How to find files containing specific text on Linux

We can find files containing specific text on Linux in the following ways.

The content of the article

• grep command
• ask command
• find command
• RipGrep command
• ag command
• Video

grep command

# grep -rnw '/path/to/look/inside' -e 'text'

• i – ignore case (optional in your case).
• R – recursive.
• l – “show the file name, not the result itself”.
• / – starting at the root of your machine.

Example:

# grep -rnw '/var/log/' -e ' 2.805245'

/var/log/kern.log:1449:Jun 22 13:17:45 gharutyunyan-virtual-machine kernel: [    2.805245] scsi host20: ahci
/var/log/syslog.1:2696:Jun 22 13:17:45 gharutyunyan-virtual-machine kernel: [    2.805245] scsi host20: ahci
/var/log/dmesg:1428:[    2.805245] kernel: scsi host20: ahci

ask command

ack 'text'

Example:

# ack ' 2.805245'
kern.log
1449:Jun 22 13:17:45 gharutyunyan-virtual-machine kernel: [    2.805245] scsi host20: ahci

syslog.1
2696:Jun 22 13:17:45 gharutyunyan-virtual-machine kernel: [    2.805245] scsi host20: ahci

dmesg
1428:[    2.805245] kernel: scsi host20: ahci

[adinserter block=”6″]

find command

find /path/to/look/inside -type f -exec grep -l "text" {} \; 

Example:

# find /var/log/ -type f -exec grep -l " 2.805245" {} \;
/var/log/kern.log
/var/log/syslog.1
/var/log/dmesg

RipGrep command

RipGrep command works very fast

rg 'text' /path/to/look/inside -l

Example:

# rg " 2.805245" /var/log/ -l
/var/log/kern.log
/var/log/syslog.1
/var/log/dmesg

ag command

The Silver Searcher command

ag 'text' /path/to/look/inside -l

Example:

# ag ' 2.805245' /var/log/ -l
/var/log/kern.log
/var/log/syslog.1
/var/log/dmesg

Video

Test Environment

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

VMware Workstation 15.1.0