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How to search all the files in a directory for a specific string

 
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# 1  
Old 12-14-2009
How to search all the files in a directory for a specific string
Hi Guys,

I want to search the content of all the files (of a particular type like .txt)
in a directory for a specific string pattern. Can anyone help me?

Thanks
# 2  
Old 12-14-2009
Code:
grep "string" *.txt

should do you ?
# 3  
Old 12-14-2009
Thanks. how can i search all the sub directories?
# 4  
Old 12-14-2009
If you have GNU grep:
Code:
grep -r 'string' *.txt

Otherwise:
Code:
find . -type f -name '*.txt' -print | xargs grep 'string'

# 5  
Old 12-14-2009
Code:
grep -i "string" `find ./ -name "*.txt"`

Last edited by pludi; 12-14-2009 at 08:36 AM.. Reason: code tags
# 6  
Old 12-14-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by vikas898
Code:
grep -i "string" `find ./ -name "*.txt"`

That approach has 2 potential problems:
  1. The *.txt glob will be expanded if there are files with the txt extension in the current directory, screwing up the find command.
  2. If find returns too many files, grep/the shell will refuse running and complain about a too large argument list

Also, I'd advise anyone against using backticks and use the $() construct instead, as it's less likely to be misinterpreted, and can be nested multiple times.
# 7  
Old 12-15-2009
Thanks a lot Pludi Smilie
 
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