bashANYripgrepperformanceliteral
bash
rg -F 'Content-Type:' .Literal search avoids regex overhead and is ideal for exact tokens.
Performance, Debugging, and Multiline Search
Understand ripgrep defaults, debug missing results, and use PCRE2 or multiline search when required.
Export
Copy the compact sheet, download it, or print it.
Download
`D` dense toggle · `C` copy all
Performance patterns
Keep searches fast while still finding what you need.
bashANYripgrepperformancetypes
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rg -t py 'dataclass' .Targeting the right file types can cut search time dramatically in large monorepos.
bashANYripgrepperformancemax-count
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rg -m 1 'deprecated' src/When you only need confirmation, early cutoff saves time.
bashANYripgrepfilesystem
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rg --one-file-system 'backup' /Useful in server environments with mounted volumes or network filesystems.
bashANYripgrepthreads
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rg -j 4 'TODO' .ripgrep auto-detects threads well, but manual tuning can help in constrained environments.
Debug missing or surprising results
Figure out why ripgrep did or did not return a match.
bashANYripgrepdebug
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rg --debug 'docker' .This reveals whether a path was skipped because of hidden-file, ignore, or glob rules.
bashANYripgreptrace
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rg --trace 'TODO' .Trace mode is noisier but can be useful when diagnosing regex, ignore, or performance issues.
bashANYripgrepbinarydebug
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rg -a 'PNG' asset.binBinary detection can hide expected matches in mixed-content files.
bashANYripgreppcre2debug
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rg '(?<=id=)\d+' file.txt && rg -P '(?<=id=)\d+' file.txtIf the default engine fails on look-around or backreferences, switch to PCRE2.
bashANYripgrepignoredebug
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rg --no-ignore 'generated' .A before/after comparison often immediately explains missing hits.
Multiline and structured-text searches
Handle patterns that span lines or depend on block structure.
bashANYripgrepmultiline
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rg -U 'first_name
last_name' sample.txtUse this for YAML, stack traces, templates, or prose blocks.
bashANYripgrepmultilinepcre2
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rg -Pzo '(?s)BEGIN.*?END' file.txt`(?s)` makes dot match newlines; `-z` turns NUL into the record separator for multi-line output.
bashANYripgrepyamlmultiline
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rg -U 'image: .*
(?:.*
){0,5}pullPolicy:' deploy.yamlMultiline search can quickly inspect structured config without a parser.
bashANYripgrepjsonmultiline
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rg -U '"error"\s*:\s*true.*
.*"retry"' data.jsonFor more precision on JSON, consider `jq`, but multiline rg is good for exploration.
bashANYripgrephtmlmultiline
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rg -Pzo '(?s)<script.*?</script>' index.htmlThis is useful for quick extraction or audits before using a proper parser.
More in ripgrep
Real-World Code Search Recipes
High-value ripgrep recipes for refactors, security scans, framework audits, logs, and docs.
Config and Shell Integration
Persist preferred flags, create custom types, and combine ripgrep with fd, fzf, git, and editors.
Replace, Preprocess, and Encodings
Preview replacements, search transformed files, and handle compressed or non-UTF8 data.
Output, Context, and Reporting
Control headings, context lines, counts, paths, columns, and machine-readable output.
Globs, Types, and Ignore Rules
Control what ripgrep searches with globs, type filters, hidden files, and ignore behavior.
Regex and Fixed Strings
Use basic regex, PCRE2, word boundaries, alternation, and literal searches with ripgrep.