ripgrep (rg) is a fast text search tool that recursively searches directories for a regex pattern. Faster than grep, respects .gitignore by default, and has excellent Unicode support.
Basic Usage
- rg pattern - Search in current directory
- rg pattern path/ - Search in directory
- rg -i pattern - Case-insensitive search
- rg -w pattern - Whole word match
- rg -l pattern - List matching files only
- rg -c pattern - Count matches per file
Search Options
- -i - Case-insensitive
- -w - Whole word
- -v - Invert match
- -x - Match entire line
- -F - Fixed string (no regex)
- -e pattern - Pattern to search
- -f file - Patterns from file
- -g pattern - Glob pattern
Output Options
- -l - List files only
- -L - List files without matches
- -c - Count matches per file
- --count-matches - Count matches (not lines)
- -n - Show line numbers
- -N - No line numbers
- -C N - Context lines (before and after)
- -A N - Lines after match
- -B N - Lines before match
- -H - Show filename (default)
- -h - No filename
- --color always - Always colorize
- --color never - Never colorize
- --color auto - Colorize when outputting to terminal
File Options
- -t type - Search only file type
- -T type - Exclude file type
- -g pattern - Include glob pattern
- -g !pattern - Exclude glob pattern
- --type-list - List all file types
- --no-ignore - Don't respect ignore files
- --ignore-case - Case-insensitive matching
- -u - Unrestricted search (like --no-ignore)
- -uu - Also search hidden files
- -uuu - Also search binary files
Common Examples
Basic Search
rg "function"Search for "function" in current directory.
Case-Insensitive
rg -i "error"Search case-insensitively.
List Files
rg -l "TODO"List files containing "TODO".
With Context
rg -C 3 "pattern"Show 3 lines before and after.
Specific File Type
rg -t py "import"Search only Python files.
Exclude Type
rg -T js "function"Search excluding JavaScript files.
Whole Word
rg -w "test"Match whole word only.
Fixed String
rg -F "*.txt"Search literal string (no regex).
Count Matches
rg -c "error"Count matches per file.
Unrestricted
rg -u "pattern"Ignore .gitignore and other ignore files.
Tips
- Much faster than grep for large codebases
- Respects .gitignore by default
- Use -i for case-insensitive search
- Use -l to just list files
- Use -t to filter by file type
- Use -C for context around matches
- Excellent Unicode support
- Great for code searching