linuxgrepackag

Searching multiple patterns (words) with ack?

I want to search multiple patterns in a directory containing recursive directories and files.

I know command for grep which is as follows

grep -e '(pattern1)|(pattern2)'

or

grep -r -E  'string1|string2|string3' /var/www/http

What is the command for that using ack or ag?

Solution

  • This should be enough:

    ack -R 'string1|string2'

    As -R is the default, you can omit it:

    ack 'string1|string2'

    From man ack:

    -r, -R, --recurse

    Recurse into sub-directories. This is the default and just here for compatibility with grep. You can also use it for turning --no-recurse off.

    If you want to get the pattern from a file, say /path/to/patterns.file, you can use:

    ack "$(cat /path/to/patterns.file)"

    or equivallently:

    ack "$(< /path/to/patterns.file)"

    I cannot find an exact equivalent to grep -f.