* Another common multi-line comment style. The first problem with this approach is that. * finds any number of any character, and \*/ finds the end of the expression. \* finds the start of the comment (note that the literal * needs to be escaped because * has a special meaning in regular expressions). When first attempting this problem, most people consider the regular expression: I found that it was difficult to write a regular expression that would find C style comments (the comments that start with /* and end with */) because my text editor does not implement the "non-greedy matching" feature of regular expressions.
#Grep regex log analizer tool for mac code
Upon occasion I want to examine each of the comments in my source code and either edit them or remove them. This feature is allows one to find text based on complex patterns rather than based just on literals. When I'm programming, I like to use an editor with regular expression search and replace. Terminal displays only the final results of the two commands combined.Many text editors have advanced find (and replace) features. The first part of the command looks for the word Walden in any files in the current directory, and the second runs another grep command on the results of the first command. You’d use this command: grep Walden * | grep Pond. Say you want to find files containing both Walden and Pondon the same line. Using the pipe ( |), a Unix redirection operator, you can tell grep to search for more than one string. (Note that you can also combine options-for instance, grep -rl Walden searches subfolders and returns only a list of files containing the word Walden. Get started with the helpful options listed here. The grep command has several options that let you fine-tune the way you search for text, as well as the kind of results grep returns. Returns the names of files containing Walden and the number of hits in each file. Search for Walden Pond, and it returns all files that contain either Walden or Pond.įinds Walden in any file in any subfolder of ~/Documents.įinds only live does not find liver, lives, lived, and so on.įinds files containing Walden, but returns only a list of file names. The Finder also lacks grep’s flexibility: while it’s good for searching for a specific word (for example, Walden ), it becomes less useful when you want to find a longer string. (Press Command-F in the Finder, select Content in the Search For Items Whose pop-up menu, and enter a search string in the text field.) But the Finder searches only inside files it has indexed, and it ignores hidden system files unless you expressly choose to search for visible and invisible files and add your System folder to the search. The Finder offers a similar function: the Find By Content search. (You can also use grep within certain text editors.) You can use grep easily from the command line to search for specific text, and you’ll get results in seconds. But the grep command is a time-saver when you’re trying to find what’s inside files.
It’s easy to find files with the Finder when you know their names. Understanding grep is the first step in joining the guild of command-line wizards. With this workhorse of the command line, you can quickly find text hidden in your files. It’s fast, it’s powerful, and its very name suggests that it does something technical: grep.
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