Grep files in directory

But grep comes with more options which help us achieve more during a search operation. Let's look at nine of them while applying them to the example above. This prints out the matches for the text along with the line numbers.

If you look at the result we have above, you'll notice there are no line numbers, just the matches. Note that if there was another 'you' on line one, option -c would still print 2.

This is because it is concerned with the number of lines where the matches appear, not the number of matches. Notice that we also used option -n?

Yes, you can apply multiple options in one command. By default, grep matches strings which contain the specified pattern. This means that grep yo grep. Similarly, 'ou'. With the option -w , grep ensures that the matches are exactly the same pattern as specified. By default, grep prints the line where the matched pattern is found. With option -o , only the matched pattern is printed line by line.

This matched pattern is on line 2. In Linux, I normally use this command to recursively grep for a particular text within a directory:. Use find. Seriously, it is the best way because then you can really see what files it's operating on:. To search in all sub-directories, but only in specific file types , use grep with --include. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Collectives on Stack Overflow. Learn more. How to perform grep operation on all files in a directory? Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 10 months ago. Active 9 months ago. Viewed k times. I'm clear on the command I want to use and how to grep out string s as needed. Improve this question. Patrick 1, 1 1 gold badge 9 9 silver badges 19 19 bronze badges.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. One other useful option when grep All Files in a Directory is to return all files which do not match the given text pattern. This is Done by using either -L or —files-without-match option in the grep recursive search. How to grep All Files in a Directory Recursively In this Linux tutorial we are going to learn how to grep all files in a directory Recursively in Linux using the grep command.