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Ripgrep Quick Start Guide

Ripgrep (rg) is a line-oriented search tool that recursively searches your current directory for a regex pattern. It's designed to be fast, user-friendly, and respectful of your .gitignore rules by default.

Installation

On macOS

brew install ripgrep

On Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt-get install ripgrep

On Windows

# Using Chocolatey
choco install ripgrep

# Using Scoop
scoop install ripgrep

From GitHub

Download the latest release from GitHub.

Basic Usage

Search for a pattern in the current directory:

rg "pattern"

rg -i "pattern"

Search in Specific File Types

rg "pattern" -t js    # Search only JavaScript files
rg "pattern" -t py    # Search only Python files

Exclude File Types

rg "pattern" -T js    # Exclude JavaScript files

Search in Specific Directories

rg "pattern" path/to/directory

Search Multiple Patterns

rg "pattern1|pattern2"

Advanced Features

Show Context Around Matches

rg -A 2 "pattern"    # 2 lines after match
rg -B 2 "pattern"    # 2 lines before match
rg -C 2 "pattern"    # 2 lines before and after match

Count Matches

rg -c "pattern"

Show Only Filenames

rg -l "pattern"    # Files with matches
rg -L "pattern"    # Files without matches

Fixed String Search (No Regex)

rg -F "pattern with [special] characters"

Include Hidden and Ignored Files

rg --hidden "pattern"           # Include hidden files
rg --no-ignore "pattern"        # Ignore .gitignore rules
rg --no-ignore-vcs "pattern"    # Ignore VCS ignore files

Replace Text

rg "pattern" --replace "replacement"

Show Line Numbers

rg -n "pattern"    # This is actually the default

Search for Whole Words

rg -w "word"

Useful Combinations

Find All TODOs in Your Codebase

rg "TODO|FIXME" --color=always | less -R

Search in ZIP Files

rg -z "pattern" file.zip

Search with Glob Patterns

rg "pattern" --glob "*.{js,ts}"    # Search in JS and TS files
rg "pattern" --glob "!*.min.js"    # Exclude minified JS files

Output in JSON Format

rg "pattern" --json

Configuration

You can create a configuration file at ~/.ripgreprc with your preferred default options:

--smart-case
--colors=match:fg:yellow
--colors=match:style:bold
--max-columns=150
--max-columns-preview

Then set the RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH environment variable:

export RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/.ripgreprc"

Tips and Tricks

  1. Use --debug to see why a file is being searched or ignored.
  2. Combine with other tools: rg "pattern" | grep "filter" | sort
  3. Use -o to show only the matching part of the line.
  4. For very large codebases, try --mmap for potentially better performance.

Resources

Common Issues

Pattern Not Found

  • Check if you need case-insensitive search (-i)
  • Ensure you're not being blocked by .gitignore rules (use --no-ignore)
  • Try using fixed strings (-F) if your pattern has special regex characters

Performance Issues

  • Try limiting the search depth with --max-depth
  • Use type filters (-t) to search only specific file types
  • For very large files, consider using --pre to process files before searching