ffgrep

A fast file finder and grep tool that combines the functionality of find and grep into a single command.

Developed with assistance from Claude AI by Anthropic.

Overview

ffgrep replaces the common pattern of find . -name '*.ext' | xargs grep pattern with a simpler, more efficient command. It recursively searches for files matching a pattern and greps for content within those files.

Installation

Simply clone this repository and make the script executable:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/ffgrep.git
cd ffgrep
chmod +x ffgrep.py

Optionally, create a symlink to use it system-wide:

ln -s $(pwd)/ffgrep.py /usr/local/bin/ffgrep

Usage

./ffgrep.py [options] <regex> <targets...>

Arguments

• regex: Regular expression pattern to search for within files
• targets: File patterns (e.g., "*.c", ".py") and/or directories to search

Options

• -i, --ignore-case: Case insensitive search
• -l, --line-numbers: Show line numbers
• -n, --filename-only: Show only filenames that contain matches

Examples

# Find 'main' function in all C files
./ffgrep.py main "*.c"

# Extension shorthand - .c expands to *.c
./ffgrep.py CONFIG_HIGHMEM .c

# Case-insensitive search for test functions in Python files
./ffgrep.py "def.*test" "*.py" -i

# Show line numbers for error messages in log files
./ffgrep.py error "*.log" -l

# Search multiple file types
./ffgrep.py error "*.log" "*.txt" -l

# Search in multiple directories
./ffgrep.py main "*.c" src/ tests/

# Just show filenames containing TODO comments
./ffgrep.py TODO "*.py" -n

Features

• Fast: Uses generators to avoid loading all file paths into memory
• Flexible: Supports multiple file patterns and directories in a single command
• Smart: Extension shorthand (.c expands to *.c)
• Powerful: Full regex support for content search
• Portable: Single Python script with no external dependencies
• Unix-friendly: Follows Unix conventions for exit codes and output format

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• No external dependencies

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

Exit Codes

• 0: Matches found
• 1: No matches found or error occurred