Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 13:22:52 -0500 From: Simon Morton <simon.morton@verizon.net> To: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: How To Recursively Search Directory For Text String In Files?] Message-ID: <3C2CB87C.90000@verizon.net>
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Roman Neuhauser wrote:
> I think you should pay a wee bit more attention to what you read:
>
> "What I want to do is search all files in my current directory and
> all the directories below it for a text string and then know what
> file(s) contains the string."
Well, since you mentioned it, if you had paid "a wee bit more attention"
to the problem statement you would have known that only the names of
matching files were required, not all matching strings plus file names
and line numbers. Nor did it stipulate case-insensitive search or
excluding binary files. So the correct solution would actually be
"grep -Flr pattern path". So much for reading comprehension skills.
> Simple task, simple solution. I don't know what good would the
> original poster achieve by using find, xargs and grep where simple
> grep does the work. Of course, it's easy to get carried away, but
> one should discriminate between use and abuse.
I agree that xargs adds no value here. My solution only used find and
grep. What is to be gained by doing so? Maybe the opportunity to learn
not just the solution to the immediate problem but perhaps also a tool
that could be of use solving similar but more complex problems in the
future. "Give a man a fish, feed him today. Teach a man to fish, feed
him for life".
"grep -Flr pattern path" solves the problem asked using the minimum
number of characters. This also was not a requirement.
"find path -exec grep -Fl pattern {} \;" uses 16 more characters to
do the same job while providing a template for more complex searches
as well as a much better illustration of the "Unix philosophy". If
you call this insanely complicated then you don't truly appreciate
the beauty and power that is Unix.
Simon
--
http://www.SimonMorton.com
smorton at acm dot org
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http://www.SimonMorton.com
smorton at acm dot org
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