Ripgrep

ripgrep - Fast Recursive Content Search

Overview

ripgrep (rg) recursively searches the current directory for lines matching a regex. You type rg PATTERN and it walks the tree, searching file contents and printing matching lines with their file path and line number. The pattern is a regular expression by default (Rust regex syntax).

Key characteristics:

• Fast: Parallel directory traversal plus a fast regex engine; typically much faster than grep -r
• Sensible defaults: Recursive, smart-case, colorized, and .gitignore/.ignore/hidden-file aware out of the box — it won't search .git/, build artifacts, or ignored files unless you ask
• Ergonomic syntax: rg foo instead of grep -rn foo .
• Composable: --json, --vimgrep, -0 (NUL) output, and clean piping into fzf, fd, xargs, and editors

When to Use This Skill

Use ripgrep when:

• Searching code/text for a pattern: rg 'fn main', rg 'TODO|FIXME'
• Replacing grep/ack/ag: any recursive content search — rg is faster and respects .gitignore
• Restricting by file type or glob: rg -t py 'def ', rg -g '*.rs' unsafe
• Listing or counting matches: which files match (-l), or how many (-c/--count-matches)
• Previewing a search-and-replace: rg -r 'NEW' 'OLD' (rg prints, it does not edit files)
• Feeding other tools: --json for editors/scripts, --vimgrep for quickfix, -0 for xargs -0

Disambiguation: This skill documents the rg command-line tool. It is unrelated to the fuzzy-search MCP server plugin — that plugin wraps rg to expose fuzzy_search_content/fuzzy_search_files tools. Here you invoke rg directly on the command line.

Prerequisites

CRITICAL: Before proceeding, you MUST verify that ripgrep is installed:

rg --version

The binary is rg on every platform. The --version output also reports whether PCRE2 is available (needed for -P).

Version note: This skill is documented against ripgrep 15.x (flag set verified against the post-15.1 source). Long-standing basics work on any recent rg; features added in a specific release are annotated inline as (rg X.Y+). For the version that introduced any specific flag, see references/version-features.md. Always confirm on the running system with rg --version.

If ripgrep is not installed:

• DO NOT attempt to install it automatically
• STOP and inform the user that ripgrep is required
• RECOMMEND manual installation:

# macOS
brew install ripgrep

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install ripgrep

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S ripgrep

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ripgrep

# Cargo (any platform; add features with --features 'pcre2')
cargo install ripgrep

# Other systems: see https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep#installation

If ripgrep is not available, exit gracefully and do not proceed with the workflow below.

Basic Usage

# Recursively search the current directory for a regex
rg PATTERN

# Search within a specific path (pattern first, paths after)
rg PATTERN path/to/dir file.txt

# Search piped stdin
cat file | rg PATTERN

Smart-case is the default: the search is case-insensitive unless the pattern contains an uppercase letter, in which case it becomes case-sensitive. Override with -s/--case-sensitive or -i/--ignore-case. (When flags conflict, the most recent wins — rg foo -s -i is case-insensitive.)

By default rg prints, per matching line, the file path, line number, and the line, grouped under a heading per file when writing to a terminal.

Regex Syntax

The pattern is a Rust regex regular expression by default — fast, linear-time, Unicode-aware, but with no backreferences or look-around (use -P for those).

rg '^\s*func'          # anchored, with character classes
rg 'foo(bar|baz)'      # alternation and groups
rg '\bcolou?r\b'       # word boundary + optional char

Multiline matching

By default a match cannot span lines. Enable multiline with -U:

rg -U 'struct\s+\w+\s*\{[^}]*\}'      # match across newlines  (rg 0.10+)
rg -U --multiline-dotall 'foo.*bar'   # let . match newlines too (rg 0.10+)

File Selection

By file type (-t/-T)

rg -t py 'import os'      # only Python files
rg -T js 'TODO'          # everything EXCEPT JavaScript  (--type-not)
rg --type-list           # show all built-in type names and their globs
rg --type-add 'web:*.{html,css,js}' -t web 'href'   # define a type on the fly

By glob (-g/--iglob)

Globs apply to file names/paths; repeat to combine; prefix with ! to exclude.

rg -g '*.rs' unsafe              # only .rs files
rg -g '!*_test.go' 'func '       # exclude test files
rg --iglob '*.MD' heading        # case-insensitive glob (rg 0.6+)

Globs support {a,b} alternation, including nested braces like {a,{b,c}} (rg 15.0+).

Hidden and ignored files

By default rg skips hidden files/dirs and anything matched by .gitignore/.ignore/.rgignore (and won't descend into .git/).

rg -. PATTERN      # include hidden files/dirs (--hidden, short -. is rg 13.0+)
rg -u PATTERN      # -u  = don't respect .gitignore
rg -uu PATTERN     # -uu = --no-ignore --hidden (search hidden + ignored)
rg -uuu PATTERN    # -uuu = also search binary files (rg 11.0+; like grep -r)

Finer control: --no-ignore (all ignore rules), --no-ignore-vcs (only VCS), --no-ignore-dot (.ignore/.rgignore, rg 11.0+), --no-ignore-parent, --no-require-git (apply gitignore outside a repo, rg 12.0+), --no-ignore-global. Follow symlinks with -L/--follow.

Context

Print lines around each match:

rg -A 3 PATTERN     # 3 lines After
rg -B 2 PATTERN     # 2 lines Before
rg -C 2 PATTERN     # 2 lines of Context (before AND after)

In rg 14.0+, -A/-B only partially override -C: rg -C1 -A2 ≡ rg -B1 -A2 (previously ≡ -A2).

Output

rg -o PATTERN              # print only the matched part(s) of each line (--only-matching)
rg -r 'REPL' PATTERN       # print matches with replacement applied (preview only; $1/$2 refs)
rg -c PATTERN              # per-file count of matching LINES (--count)
rg --count-matches PAT     # count individual matches, not lines
rg -l PATTERN              # list only files WITH a match (--files-with-matches)
rg --files-without-match PAT  # list files with NO match
rg -n PATTERN / rg -N PAT  # force / suppress line numbers (--line-number / --no-line-number)
rg -H PAT / rg -I PAT      # force / suppress the file path (-I is --no-filename, rg 11.0+)
rg -0 -l PATTERN           # NUL-separate file names for safe piping (--null)

-r/--replace only changes what is printed — it never modifies files. To rewrite files, pipe matched files through sed/sd or an editor (see references/recipes.md).

Machine-readable and color

rg --json PATTERN          # JSON Lines events (matches, stats); ideal for editors/scripts (rg 0.10+)
rg --vimgrep PATTERN       # one match per line: file:line:col:text (quickfix-friendly)
rg --color always PATTERN  # force color (auto|always|never|ansi); honors NO_COLOR
rg --hyperlink-format default PATTERN   # OSC-8 terminal hyperlinks on paths (rg 14.0+)

There is no bare --hyperlink switch — --hyperlink-format <fmt> (e.g. default, vscode, file, or a custom {path}/{line} template) is what turns paths into links (rg 14.0+).

Sorting & Performance

rg --sort path PATTERN     # deterministic order (path|modified|accessed|created); disables parallelism
rg --sortr modified PAT    # reverse sort  (rg 0.10+)
rg -j 4 PATTERN            # cap worker threads (--threads); -j1 forces single-threaded
rg -z PATTERN              # search inside gzip/bzip2/xz/lz4/zstd/brotli archives (--search-zip)
rg --pre ./script PATTERN  # run each file through a preprocessor first (rg 0.9+)

--sort/--sortr and -z impose ordering/decoding work; rg is fastest with its default parallel, unsorted traversal. --pre-glob limits which files --pre runs on. (Security: prefer rg 13.0+ on Windows when using -z/--pre.)

Configuration File

Set RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH to a file of default flags (one per line, # for comments) applied to every invocation (rg 0.8+):

export RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/.config/ripgrep/ripgreprc"

# ~/.config/ripgrep/ripgreprc
--smart-case
--hidden
--glob=!.git/*
--max-columns=200

Bypass the config for one run with --no-config. Command-line flags override config-file flags.

Common Workflows

# Find every TODO/FIXME in Python, with 2 lines of context
rg -t py -C2 'TODO|FIXME'

# Count matches per file, only files that match, sorted
rg -c 'import' -t py | sort -t: -k2 -nr

# List files containing a symbol, NUL-safe, then open in your editor
rg -l -0 'class Widget' | xargs -0 $EDITOR

# Whole-word, case-sensitive search excluding tests
rg -w -s -g '!*_test.*' 'deprecated'

# Preview a rename across the codebase (no files changed)
rg 'old_name' -l -0 | xargs -0 rg -r 'new_name' --passthru -N 'old_name'

# Search a specific commit's files via git + rg
git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rg 'pattern'

Integration

# fzf — live ripgrep, feed selection to editor
rg --vimgrep '' | fzf

# fzf default source restricted to text files
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='rg --files --hidden --glob=!.git/*'

# fd — restrict a content search to fd-selected files (NUL-safe)
fd -e py -0 | xargs -0 rg 'def main'

# editors — Vim/Neovim quickfix
:grep! pattern        " with  set grepprg=rg\ --vimgrep

# git — search only tracked files
git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rg PATTERN

rg --files lists every file rg would search (honoring ignore rules) — a fast, gitignore-aware file lister you can pipe anywhere. Always pair rg -0/rg --files -0 with xargs -0 when paths may contain spaces or newlines.

Troubleshooting

"Command not found: rg"

• ripgrep is not installed. See Prerequisites for manual installation. Do NOT auto-install.

"My file isn't being searched":

• It may be hidden or .gitignored. Add -./--hidden, -u (ignore VCS), -uu (hidden + ignored), or -uuu (also binary). Use rg --files to see exactly what rg would search.
• It may be detected as binary — rg stops at the first NUL by default. Use -a/--text or -uuu.
• A built-in type filter (-t) may exclude it; check rg --type-list.

"My regex doesn't match":

• rg's default engine has no backreferences or look-around — use -P/--pcre2 (requires a PCRE2-enabled build) or --engine auto.
• For a literal string with regex metacharacters, use -F/--fixed-strings.
• To match across lines, use -U/--multiline (and --multiline-dotall for .).

"rg changed my files" — it didn't:

• -r/--replace only changes printed output. ripgrep never edits files in place.

"Too many / unexpected results":

• Narrow with -t/-g (type/glob), -w (word), -x (whole line), or --max-depth.

A flag from older docs is missing or behaves differently:

• See references/version-features.md for version introductions and changed defaults (e.g. --man→--generate, --auto-hybrid-regex→--engine auto, -uuu semantics, -A/-B vs -C).

References

For exhaustive detail, see the bundled reference files:

• references/options.md — complete flag reference (every option, grouped by area)
• references/recipes.md — search-and-replace, integrations, config, and worked recipes
• references/version-features.md — which rg version introduced each feature, plus removed/changed defaults (minimum-version lookup)

Resources

• Man page: man rg, rg --help, or generate it with rg --generate man (rg 14.0+)
• GitHub: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep
• User guide: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/blob/master/GUIDE.md