
• Binary files: By default, ripgrep skips binary files to avoid corrupting your terminal. If you need to search binary files, use the -a flag.
• Performance on huge directories: While ripgrep is fast, searching extremely large directories with many files might still take time. Using --glob to narrow down the search scope can help.
• Regex syntax: ripgrep uses Rust’s regex engine, which is PCRE-like. Most common regex patterns will work as expected, but be aware of subtle differences if you’re coming from a different regex engine.
• Glob syntax: ripgrep uses glob patterns for file path filtering. The syntax is generally intuitive (e.g., *.js, src/), but consult ripgrep’s documentation for advanced globbing features.
• Combining -u flags:
  • -u: Search hidden files, but respect ignore files.
  • -uu: Search hidden files and files that are ignored by ignore files.
  • -uuu: Search all files, including hidden and ignored files. This is the most comprehensive but slowest option.