How to search strings inside files like in Windows without search monkey?

I am using Ubuntu on VMWare but I cannot connect to internet because of security restrictions.

I was wondering if there was a way to search for strings through the terminal and find which line the string is located on within the file.

2

3 Answers

There are almost too many options to list

grep -r 'pattern_to_match' directory_to_search

Will output the file name and full line matching the pattern.

The best I use is grep command with options -ri (Recursive and case insensitive search):

$ grep -r <text_pattern_to_search> directory_or_path_to_search

options that might be useful to you:

 -i - case insensitive -r, --recursive like --directories=recurse -R, --dereference-recursive likewise, but follow all symlinks --include=FILE_PATTERN search only files that match FILE_PATTERN --exclude=FILE_PATTERN skip files and directories matching FILE_PATTERN --exclude-from=FILE skip files matching any file pattern from FILE --exclude-dir=PATTERN directories that match PATTERN will be skipped.

for deep info you can do grep --help or man grep in linux terminal.

Cheers

0

If you want to find only line number where the sting is located within the file use this:

grep -n '/string_To_Find/=' directory/file_Name

If you want to find line number and also output the full line name where the string is located in the line use this:

grep -n 'string_To_Find' directory/file_Name

And if you only want to find full line name where the string is, use this:

grep -r 'string_To_Find' directory/file_Name

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