Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!lgc.com!max
From: max@lgc.com (Max Heffler)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: grep
Summary: How to do a tree grep
Keywords: Use find
Message-ID: <1990Oct23.143247.5639@lgc.com>
Date: 23 Oct 90 14:32:47 GMT
References: <1990Oct23.123025.18012@kodak.kodak.com>
Sender: news@lgc.com
Organization: Landmark Graphics Corp., Houston, Tx
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Nntp-Posting-Host: maxsun.lgc.com

In article <1990Oct23.123025.18012@kodak.kodak.com> tiefel@sunshine.Kodak.COM (Lenny Tiefel) writes:
>I have a main directory with hundreds of subdirectories, 
>and I want to find a file with a particular string, say "xyz"
>The grep command only works in one directory at a time. Is there
>a way of searching my whole directory structure to find a file
>with a particular string?
>
Try this:

	cd x		where x is head of tree to search
	find . -type f -exec grep xyz {} /dev/null \; | tee $HOME/xyz.out

The cd is done separately because I have had problems with symbolic links
on some machines.  This will search files only (type -f) and if your grep
supports a caseless option (grep -i) you might want to use it, in some cases.
The /dev/null is to cause grep to report back the filenames where the string
is found, since grep will not report the filename for a single argument.
Finally, the tee allows you to monitor progress, as well as have a file to
reference later.

--
Max Heffler			internet: max@lgc.com
Landmark Graphics Corp.		uucp: ..!uunet!lgc!max
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