ripgrepripgrep recursively searches directories for a regex pattern while respecting your gitignore

ripgrep

ripgrep is a blazingly fast line-oriented search tool that recursively searches directories for regex patterns while automatically respecting your gitignore rules. Written in Rust, it replaces traditional search tools like grep, ack, and The Silver Searcher with superior performance and modern defaults that skip hidden files, binaries, and ignored content out of the box.

Key Features

• Gitignore-aware searching : Automatically respects .gitignore, .ignore, and .rgignore rules to skip irrelevant files
• Lightning-fast performance : Consistently outperforms grep, ack, and The Silver Searcher in benchmarks by 2-30x margins
• Smart automatic filtering : Excludes hidden files and binary files by default while supporting manual file type selection
• Full Unicode support : Maintains high performance with complete Unicode regex support, unlike traditional grep
• Cross-platform binaries : First-class support for Windows, macOS, and Linux with pre-built releases available
• Advanced regex capabilities : Optional PCRE2 support for look-around and backreferences when needed

Use Cases

• Code searching : Quickly find patterns across large codebases while respecting project ignore rules
• Log file analysis : Search through massive log files efficiently with contextual results and pattern highlighting
• Codebase refactoring : Locate and validate code changes across entire projects with file type filtering
• Development workflows : Integrate into editor plugins and development tools for fast in-project searching

Who Is It For

ripgrep is ideal for developers, system administrators, and power users who need fast, intelligent code and file searching. It's especially valuable for those working with large codebases, monorepos, or projects with complex gitignore structures who want modern defaults and superior performance out of the box.