A fast, feature-rich text search tool similar to grep, written in Rust.
perg is a modern implementation of the classic grep utility, designed for speed and ease of use. It supports regular expressions, recursive directory searching, and various output formatting options.
- Fast text searching with regular expression support
- Recursive directory search with the
-rflag - Case-insensitive matching with the
-iflag - Line number display with the
-nflag - Filename display with the
-Hflag - Invert match (show non-matching lines) with the
-vflag - Files with/without matches listing with
-l/-Lflags - Count matching lines with the
-cflag - Show only matching parts with the
-oflag - Context lines with
-B(before),-A(after), and-C(around) flags - Limit matches with the
-mflag - Colorized output with the
--colorflag - Multiple file/directory support
- Proper error handling and exit codes
❯ perg --help
A fast, feature-rich text search tool similar to grep, written in Rust
Usage: perg [OPTIONS] <PATTERN> [PATH]...
Arguments:
<PATTERN> Pattern to search for (supports regular expressions)
[PATH]... Files or directories to search in
Options:
-i, --ignore-case
Perform case insensitive matching
-n, --line-number
Show line numbers
-H, --with-filename
Show filenames
-r, --recursive
Recursively search directories
-s, --no-messages
Suppress error messages about inaccessible files
-v, --invert-match
Invert match: show lines that do NOT match the pattern
-l, --files-with-matches
Only show filenames that contain matches
-L, --files-without-match
Only show filenames that do NOT contain matches
-c, --count
Print a count of matching lines for each input file
-B, --before-context <BEFORE_CONTEXT>
Print NUM lines of leading context before matching lines [default: 0]
-A, --after-context <AFTER_CONTEXT>
Print NUM lines of trailing context after matching lines [default: 0]
-C, --context <CONTEXT>
Print NUM lines of output context [default: 0]
-m, --max-count <MAX_COUNT>
Stop reading a file after NUM matching lines
-o, --only-matching
Print only the matched (non-empty) parts of a matching line
-h, --help
Print help
-V, --version
Print versionA test.md file is included in this repo for testing:
$ cat test.md
hello world hi world bye world end of file TitleSearch for a pattern in a file:
$ perg hello test.md
hello worldLine numbers:
$ perg -n world test.md
1:hello world
2:hi world
3:bye worldCase insensitive search:
$ perg -i title test.md
TitleInvert match (show lines that DON'T match):
$ perg -v world test.md
end of file
TitleRecursive directory search:
perg -r "pattern" /path/to/directoryShow filenames with matches:
$ perg -l world test.md
test.mdShow filenames without matches:
$ perg -L world test.md
# (shows files that don't contain "world")Count matching lines:
$ perg -c world test.md
test.md:2Show only matching parts:
$ perg -o 'h[ei]' test.md
hello
hiContext lines around matches:
# Show 1 line before and after each match
$ perg -B 1 -A 1 'pattern' file.txt
# Show 2 lines of context around matches
$ perg -C 2 'pattern' file.txtLimit number of matches:
$ perg -m 2 'pattern' file.txt
# Show only the first 2 matchesColorized output:
$ perg --color=always 'pattern' file.txt
# Show matches with color highlighting
$ perg --color=never 'pattern' file.txt
# Never show colors (plain text)
$ perg --color=auto 'pattern' file.txt
# Show colors automatically based on terminal support (default)Multiple files:
$ perg -H pattern file1.txt file2.txt
file1.txt:matching line
file2.txt:another matchRegular expressions:
$ perg "h[ei]" test.md
hello world
hi world
$ perg "hello|bye" test.md
hello world
bye world
$ perg "^(be)" test.md
bye world
end of fileCombined options:
perg -r -i -n "error" /var/log/Using Cargo via rustup:
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | shThen install perg:
cargo install pergNote: If you see "cargo command not found", restart your terminal and run the install command again.
Clone the repository and build:
git clone https://github.com/vinhnx/perg.git
cd perg
cargo build --release
./target/release/perg --help0: Success, matches found (or no matches when using-L)1: File not found or other I/O errors2: Invalid regular expression
This project is organized as follows:
src/
├── main.rs # CLI entry point
├── lib.rs # Library exports
├── cli.rs # Command-line argument parsing
├── search.rs # Core search functionality
├── error.rs # Error types and handling
└── ...
This project was created as a learning exercise for Rust programming. It demonstrates:
- Modern Rust development practices
- CLI application development with clap
- Error handling patterns
- Unit and integration testing
- Documentation with rustdoc
cargo test # Run all tests
cargo test --test integration_test # Run integration tests only
cargo test search::tests # Run specific test moduleThe tool is optimized for performance and can handle large files and directories efficiently.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:
- Report bugs
- Suggest features
- Submit pull requests
- Improve documentation
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Glad you asked, perg is just the reversed spelling of grep! 🦀
- The Rust Programming Language Book
- Rust by Example
- Rustlings - Great for learning Rust
Rust continues to be one of the most loved programming languages according to Stack Overflow surveys. 🎁