DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / ugrep / ug.1.en
UGREP(1) User Commands UGREP(1)

ugrep, ug -- file pattern searcher

ugrep [OPTIONS] [-A NUM] [-B NUM] [-C NUM] [-y] [-Q|PATTERN] [-f FILE]
[-e PATTERN] [-N PATTERN] [-t TYPES] [-g GLOBS] [--sort[=KEY]]
[--color[=WHEN]|--colour[=WHEN]] [--pager[=COMMAND]] [FILE ...]

The ugrep utility searches any given input files, selecting lines that match one or more patterns. By default, a pattern matches an input line if the regular expression (RE) matches the input line. A pattern matches multiple input lines if the RE in the pattern matches one or more newlines in the input. An empty pattern matches every line. Each input line that matches at least one of the patterns is written to the standard output.

The ug command is intended for interactive searching, using a .ugrep configuration file located in the working directory or home directory, see CONFIGURATION. ug is equivalent to ugrep --config and sorts files by name by default.

ugrep accepts input of various encoding formats and normalizes the output to UTF-8. When a UTF byte order mark is present in the input, the input is automatically normalized; otherwise, ugrep assumes the input is ASCII, UTF-8, or raw binary. An input encoding format may be specified with option --encoding.

If no FILE arguments are specified and standard input is read from a terminal, recursive searches are performed as if -r is specified. To force reading from standard input, specify `-' as a FILE argument.

Directories specified as FILE arguments are searched without recursing deeper into subdirectories, unless -R, -r, or -2...-9 is specified to search subdirectories.

Hidden files and directories are ignored in recursive searches. Option -. (--hidden) includes hidden files and directories in recursive searches.

A query interface is opened with -Q (--query) to interactively specify search patterns and view search results. Note that a PATTERN argument cannot be specified in this case. To specify one or more patterns with -Q to start searching, use -e PATTERN.

Option -f FILE matches patterns specified in FILE. If FILE is large and defines complex regular expression patterns, then option -P (Perl matching) may improve performance (this omits POSIX DFA construction.)

ugrep --help WHAT displays help on options related to WHAT; --help format displays help on --format and --replace formatting; --help regex displays help on regular expression syntax and conventions; --help globs displays help on glob patterns to select files to search; --help fuzzy displays help on fuzzy (approximate) searching.

The following options are available:

Output NUM lines of trailing context after matching lines. Places a --group-separator between contiguous groups of matches. If -o is specified, output the match with context to fit NUM columns after the match or shortens the match. See also options -B, -C and -y.
Process a binary file as if it were text. This is equivalent to the --binary-files=text option. This option might output binary garbage to the terminal, which can have problematic consequences if the terminal driver interprets some of it as commands.
Specify additional patterns to match. Patterns must be specified with -e. Each -e PATTERN following this option is considered an alternative pattern to match, i.e. each -e is interpreted as an OR pattern. For example, -e A -e B --and -e C -e D matches lines with (`A' or `B') and (`C' or `D'). Note that multiple -e PATTERN are alternations that bind more tightly together than --and. Option --stats displays the search patterns applied. See also options --not, --andnot, --bool, --files and --lines.
Combines --and --not. See also options --and, --not and --bool.
Output NUM lines of leading context before matching lines. Places a --group-separator between contiguous groups of matches. If -o is specified, output the match with context to fit NUM columns before the match or shortens the match. See also options -A, -C and -y.
The offset in bytes of a matched line is displayed in front of the respective matched line. If -u is specified, displays the offset for each pattern matched on the same line. Byte offsets are exact for ASCII, UTF-8 and raw binary input. Otherwise, the byte offset in the UTF-8 normalized input is displayed.
Controls searching and reporting pattern matches in binary files. TYPE can be `binary', `without-match`, `text`, `hex` and `with-hex'. The default is `binary' to search binary files and to report a match without displaying the match. `without-match' ignores binary matches. `text' treats all binary files as text, which might output binary garbage to the terminal, which can have problematic consequences if the terminal driver interprets some of it as commands. `hex' reports all matches in hexadecimal. `with-hex' only reports binary matches in hexadecimal, leaving text matches alone. A match is considered binary when matching a zero byte or invalid UTF. Short options are -a, -I, -U, -W and -X.
Specifies Boolean query patterns. A Boolean query pattern is composed of `AND', `OR', `NOT' operators and grouping with `(' `)'. Spacing between subpatterns is the same as `AND', `|' is the same as `OR' and a `-' is the same as `NOT'. The `OR' operator binds more tightly than `AND'. For example, --bool 'A|B C|D' matches lines with (`A' or `B') and (`C' or `D'), --bool 'A -B' matches lines with `A' and not `B'. Operators `AND', `OR', `NOT' require proper spacing. For example, --bool 'A OR B AND C OR D' matches lines with (`A' or `B') and (`C' or `D'), --bool 'A AND NOT B' matches lines with `A' without `B'. Quoted subpatterns are matched literally as strings. For example, --bool 'A "AND"|"OR"' matches lines with `A' and also either `AND' or `OR'. Parenthesis are used for grouping. For example, --bool '(A B)|C' matches lines with `A' and `B', or lines with `C'. Note that all subpatterns in a Boolean query pattern are regular expressions, unless -F is specified. Options -E, -F, -G, -P and -Z can be combined with --bool to match subpatterns as strings or regular expressions (-E is the default.) This option does not apply to -f FILE patterns. Option --stats displays the search patterns applied. See also options --and, --andnot, --not, --files and --lines.
Adds a line break between results from different files. This option is enabled by --pretty when the output is sent to a terminal.
Output NUM lines of leading and trailing context surrounding each matching line. Places a --group-separator between contiguous groups of matches. If -o is specified, output the match with context to fit NUM columns before and after the match or shortens the match. See also options -A, -B and -y.
Only a count of selected lines is written to standard output. If -o or -u is specified, counts the number of patterns matched. If -v is specified, counts the number of non-matching lines. If --tree is specified, outputs directories in a tree-like format.
Mark up the matching text with the expression stored in the GREP_COLOR or GREP_COLORS environment variable. WHEN can be `never', `always', or `auto', where `auto' marks up matches only when output on a terminal. The default is `auto'.
Use COLORS to mark up text. COLORS is a colon-separated list of one or more parameters `sl=' (selected line), `cx=' (context line), `mt=' (matched text), `ms=' (match selected), `mc=' (match context), `fn=' (file name), `ln=' (line number), `cn=' (column number), `bn=' (byte offset), `se=' (separator). Parameter values are ANSI SGR color codes or `k' (black), `r' (red), `g' (green), `y' (yellow), `b' (blue), `m' (magenta), `c' (cyan), `w' (white). Upper case specifies background colors. A `+' qualifies a color as bright. A foreground and a background color may be combined with font properties `n' (normal), `f' (faint), `h' (highlight), `i' (invert), `u' (underline). Parameter `hl' enables file name hyperlinks. Parameter `rv' reverses the `sl=' and `cx=' parameters when option -v is specified. Selectively overrides GREP_COLORS.
Use configuration FILE. The default FILE is `.ugrep'. The working directory is checked first for FILE, then the home directory. The options specified in the configuration FILE are parsed first, followed by the remaining options specified on the command line.
Confirm actions in -Q query mode. The default is confirm.
Output file matches in C++. See also options --format and -u.
Output file matches in CSV. If -H, -n, -k, or -b is specified, additional values are output. See also options --format and -u.
If an input file is a device, FIFO or socket, use ACTION to process it. By default, ACTION is `skip', which means that devices are silently skipped. If ACTION is `read', devices read just as if they were ordinary files.
If an input file is a directory, use ACTION to process it. By default, ACTION is `skip', i.e., silently skip directories unless specified on the command line. If ACTION is `read', warn when directories are read as input. If ACTION is `recurse', read all files under each directory, recursively, following symbolic links only if they are on the command line. This is equivalent to the -r option. If ACTION is `dereference-recurse', read all files under each directory, recursively, following symbolic links. This is equivalent to the -R option.
Restrict recursive searches from MIN to MAX directory levels deep, where -1 (--depth=1) searches the specified path without recursing into subdirectories. Note that -3 -5, -3-5, and -35 search 3 to 5 levels deep. Enables -r if -R or -r is not specified.
Dot `.' in regular expressions matches anything, including newline. Note that `.*' matches all input and should not be used.
Interpret patterns as extended regular expressions (EREs). This is the default.
Specify a PATTERN used during the search of the input: an input line is selected if it matches any of the specified patterns. Note that longer patterns take precedence over shorter patterns. This option is most useful when multiple -e options are used to specify multiple patterns, when a pattern begins with a dash (`-'), to specify a pattern after option -f or after the FILE arguments.
The encoding format of the input. The default ENCODING is binary and UTF-8 which are the same. Note that option -U specifies binary PATTERN matching (text matching is the default.) ENCODING can be: `binary', `ASCII', `UTF-8', `UTF-16', `UTF-16BE', `UTF-16LE', `UTF-32', `UTF-32BE', `UTF-32LE', `LATIN1', `ISO-8859-1', `ISO-8859-2', `ISO-8859-3', `ISO-8859-4', `ISO-8859-5', `ISO-8859-6', `ISO-8859-7', `ISO-8859-8', `ISO-8859-9', `ISO-8859-10', `ISO-8859-11', `ISO-8859-13', `ISO-8859-14', `ISO-8859-15', `ISO-8859-16', `MAC', `MACROMAN', `EBCDIC', `CP437', `CP850', `CP858', `CP1250', `CP1251', `CP1252', `CP1253', `CP1254', `CP1255', `CP1256', `CP1257', `CP1258', `KOI8-R', `KOI8-U', `KOI8-RU'.
Skip files whose name matches GLOB using wildcard matching, same as -g ^GLOB. GLOB can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When GLOB contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. When GLOB ends with a `/', directories are excluded as if --exclude-dir is specified. Otherwise files are excluded. Note that --exclude patterns take priority over --include patterns. GLOB should be quoted to prevent shell globbing. This option may be repeated.
Exclude directories whose name matches GLOB from recursive searches, same as -g ^GLOB/. GLOB can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When GLOB contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. Note that --exclude-dir patterns take priority over --include-dir patterns. GLOB should be quoted to prevent shell globbing. This option may be repeated.
Read the globs from FILE and skip files and directories whose name matches one or more globs. A glob can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When a glob contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. When a glob ends with a `/', directories are excluded as if --exclude-dir is specified. Otherwise files are excluded. A glob starting with a `!' overrides previously-specified exclusions by including matching files. Lines starting with a `#' and empty lines in FILE are ignored. When FILE is a `-', standard input is read. This option may be repeated.
Exclude file systems specified by MOUNTS from recursive searches, MOUNTS is a comma-separated list of mount points or pathnames of directories on file systems. Note that --exclude-fs mounts take priority over --include-fs mounts. This option may be repeated.
Interpret pattern as a set of fixed strings, separated by newlines, any of which is to be matched. This makes ugrep behave as fgrep. If a PATTERN is specified, or -e PATTERN or -N PATTERN, then this option has no effect on -f FILE patterns to allow -f FILE patterns to narrow or widen the scope of the PATTERN search.
Read newline-separated patterns from FILE. White space in patterns is significant. Empty lines in FILE are ignored. If FILE does not exist, the GREP_PATH environment variable is used as path to FILE. If that fails, looks for FILE in /usr/local/share/ugrep/patterns. When FILE is a `-', standard input is read. Empty files contain no patterns; thus nothing is matched. This option may be repeated.
Filter files through the specified COMMANDS first before searching. COMMANDS is a comma-separated list of `exts:command [option ...]', where `exts' is a comma-separated list of filename extensions and `command' is a filter utility. The filter utility should read from standard input and write to standard output. Files matching one of `exts' are filtered. When `exts' is `*', files with non-matching extensions are filtered. One or more `option' separated by spacing may be specified, which are passed verbatim to the command. A `%' as `option' expands into the pathname to search. For example, --filter='pdf:pdftotext % -' searches PDF files. The `%' expands into a `-' when searching standard input. Option --label=.ext may be used to specify extension `ext' when searching standard input.
Associate LABEL with files whose signature "magic bytes" match the MAGIC regex pattern. Only files that have no filename extension are labeled, unless +LABEL is specified. When LABEL matches an extension specified in --filter=COMMANDS, the corresponding command is invoked. This option may be repeated.
Output FORMAT-formatted matches. For example --format='%f:%n:%O%~' outputs matching lines `%O' with filename `%f` and line number `%n' followed by a newline `%~'. If -P is specified, FORMAT may include `%1' to `%9', `%[NUM]#' and `%[NAME]#' to output group captures. A `%%' outputs `%'. See `ugrep --help format' and `man ugrep' section FORMAT for details. When option -o is specified, option -u is also enabled. Context options -A, -B, -C and -y are ignored.
Spacing (blanks and tabs) in regular expressions are ignored.
Interpret patterns as basic regular expressions (BREs), i.e. make ugrep behave as traditional grep.
Search only files whose name matches the specified comma-separated list of GLOBS, same as --include='glob' for each `glob' in GLOBS. When a `glob' is preceded by a `!' or a `^', skip files whose name matches `glob', same as --exclude='glob'. When `glob' contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. When `glob' ends with a `/', directories are matched, same as --include-dir='glob' and --exclude-dir='glob'. A leading `/' matches the working directory. This option may be repeated and may be combined with options -M, -O and -t to expand searches. See `ugrep --help globs' and `man ugrep' section GLOBBING for details.
Use SEP as a group separator for context options -A, -B and -C. The default is a double hyphen (`--').
Always print the filename with output lines. This is the default when there is more than one file to search.
Never print filenames with output lines. This is the default when there is only one file (or only standard input) to search.
Group matches per file. Adds a heading and a line break between results from different files. This option is enabled by --pretty when the output is sent to a terminal.
Display a help message, specifically on WHAT when specified. In addition, `--help format' displays an overview of FORMAT fields, `--help regex' displays an overview of regular expressions and `--help globs' displays an overview of glob syntax and conventions.
Output matches in 1 to 8 columns of 8 hexadecimal octets. The default is 2 columns or 16 octets per line. Option `a' outputs a `*' for all hex lines that are identical to the previous hex line, `b' removes all space breaks, `c' removes the character column, `h' removes hex spacing, `A' includes up to NUM hex lines after the match, `B' includes up to NUM hex lines before the match and `C' includes up to NUM hex lines. When NUM is omitted, the matching line is included in the output. See also options -U, -W and -X.
Search hidden files and directories.
Hyperlinks are enabled for file names when colors are enabled. Same as --colors=hl. When PREFIX is specified, replaces file:// with PREFIX:// in the hyperlink. A `+' includes the line number in the hyperlink and when option -k is specified, the column number.
Ignore matches in binary files. This option is equivalent to the --binary-files=without-match option.
Perform case insensitive matching. By default, ugrep is case sensitive. By default, this option applies to ASCII letters only. Use options -P and -i for Unicode case insensitive matching.
Ignore files and directories matching the globs in each FILE that is encountered in recursive searches. The default FILE is `.gitignore'. Matching files and directories located in the directory of a FILE's location and in directories below are ignored by temporarily extending the --exclude and --exclude-dir globs, as if --exclude-from=FILE is locally enforced. Globbing syntax is the same as the --exclude-from=FILE gitignore syntax; directories are excluded when the glob ends in a `/', same as git. Files and directories explicitly specified as command line arguments are never ignored. This option may be repeated with additional files.
Search only files whose name matches GLOB using wildcard matching, same as -g GLOB. GLOB can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When GLOB contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. When GLOB ends with a `/', directories are included as if --include-dir is specified. Otherwise files are included. Note that --exclude patterns take priority over --include patterns. GLOB should be quoted to prevent shell globbing. This option may be repeated.
Only directories whose name matches GLOB are included in recursive searches, same as -g GLOB/. GLOB can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When GLOB contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. Note that --exclude-dir patterns take priority over --include-dir patterns. GLOB should be quoted to prevent shell globbing. This option may be repeated.
Read the globs from FILE and search only files and directories whose name matches one or more globs. A glob can use **, *, ?, and [...] as wildcards and \ to quote a wildcard or backslash character literally. When a glob contains a `/', full pathnames are matched. Otherwise basenames are matched. When a glob ends with a `/', directories are included as if --include-dir is specified. Otherwise files are included. A glob starting with a `!' overrides previously-specified inclusions by excluding matching files. Lines starting with a `#' and empty lines in FILE are ignored. When FILE is a `-', standard input is read. This option may be repeated.
Only file systems specified by MOUNTS are included in recursive searches. MOUNTS is a comma-separated list of mount points or pathnames of directories on file systems. --include-fs=. restricts recursive searches to the file system of the working directory only. Note that --exclude-fs mounts take priority over --include-fs mounts. This option may be repeated.
Specifies the number of threads spawned to search files. By default an optimum number of threads is spawned to search files simultaneously. -J1 disables threading: files are searched in the same order as specified.
Perform case insensitive matching like option -i, unless a pattern is specified with a literal ASCII upper case letter.
Output file matches in JSON. If -H, -n, -k, or -b is specified, additional values are output. See also options --format and -u.
Start searching at line MIN, stop at line MAX when specified.
The column number of a matched pattern is displayed in front of the respective matched line, starting at column 1. Tabs are expanded when columns are counted, see also option --tabs.
Only the names of files not containing selected lines are written to standard output. Pathnames are listed once per file searched. If the standard input is searched, the string ``(standard input)'' is written. If --tree is specified, outputs directories in a tree-like format.
Only the names of files containing selected lines are written to standard output. ugrep will only search a file until a match has been found, making searches potentially less expensive. Pathnames are listed once per file searched. If the standard input is searched, the string ``(standard input)'' is written. If --tree is specified, outputs directories in a tree-like format.
Displays the LABEL value when input is read from standard input where a file name would normally be printed in the output. Associates a filename extension with standard input when LABEL has a suffix. The default value is `(standard input)'.
Force output to be line buffered instead of block buffered.
Apply Boolean queries to match lines, the opposite of --files. This is the default Boolean query mode to match specific lines.
Only files matching the signature pattern MAGIC are searched. The signature "magic bytes" at the start of a file are compared to the MAGIC regex pattern. When matching, the file will be searched. When MAGIC is preceded by a `!' or a `^', skip files with matching MAGIC signatures. This option may be repeated and may be combined with options -O and -t to expand the search. Every file on the search path is read, making searches potentially more expensive.
Require MIN matches, stop after MAX matches when specified. Output MIN to MAX matches. For example, -m1 outputs the first match and -cm1, (with a comma) counts non-zero matches. See also option -K.
Match all input. Same as specifying an empty pattern to search.
Restrict the number of files matched to NUM. Note that --sort or -J1 may be specified to produce replicable results. If --sort is specified, the number of threads spawned is limited to NUM.
Use memory maps to search files. By default, memory maps are used under certain conditions to improve performance. When MAX is specified, use up to MAX mmap memory per thread.
Specify a negative PATTERN used during the search of the input: an input line is selected only if it matches the specified patterns unless it matches the negative PATTERN. Same as -e (?^PATTERN). Negative pattern matches are essentially removed before any other patterns are matched. Note that longer patterns take precedence over shorter patterns. This option may be repeated.
Each output line is preceded by its relative line number in the file, starting at line 1. The line number counter is reset for each file processed.
Removes the group separator line from the output for context options -A, -B and -C.
Specifies that PATTERN should not match. Note that -e A --not -e B matches lines with `A' or lines without a `B'. To match lines with `A' that have no `B', specify -e A --andnot -e B. Option --stats displays the search patterns applied. See also options --and, --andnot, --bool, --files and --lines.
Search only files whose filename extensions match the specified comma-separated list of EXTENSIONS, same as --include='*.ext' for each `ext' in EXTENSIONS. When an `ext' is preceded by a `!' or a `^', skip files whose filename extensions matches `ext', same as --exclude='*.ext'. This option may be repeated and may be combined with options -g, -M and -t to expand the recursive search.
Output only the matching part of lines. Output additional matches on the same line with `+' as the field separator. When multiple lines match a pattern, output the matching lines with `|' as the field separator. If -A, -B or -C is specified, fits the match and its context on a line within the specified number of columns.
The line number of the matching line in the file is output without displaying the match. The line number counter is reset for each file processed.
Apply Boolean queries to match files, the opposite of --lines. A file matches if all Boolean conditions are satisfied by the lines matched in the file. For example, --files -e A --and -e B -e C --andnot -e D matches a file if some lines match `A' and some lines match (`B' or `C') and no line in the file matches `D'. May also be specified as --files --bool 'A B|C -D'. Option -v cannot be specified with --files. See also options --and, --andnot, --not, --bool and --lines.
Interpret PATTERN as a Perl regular expression using PCRE2. Note that Perl pattern matching differs from the default grep POSIX pattern matching.
If -R or -r is specified, no symbolic links are followed, even when they are specified on the command line.
When output is sent to the terminal, uses COMMAND to page through the output. The default COMMAND is `less -R'. Enables --heading and --line-buffered.
When output is sent to a terminal, enables --color, --heading, -n, --sort, --tree and -T when not explicitly disabled.
Query mode: user interface to perform interactive searches. This mode requires an ANSI capable terminal. An optional DELAY argument may be specified to reduce or increase the response time to execute searches after the last key press, in increments of 100ms, where the default is 5 (0.5s delay). No whitespace may be given between -Q and its argument DELAY. Initial patterns may be specified with -e PATTERN, i.e. a PATTERN argument requires option -e. Press F1 or CTRL-Z to view the help screen. Press F2 or CTRL-Y to invoke a command to view or edit the file shown at the top of the screen. The command can be specified with option --view, or defaults to environment variable PAGER if defined, or EDITOR. Press Tab and Shift-Tab to navigate directories and to select a file to search. Press Enter to select lines to output. Press ALT-l for option -l to list files, ALT-n for -n, etc. Non-option commands include ALT-] to increase fuzziness and ALT-} to increase context. Enables --heading. See also options --confirm and --view.
Quiet mode: suppress all output. ugrep will only search until a match has been found.
Recursively read all files under each directory. Follow all symbolic links, unlike -r. See also option --sort.
Recursively read all files under each directory, following symbolic links only if they are specified on the command line. Note that when no FILE arguments are specified and input is read from a terminal, recursive searches are performed as if -r is specified. See also option --sort.
Replace matching patterns in the output by the specified FORMAT with `%' fields. If -P is specified, FORMAT may include `%1' to `%9', `%[NUM]#' and `%[NAME]#' to output group captures. A `%%' outputs `%' and `%~' outputs a newline. See option --format, `ugrep --help format' and `man ugrep' section FORMAT for details.
If -r is specified, all symbolic links are followed, like -R. The default is not to follow symbolic links to directories.
Silent mode: nonexistent and unreadable files are ignored, i.e. their error messages and warnings are suppressed.
Save configuration FILE. By default `.ugrep' is saved. If FILE is a `-', write the configuration to standard output.
Use SEP as field separator between file name, line number, column number, byte offset and the matched line. The default is a colon (`:'), a plus (`+') for additional matches on the same line, and a bar (`|') for multi-line pattern matches.
Displays matching files in the order specified by KEY in recursive searches. Normally the ug command sorts by name whereas the ugrep batch command displays matches in no particular order to improve performance. The sort KEY can be `name' to sort by pathname (default), `best' to sort by best match with option -Z (sort by best match requires two passes over files, which is expensive), `size' to sort by file size, `used' to sort by last access time, `changed' to sort by last modification time and `created' to sort by creation time. Sorting is reversed with `rname', `rbest', `rsize', `rused', `rchanged', or `rcreated'. Archive contents are not sorted. Subdirectories are sorted and displayed after matching files. FILE arguments are searched in the same order as specified.
Output statistics on the number of files and directories searched and the inclusion and exclusion constraints applied.
Add a tab space to separate the file name, line number, column number and byte offset with the matched line.
Search only files associated with TYPES, a comma-separated list of file types. Each file type corresponds to a set of filename extensions passed to option -O and filenames passed to option -g. For capitalized file types, the search is expanded to include files with matching file signature magic bytes, as if passed to option -M. When a type is preceded by a `!' or a `^', excludes files of the specified type. This option may be repeated. The possible file types can be (where -tlist displays a detailed list): `actionscript', `ada', `asm', `asp', `aspx', `autoconf', `automake', `awk', `Awk', `basic', `batch', `bison', `c', `c++', `clojure', `cpp', `csharp', `css', `csv', `dart', `Dart', `delphi', `elisp', `elixir', `erlang', `fortran', `gif', `Gif', `go', `groovy', `gsp', `haskell', `html', `jade', `java', `jpeg', `Jpeg', `js', `json', `jsp', `julia', `kotlin', `less', `lex', `lisp', `lua', `m4', `make', `markdown', `matlab', `node', `Node', `objc', `objc++', `ocaml', `parrot', `pascal', `pdf', `Pdf', `perl', `Perl', `php', `Php', `png', `Png', `prolog', `python', `Python', `r', `rpm', `Rpm', `rst', `rtf', `Rtf', `ruby', `Ruby', `rust', `scala', `scheme', `shell', `Shell', `smalltalk', `sql', `svg', `swift', `tcl', `tex', `text', `tiff', `Tiff', `tt', `typescript', `verilog', `vhdl', `vim', `xml', `Xml', `yacc', `yaml'.
Set the tab size to NUM to expand tabs for option -k. The value of NUM may be 1, 2, 4, or 8. The default tab size is 8.
Disables colors to mark up matches with TAG. END marks the end of a match if specified, otherwise TAG. The default is `___'.
Output directories with matching files in a tree-like format when options -c, -l or -L are used. This option is enabled by --pretty when the output is sent to a terminal.
Disables Unicode matching for binary file matching, forcing PATTERN to match bytes, not Unicode characters. For example, -U '\xa3' matches byte A3 (hex) instead of the Unicode code point U+00A3 represented by the UTF-8 sequence C2 A3. See also option --dotall.
Do not group multiple pattern matches on the same matched line. Output the matched line again for each additional pattern match, using `+' as a separator.
Display version with linked libraries and exit.
Selected lines are those not matching any of the specified patterns.
Use COMMAND to view/edit a file in query mode when pressing CTRL-Y.
Output binary matches in hexadecimal, leaving text matches alone. This option is equivalent to the --binary-files=with-hex option with --hexdump=2C. To omit the matching line from the hex output, combine option --hexdump with option -W. See also option -U.
The PATTERN is searched for as a word, such that the matching text is preceded by a non-word character and is followed by a non-word character. Word characters are letters, digits and the underscore. With option -P, word characters are Unicode letters, digits and underscore. This option has no effect if -x is also specified. If a PATTERN is specified, or -e PATTERN or -N PATTERN, then this option has no effect on -f FILE patterns to allow -f FILE patterns to narrow or widen the scope of the PATTERN search.
Truncate the output to NUM visible characters per line. The width of the terminal window is used if NUM is not specified. Note that double wide characters in the output may result in wider lines.
Output matches in hexadecimal. This option is equivalent to the --binary-files=hex option with --hexdump=2C. To omit the matching line from the hex output, use option --hexdump instead of -X. See also option -U.
Select only those matches that exactly match the whole line, as if the patterns are surrounded by ^ and $. If a PATTERN is specified, or -e PATTERN or -N PATTERN, then this option has no effect on -f FILE patterns to allow -f FILE patterns to narrow or widen the scope of the PATTERN search.
Output file matches in XML. If -H, -n, -k, or -b is specified, additional values are output. See also options --format and -u.
Permits empty matches. By default, empty matches are disabled, unless a pattern begins with `^' or ends with `$'. With this option, empty-matching patterns such as x? and x*, match all input, not only lines containing the character `x'.
Any line is output (passthru). Non-matching lines are output as context with a `-' separator. See also options -A, -B and -C.
Fuzzy mode: report approximate pattern matches within MAX errors. The default is -Z1: one deletion, insertion or substitution is allowed. If `+`, `-' and/or `~' is specified, then `+' allows insertions, `-' allows deletions and `~' allows substitutions. For example, -Z+~3 allows up to three insertions or substitutions, but no deletions. If `best' is specified, then only the best matching lines are output with the lowest cost per file. Option -Zbest requires two passes over a file and cannot be used with standard input or Boolean queries. Option --sort=best orders matching files by best match. The first character of an approximate match always matches a character at the beginning of the pattern. To fuzzy match the first character, replace it with a `.' or `.?'. Option -U applies fuzzy matching to ASCII and bytes instead of Unicode text. No whitespace may be given between -Z and its argument.
Decompress files to search, when compressed. Archives (.cpio, .pax, .tar and .zip) and compressed archives (e.g. .taz, .tgz, .tpz, .tbz, .tbz2, .tb2, .tz2, .tlz, .txz, .tzst) are searched and matching pathnames of files in archives are output in braces. If -g, -O, -M, or -t is specified, searches files stored in archives whose filenames match globs, match filename extensions, match file signature magic bytes, or match file types, respectively. Supported compression formats: gzip (.gz), compress (.Z), zip, bzip2 (requires suffix .bz, .bz2, .bzip2, .tbz, .tbz2, .tb2, .tz2), lzma and xz (requires suffix .lzma, .tlz, .xz, .txz), lz4 (requires suffix .lz4), zstd (requires suffix .zst, .zstd, .tzst).
When used with option -z (--decompress), searches the contents of compressed files and archives stored within archives by up to NUM recursive expansions. The default --zmax=1 only permits searching uncompressed files stored in cpio, pax, tar and zip archives; compressed files and archives are detected as binary files and are effectively ignored. Specify --zmax=2 to search compressed files and archives stored in cpio, pax, tar and zip archives. NUM may range from 1 to 99 for up to 99 decompression and de-archiving steps. Increasing NUM values gradually degrades performance.
-0, --null
Output a zero-byte (NUL) after the file name. This option can be used with commands such as `find -print0' and `xargs -0' to process arbitrary file names.

A `--' signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters are FILE arguments, allowing filenames to begin with a `-' character.

Long options may start with `--no-' to disable, when applicable.

The regular expression pattern syntax is an extended form of the POSIX ERE syntax. For an overview of the syntax see README.md or visit:

https://github.com/Genivia/ugrep

Note that `.' matches any non-newline character. Pattern `\n' matches a newline character. Multiple lines may be matched with patterns that match one or more newline characters.

The ugrep utility exits with one of the following values:

0
One or more lines were selected.
1
No lines were selected.
>1
An error occurred.

If -q or --quiet or --silent is used and a line is selected, the exit status is 0 even if an error occurred.

The ug command is intended for context-dependent interactive searching and is equivalent to the ugrep --config command to load the default configuration file `.ugrep' when present in the working directory or in the home directory.

A configuration file contains `NAME=VALUE' pairs per line, where `NAME` is the name of a long option (without `--') and `=VALUE' is an argument, which is optional and may be omitted depending on the option. Empty lines and lines starting with a `#' are ignored.

The --config=FILE option and its abbreviated form ---FILE load the specified configuration file located in the working directory or, when not found, located in the home directory. An error is produced when FILE is not found or cannot be read.

Command line options are parsed in the following order: the configuration file is loaded first, followed by the remaining options and arguments on the command line.

The --save-config option saves a `.ugrep' configuration file to the working directory with a subset of the current options. The --save-config=FILE option saves the configuration to FILE. The configuration is written to standard output when FILE is a `-'.

Globbing is used by options -g, --include, --include-dir, --include-from, --exclude, --exclude-dir, --exclude-from and --ignore-files to match pathnames and basenames in recursive searches. Glob arguments for these options should be quoted to prevent shell globbing.

Globbing supports gitignore syntax and the corresponding matching rules, except that a glob normally matches files but not directories. If a glob ends in a path separator `/', then it matches directories but not files, as if --include-dir or --exclude-dir is specified. When a glob contains a path separator `/', the full pathname is matched. Otherwise the basename of a file or directory is matched. For example, *.h matches foo.h and bar/foo.h. bar/*.h matches bar/foo.h but not foo.h and not bar/bar/foo.h. Use a leading `/' to force /*.h to match foo.h but not bar/foo.h.

When a glob starts with a `^' or a `!' as in -g^GLOB, the match is negated. Likewise, a `!' (but not a `^') may be used with globs in the files specified --include-from, --exclude-from, and --ignore-files to negate the glob match. Empty lines or lines starting with a `#' are ignored.

Glob Syntax and Conventions

*
Matches anything except /.
?
Matches any one character except /.
[abc-e]
Matches one character a,b,c,d,e.
[^abc-e]
Matches one character not a,b,c,d,e,/.
[!abc-e]
Matches one character not a,b,c,d,e,/.
/
When used at the start of a glob, matches if pathname has no /. When used at the end of a glob, matches directories only.
**/
Matches zero or more directories.
/**
When used at the end of a glob, matches everything after the /.
\?
Matches a ? or any other character specified after the backslash.

Glob Matching Examples

*
Matches a, b, x/a, x/y/b
Matches a, x/a, x/y/a, but not b, x/b, a/a/b
/*
Matches a, b, but not x/a, x/b, x/y/a
/a
Matches a, but not x/a, x/y/a
Matches axb, ayb, but not a, b, ab, a/b
Matches axb, ayb but not a, b, azb
Matches aab, abb, acb, azb, but not a, b, a3b, aAb, aZb
Matches aab, abb, acb, azb, but not a, b, axb, ayb
Matches a3b, aAb, aZb but not a, b, aab, abb, acb, azb
Matches a/x/b, a/y/b, but not a/b, a/x/y/b
**/a
Matches a, x/a, x/y/a, but not b, x/b.
Matches a/b, a/x/b, a/x/y/b, but not x/a/b, a/b/x
Matches a/x, a/y, a/x/y, but not a, b/x
Matches a?b, but not a, b, ab, axb, a/b

Note that exclude glob patterns take priority over include glob patterns when specified with options -g, --exclude, --exclude-dir, --include and include-dir.

Glob patterns specified with prefix `!' in any of the files associated with --include-from, --exclude-from and --ignore-files will negate a previous glob match. That is, any matching file or directory excluded by a previous glob pattern specified in the files associated with --exclude-from or --ignore-file will become included again. Likewise, any matching file or directory included by a previous glob pattern specified in the files associated with --include-from will become excluded again.

May be used to specify a file path to pattern files. The file path is used by option -f to open a pattern file, when the pattern file does not exist.
May be used to specify ANSI SGR parameters to highlight matches when option --color is used, e.g. 1;35;40 shows pattern matches in bold magenta text on a black background. Deprecated in favor of GREP_COLORS, but still supported.
GREP_COLORS
May be used to specify ANSI SGR parameters to highlight matches and other attributes when option --color is used. Its value is a colon-separated list of ANSI SGR parameters that defaults to cx=33:mt=1;31:fn=1;35:ln=1;32:cn=1;32:bn=1;32:se=36. The mt=, ms=, and mc= capabilities of GREP_COLORS take priority over GREP_COLOR. Option --colors takes priority over GREP_COLORS.

Colors are specified as string of colon-separated ANSI SGR parameters of the form `what=substring', where `substring' is a semicolon-separated list of ANSI SGR codes or `k' (black), `r' (red), `g' (green), `y' (yellow), `b' (blue), `m' (magenta), `c' (cyan), `w' (white). Upper case specifies background colors. A `+' qualifies a color as bright. A foreground and a background color may be combined with one or more font properties `n' (normal), `f' (faint), `h' (highlight), `i' (invert), `u' (underline). Substrings may be specified for:

SGR substring for selected lines.
SGR substring for context lines.
Swaps the sl= and cx= capabilities when -v is specified.
SGR substring for matching text in any matching line.
SGR substring for matching text in a selected line. The substring mt= by default.
SGR substring for matching text in a context line. The substring mt= by default.
SGR substring for filenames.
SGR substring for line numbers.
SGR substring for column numbers.
SGR substring for byte offsets.
SGR substring for separators.
a Boolean parameter, switches sl= and cx= with option -v.
a Boolean parameter, enables filename hyperlinks (\33]8;;link).
a Boolean parameter, disables ``erase in line'' \33[K.

Option --format=FORMAT specifies an output format for file matches. Fields may be used in FORMAT, which expand into the following values:

%[ARG]F
if option -H is used: ARG, the file pathname and separator.
%f
the file pathname.
%a
the file basename without directory path.
%p
the directory path to the file.
%z
the file pathname in a (compressed) archive.
%[ARG]H
if option -H is used: ARG, the quoted pathname and separator, \" and \\ replace " and \.
%h
the quoted file pathname, \" and \\ replace " and \.
%[ARG]N
if option -n is used: ARG, the line number and separator.
%n
the line number of the match.
%[ARG]K
if option -k is used: ARG, the column number and separator.
%k
the column number of the match.
%[ARG]B
if option -b is used: ARG, the byte offset and separator.
%b
the byte offset of the match.
%[ARG]T
if option -T is used: ARG and a tab character.
%t
a tab character.
%[SEP]$
set field separator to SEP for the rest of the format fields.
%[ARG]<
if the first match: ARG.
%[ARG]>
if not the first match: ARG.
%,
if not the first match: a comma, same as %[,]>.
%:
if not the first match: a colon, same as %[:]>.
%;
if not the first match: a semicolon, same as %[;]>.
%|
if not the first match: a vertical bar, same as %[|]>.
%[ARG]S
if not the first match: ARG and separator, see also %[SEP]$.
%s
the separator, see also %[ARG]S and %[SEP]$.
%~
a newline character.
%M
the number of matching lines
%m
the number of matches
%O
the matching line is output as a raw string of bytes.
%o
the match is output as a raw string of bytes.
%Q
the matching line as a quoted string, \" and \\ replace " and \.
%q
the match as a quoted string, \" and \\ replace " and \.
%C
the matching line formatted as a quoted C/C++ string.
%c
the match formatted as a quoted C/C++ string.
%J
the matching line formatted as a quoted JSON string.
%j
the match formatted as a quoted JSON string.
%V
the matching line formatted as a quoted CSV string.
%v
the match formatted as a quoted CSV string.
%X
the matching line formatted as XML character data.
%x
the match formatted as XML character data.
%w
the width of the match, counting wide characters.
%d
the size of the match, counting bytes.
%e
the ending byte offset of the match.
%Z
the edit distance cost of an approximate match with option -Z
%u
select unique lines only, unless option -u is used.
%1
the first regex group capture of the match, and so on up to group %9, same as %[1]#; requires option -P.
%[NUM]#
the regex group capture NUM; requires option -P.
%[NUM]b
the byte offset of the group capture NUM; requires option -P. Use e for the ending byte offset and d for the byte length.
%[NUM1|NUM2|...]#
the first group capture NUM that matched; requires option -P.
%[NUM1|NUM2|...]b
the byte offset of the first group capture NUM that matched; requires option -P. Use e for the ending byte offset and d for the byte length.
%[NAME]#
the NAMEd group capture; requires option -P and capturing pattern `(?<NAME>PATTERN)', see also %G.
%[NAME]b
the byte offset of the NAMEd group capture; requires option -P and capturing pattern `(?<NAME>PATTERN)'. Use e for the ending byte offset and d for the byte length.
%[NAME1|NAME2|...]#
the first NAMEd group capture that matched; requires option -P and capturing pattern `(?<NAME>PATTERN)', see also %G.
%[NAME1|NAME2|...]b
the byte offset of the first NAMEd group capture that matched; requires option -P and capturing pattern `(?<NAME>PATTERN)'. Use e for the ending byte offset and d for the byte length.
%G
list of group capture indices/names that matched; requires option -P.
%[TEXT1|TEXT2|...]G
list of TEXT indexed by group capture indices that matched; requires option -P.
%g
the group capture index/name matched or 1; requires option -P.
%[TEXT1|TEXT2|...]g
the first TEXT indexed by the first group capture index that matched; requires option -P.
%%
the percentage sign.

Formatted output is written without a terminating newline, unless %~ or `\n' is explicitly specified in the format string.

The [ARG] part of a field is optional and may be omitted. When present, the argument must be placed in [] brackets, for example %[,]F to output a comma, the pathname, and a separator.

%[SEP]$ and %u are switches and do not send anything to the output.

The separator used by the %F, %H, %N, %K, %B, %S and %G fields may be changed by preceding the field by %[SEP]$. When [SEP] is not provided, this reverts the separator to the default separator or the separator specified with --separator.

Formatted output is written for each matching pattern, which means that a line may be output multiple times when patterns match more than once on the same line. If field %u is specified anywhere in a format string, matching lines are output only once, unless option -u, --ungroup is specified or when more than one line of input matched the search pattern.

Additional formatting options:

the FORMAT when beginning the search.
the FORMAT when opening a file and a match was found.
the FORMAT when closing a file and a match was found.
the FORMAT when ending the search.

The context options -A, -B, -C, -y, and display options --break, --heading, --color, -T, and --null have no effect on formatted output.

Display lines containing the word `patricia' in `myfile.txt':

$ ugrep -w patricia myfile.txt

Display lines containing the word `patricia', ignoring case:

$ ugrep -wi patricia myfile.txt

Display lines approximately matching the word `patricia', ignoring case and allowing up to 2 spelling errors using fuzzy search:

$ ugrep -Z2 -wi patricia myfile.txt

Count the number of lines containing `patricia', ignoring case:

$ ugrep -cwi patricia myfile.txt

Count the number of words `patricia', ignoring case:

$ ugrep -cowi patricia myfile.txt

List lines with `amount' and a decimal, ignoring case (space is AND):

$ ugrep -i --bool 'amount +(.+)?' myfile.txt

Alternative query:

$ ugrep -wi -e amount --and '+(.+)?' myfile.txt

List all Unicode words in a file:

$ ugrep -o '\w+' myfile.txt

List all ASCII words in a file:

$ ugrep -o '[[:word:]]+' myfile.txt

List the laughing face emojis (Unicode code points U+1F600 to U+1F60F):

$ ugrep -o '[\x{1F600}-\x{1F60F}]' myfile.txt

Check if a file contains any non-ASCII (i.e. Unicode) characters:

$ ugrep -q '[^[:ascii:]]' myfile.txt && echo "contains Unicode"

Display the line and column number of `FIXME' in C++ files using recursive search, with one line of context before and after a matched line:

$ ugrep -C1 -R -n -k -tc++ FIXME

Display the line and column number of `FIXME' in long Javascript files using recursive search, showing only matches with up to 10 characters of context before and after:

$ ugrep -o -C20 -R -n -k -tjs FIXME

List the C/C++ comments in a file with line numbers:

$ ugrep -n -e '//.*' -e '/\*([^*]|(\*+[^*/]))*\*+\/' myfile.cpp

The same, but using predefined pattern c++/comments:

$ ugrep -n -f c++/comments myfile.cpp

List the lines that need fixing in a C/C++ source file by looking for the word `FIXME' while skipping any `FIXME' in quoted strings:

$ ugrep -e FIXME -N '"(\\.|\\\r?\n|[^\\\n"])*"' myfile.cpp

The same, but using predefined pattern cpp/zap_strings:

$ ugrep -e FIXME -f cpp/zap_strings myfile.cpp

Find lines with `FIXME' or `TODO', showing line numberes:

$ ugrep -n -e FIXME -e TODO myfile.cpp

Find lines with `FIXME' that also contain `urgent':

$ ugrep -n -e FIXME --and urgent myfile.cpp

The same, but with a Boolean query pattern (a space is AND):

$ ugrep -n --bool 'FIXME urgent' myfile.cpp

Find lines with `FIXME' that do not also contain `later':

$ ugrep -n -e FIXME --andnot later myfile.cpp

The same, but with a Boolean query pattern (a space is AND, - is NOT):

$ ugrep -n --bool 'FIXME -later' myfile.cpp

Output a list of line numbers of lines with `FIXME' but not `later':

$ ugrep -e FIXME --andnot later --format='%,%n' myfile.cpp

Recursively list all files with both `FIXME' and `LICENSE' anywhere in the file, not necessarily on the same line:

$ ugrep -l --files --bool 'FIXME LICENSE'

Find lines with `FIXME' in the C/C++ files stored in a tarball:

$ ugrep -z -tc++ -n FIXME project.tgz

Recursively find lines with `FIXME' in C/C++ files, but do not search any `bak' and `old' directories:

$ ugrep -n FIXME -tc++ -g^bak/,^old/

Recursively search for the word `copyright' in cpio/jar/pax/tar/zip archives, compressed and regular files, and in PDFs using a PDF filter:

$ ugrep -z -w --filter='pdf:pdftotext % -' copyright

Match the binary pattern `A3hhhhA3' (hex) in a binary file without Unicode pattern matching -U (which would otherwise match `\xaf' as a Unicode character U+00A3 with UTF-8 byte sequence C2 A3) and display the results in hex with --hexdump with C1 to output one hex line before and after each match:

$ ugrep -U --hexdump=C1 '\xa3[\x00-\xff]{2}\xa3' a.out

Hexdump an entire file using a pager for viewing:

$ ugrep -X --pager '' a.out

List all files that are not ignored by one or more `.gitignore':

$ ugrep -l '' --ignore-files

List all files containing a RPM signature, located in the `rpm' directory and recursively below up to two levels deeper (3 levels total):

$ ugrep -3 -l -tRpm '' rpm/

Monitor the system log for bug reports and ungroup multiple matches on a line:

$ tail -f /var/log/system.log | ugrep -u -i -w bug

Interactive fuzzy search with Boolean search queries:

$ ugrep -Q --bool -Z3 --sort=best

Display all words in a MacRoman-encoded file that has CR newlines:

$ ugrep --encoding=MACROMAN '\w+' mac.txt

Display options related to "fuzzy" searching:

$ ugrep --help fuzzy

Report bugs at:

https://github.com/Genivia/ugrep/issues

ugrep is released under the BSD-3 license. All parts of the software have reasonable copyright terms permitting free redistribution. This includes the ability to reuse all or parts of the ugrep source tree.

grep(1).

April 7, 2023 ugrep 3.11.2