-i performs the search case-insensitive (it's case-sensitive by default).When a match is found, besides the file path in which it was found, grep will also display the line number on which the pattern was found Grep has many options, but below I'll only list a few that you might find especially useful when trying to find all files containing specific text on Linux (besides those already mentioned above):
#Linux search for text in files recursive how to
You might also be interested in: How To Repeat A Command Every X Seconds On Linux If you don't want to search in the current folder, but in a specific folder, you can specify the path in which grep should look into, by adding it at the end of the command, like this: If you only want to list the filenames containing the exact whole word text (as opposed to the default partial word matching), and not things like texting, 123text, and so on, you'd need to append the -w (whole words) command line option, like this: If you require following all symbolic links, use -R instead of -r. r stands for recursive, reading all the files in the directory and its subdirectories. This includes strings like texting for example, because it contains our search pattern, text. This lists all the files in the current folder and subfolders containing text. To do this, you need to open the terminal, navigate to the folder where you want to perform the search, and run: Say you want to search for the word text (case-sensitive!) in all the files in the current directory and its subdirectories. Grep is a command-line utility which prints lines that match a given pattern, and should be installed by default. For this we'll use grep, a standard Unix program. exclude-dir=PATTERN directories that match PATTERN will be skipped.This article explains how to find all files containing specific text on Linux. exclude-from=FILE skip files matching any file pattern from FILE exclude=FILE_PATTERN skip files and directories matching FILE_PATTERN include=FILE_PATTERN search only files that match FILE_PATTERN R, -dereference-recursive Search files recursively and follow symlinks To list all switches details use grep -help command. grep -rlw -exclude-dir="*http*" -e "tecadmin" /var/logīelow is the frequently uses grep command switches. For example, do not search string files inside any folder having http in their name. You can also exclude some directoires to skip search inside it. grep -rlw -exclude="*.txt" -e "tecadmin" /var/log For example, do not search file ending with. You can exclude some files using –exclude option in command. If you want to exclude some files matching file name criteria. grep -rlw -include="*.log" -e "tecadmin" /var/log log extension in /var/log directory and its sub-directories. Below example command will search string “tecadmin” in files ending with. You can search strings in files matching the file name criteria. grep -rlw -e "tecadmin" -e "https" /var/log Below example will search strings “tecadmin” and “https” in all files in /var/log directory and its sub-directories. You can also specify multiple strings to search using -e switch. The below example command will search string “tecadmin” in all files in /var/log directory and its sub-directories. Syntax grep -rwl “search-string” /path/to/serch/dir 1. Alternatively, You can also also use the find command to search files with specific string. This tutorial uses the “grep” command to search strings in files. This tutorial will help you to search all files matching a string recursively. How to search a directory tree for all files containing specific text strings on Linux using the command line.