* To search::¶

nimgrep [options] PATTERN [(FILE/DIRECTORY)*/-]

* To replace::¶

nimgrep [options] PATTERN --replace REPLACEMENT (FILE/DIRECTORY)*/-

* To list file names::¶

nimgrep [options] --filenames [PATTERN] [(FILE/DIRECTORY)*]

Positional arguments, from left to right: 1) PATTERN is either Regex (default) or Peg if `--peg` is specified.

PATTERN and REPLACEMENT should be skipped when `--stdin` is specified.

2) REPLACEMENT supports `$1`, `$#` notations for captured groups in PATTERN.

.. DANGER:: `--replace` mode **DOES NOT** ask confirmation

unless `--confirm` is specified!

3) Final arguments are a list of paths (FILE/DIRECTORY) or a standalone

minus `-` or not specified (empty):

* empty, current directory `.` is assumed (not with `--replace`)

.. Note:: so when no FILE/DIRECTORY/`-` is specified nimgrep

does **not** read the pipe, but searches files in the current dir instead!

* `-`, read buffer once from stdin: pipe or terminal input;

in `--replace` mode the result is directed to stdout; it's not compatible with `--stdin`, `--filenames`, or `--confirm`

For any given DIRECTORY nimgrep searches only its immediate files without traversing sub-directories unless `--recursive` is specified.

In replacement mode we require all 3 positional arguments to avoid damaging.

* Mode of operation:¶

--find, -f

find the PATTERN (default)

--replace, -!

replace the PATTERN to REPLACEMENT, rewriting the files

--confirm

confirm each occurrence/replacement; there is a chance to abort any time without touching the file

--filenames

just list filenames. Provide a PATTERN to find it in the filenames (not in the contents of a file) or run with empty pattern to just list all files::

nimgrep --filenames

# In current dir

nimgrep --filenames "" DIRECTORY

# Note empty pattern "", lists all files in DIRECTORY

* Interprete patterns:¶

--peg

PATTERN and PAT are Peg

--re

PATTERN and PAT are regular expressions (default)

--rex, -x

use the "extended" syntax for the regular expression so that whitespace is not significant

--word, -w

matches should have word boundaries (buggy for pegs!)

--ignoreCase, -i

be case insensitive in PATTERN and PAT

--ignoreStyle, -y

be style insensitive in PATTERN and PAT

.. Note:: PATERN and patterns PAT (see below in other options) are all either

Regex or Peg simultaneously and options `--rex`, `--word`, `--ignoreCase`, and `--ignoreStyle` are applied to all of them.

* File system walk:¶

--recursive, -r

process directories recursively

--follow

follow all symlinks when processing recursively

--ext:EX1|EX2|...

only search the files with the given extension(s), empty one ("--ext") means files with missing extension

--noExt:EX1|...

exclude files having given extension(s), use empty one to skip files with no extension (like some binary files are)

--includeFile:PAT

search only files whose names contain pattern PAT

--excludeFile:PAT

skip files whose names contain pattern PAT

--includeDir:PAT

search only files with their whole directory path containing PAT

--excludeDir:PAT

skip directories whose name (not path) contain pattern PAT

--if,--ef,--id,--ed

abbreviations of the 4 options above

--sortTime, -s[:asc|desc]

order files by the last modification time (default: off): ascending (recent files go last) or descending

* Filter file content:¶

--match:PAT

select files containing a (not displayed) match of PAT

--noMatch:PAT

select files not containing any match of PAT

--bin:on|off|only

process binary files? (detected by \0 in first 1K bytes) (default: on - binary and text files treated the same way)

--text, -t

process only text files, the same as `--bin:off`

* Represent results:¶

--nocolor

output will be given without any colors

--color[:on]

force color even if output is redirected (default: auto)

--colorTheme:THEME

select color THEME from `simple` (default), `bnw` (black and white), `ack`, or `gnu` (GNU grep)

--count

only print counts of matches for files that matched

--context:N, -c:N

print N lines of leading context before every match and N lines of trailing context after it (default N: 0)

--afterContext:N, -a:N

print N lines of trailing context after every match

--beforeContext:N, -b:N

print N lines of leading context before every match

--group, -g

group matches by file

--newLine, -l

display every matching line starting from a new line

--cols[:N]

limit max displayed columns/width of output lines from files by N characters, cropping overflows (default: off)

--cols:auto, -%

calculate columns from terminal width for every line

--onlyAscii, -@

display only printable ASCII Latin characters 0x20-0x7E substitutions: 0 -> ^@, 1 -> ^A, ... 0x1F -> ^_,

0x7F -> '7F, ..., 0xFF -> 'FF

* Miscellaneous:¶

--threads:N, -j:N

speed up search by N additional workers (default: 0, off)

--stdin

read PATTERN from stdin (to avoid the shell's confusing quoting rules) and, if `--replace` given, REPLACEMENT

--verbose

be verbose: list every processed file

--help, -h

shows this help

--version, -v

shows the version