How can I find a file by its content on Linux?

Question

How can I find a file by its content on Linux in the command line?

For example, I want to find a file containing the word "helo" on my computer.

score 24 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 02 '11 at 07:59

24

Use:

grep -lir "helo" /path/to/dir

edited Dec 02 '11 at 07:59

soandos

answered Sep 21 '11 at 07:56

quanta

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 21 '11 at 10:12

3

You can create a file named grepall in /usr/local/bin/ with following content:

find -type f -exec grep -q $1 {} \; -print

then you can search for content by use grepall something

answered Sep 21 '11 at 10:12

kockiren

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 21 '11 at 08:13

1

egrep -R "hello" /path/to/dir

answered Sep 21 '11 at 08:13

Adam Eberlin

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 21 '11 at 10:05

1

Evil way: grep "something" */*/*

answered Sep 21 '11 at 10:05

Korjavin Ivan

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 15 '19 at 08:13

If you're an admin or coder, you might consider ripgrep instead of the usual grep.

rg helo for example searches all files in the current working directory (incl. subfolders).

For more detailed information, consult the guide, the man page or even the code.

5 Answers5