Recursive search in files on Linux

Sometimes I’m searching for a specific function in the many files and directories of a project.

Of course, I could use heavy, often crashing and expensive IDEs to do this but there is one simple and fast method using the “boring” command line and the “ugly” tool grep:

(Maybe I should note, that the “” in this case may mean some irony)

grep -E -lir --include=*.{c,cpp,h,hpp} "void test()"

The options:

• -E enables the search with extended regular expressions, on Linux you can also use egrep instead (mostly)
• -l list not the matches, but list the filenames instead
• -i ignore case
• -r search recursive
• --include=*.{fileendings} you can specify the wanted file endings (or other part of the name, using wildcards)

So, no need for a heavy IDE ;)