UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,
I want search all files containing some "searchtext" in current dir and sub dir. For this, I used

grep "searchtext" */*

This will search only in sub dir files and does not give results if file containing search text exists in current directory.

and

grep "searchtext" *

This will search only files current directory, not sub directories.

But when I use , following command . I get result.

find . | xargs grep "searchtext"
It searches at both current dir and sub dir .

How to achive this using grep command .

thanks

Arent you using grep in your command ?

Or do you just want to use grep without the find ?

vino

Hi,

I want to use only grep command to search keyword in all files (current dir and sub dir)

Thanks

find has a command option that allows you to run, for instance, a grep against each file it locates. This is sometimes very useful... You'll have to check the man page for the syntax.

Here is your answer

Code:

find . -name 'haystack' -exec grep 'needle' {} \; -print

The -print will display the corresponding haystack for each successful needle found.

Vino

... i find it quiet interesting that when given the whole gamut of Unix tools that are available to do things with, there are people who insist on only using 1 tool and 1 tool only even when there are other tools that might be able to achive the required results quicker --- unless this is homework ....

Just Ice,

for learning point of view (atleast for me), how would you approach the OP to suit your statement.

Thanks,
vino