Mac Search For Files Containing Text
Jul 29, 2019 Start your search on your Mac in Spotlight or in a Finder window. In Spotlight: Click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar, enter your search, then double-click “Show all in Finder” at the bottom of the search results list to display the Finder search bar. In Finder: Enter your search in the search field, then press Return. You can also upload files via FTP and Amazon S3, or shorten URLs using the newly-added Goo.gl shortener. It’s all housed within a tiny icon that sits in the menu bar. Google Chrome.
I have to admit that there are tens and thousands of text files on any Linux or Unix based server. Finding and locating those files can be done with the find command. Unfortunately, find command cannot look inside a text file for a string.You need to use the grep command. The grep command or egrep command searches the given input FILEs for lines containing a match or a text string.
grep command syntax for finding a file containing a particular text string
The syntax is:grep 'text string to search' directory-path
grep [option] 'text string to search' directory-path
grep -r 'text string to search'directory-path
grep -r -H 'text string to search' directory-path
egrep -R 'word-1 word-2' /path/to/directory
egrep -w -R 'word-1 word-2' directory-path
Let us see some common example on how to use grep to search for strings in files.
How to search and find all files for a given text string
In this example, search for a string called ‘redeem reward’ in all text (*.txt) files located in /home/tom/ directory, use:$ grep 'redeem reward' /home/tom/*.txt
OR$ grep 'redeem reward' ~/*.txt
Task: Search all subdirectories recursively
You can search for a text string all files under each directory, recursively with -r option:$ grep -r 'redeem reward' /home/tom/
OR$ grep -R 'redeem reward' /home/tom/
Look for all files containing cacheRoot text on Linux:grep -R cacheRoot /home/vivek/
Task: Only display filenames
By default, the grep command prints the matching lines. You can pass -H option to print the filename for each match:$ grep -H -r 'redeem reward' /home/tom
Sample outputs:
To just display the filename use the cut command as follows:$ grep -H -R vivek /etc/* cut -d: -f1
Sample outputs:
Task: Suppress file names
The grep command shows output on a separate line, and it is preceded by the name of the file in which it was found in the case of multiple files. You can pass the -h option to suppress inclusion of the file names in the output:$ grep -h -R 'main()' ~/projects/*.c
Task: Display only words
You can select only those lines containing matches that form whole words using the -w option. In this example, search for word ‘getMyData()’ only in ~/projects/ dirctory:$ grep -w -R 'getMyData()' ~/projects/
Task: Search for two or more words
Use the egrep command as follows:$ egrep -w -R 'word1 word2' ~/projects/
Task: Hide warning spam
grep command generate error message as follows due to permission and other issues:
No such file or directory
No such device or address
Permission denied
To hide all errors or warning message spam generated by the grep command, append 2>/dev/null to grep command. This will send and hide unwanted output to /dev/null device:$ grep -w -R 'getMyData()' ~/projects/ 2>/dev/null
Task: Display matched text in color
Pass the --color option to the grep command display matched text/words in color on the terminal:
Sample outputs:
Task: Ignore case
Our final example ignore case distinctions in both the search PATTERN and the input files:grep -i -R 'word' /path/to/dir
grep -i -r 'income tax' ~/accounting/
How do I find all files containing specific text on Linux?
The syntax is:egrep 'pattern' -rnw /path/to/dir/
egrep 'word1 word2' -rnw /home/vivek/backups/
Finding text strings within files using grep
In this example search for lines starting with any lowercase or uppercase letter:grep '^[a-zA-Z]' -rns ~/projects/texts/
Where,
- -r – Recursive search
- -R – Read all files under each directory, recursively. Follow all symbolic links, unlike -r grep option
- -n – Display line number of each matched line
- -s – Suppress error messages about nonexistent or unreadable files
- -w – Only work on words i.e. search only those lines containing matches that form whole words
- -l – Show the name of each input file when match found
- -i – Ignore case while searching
The Finder is the first thing that you see when your Mac finishes starting up. It opens automatically and stays open as you use other apps. It includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and the desktop below that. It uses windows and icons to show you the contents of your Mac, iCloud Drive, and other storage devices. It's called the Finder because it helps you to find and organize your files.
Open windows and files
To open a window and see the files on your Mac, switch to the Finder by clicking the Finder icon (pictured above) in the Dock. Switching to the Finder also reveals any Finder windows that might be hidden behind the windows of other apps. You can drag to resize windows and use the buttons to close , minimize , or maximize windows. Learn more about managing windows.
When you see a document, app, or other file that you want to open, just double-click it.
Change how your files are displayed
To change how files are displayed in Finder windows, use the View menu in the menu bar, or the row of buttons at the top of the Finder window. You can view files as icons , in a list , in columns , or in a gallery . And for each view, the View menu provides options to change how items are sorted and arranged, such as by kind, date, or size. Learn more about customizing views.
When you view files in a gallery, you can browse your files visually using large previews, so it's easy to identify images, videos, and all kinds of documents. Gallery View in macOS Mojave even lets you play videos and scroll through multipage documents. Earlier versions of macOS have a similar but less powerful gallery view called Cover Flow .
Gallery View in macOS Mojave, showing the sidebar on the left and the Preview pane on the right.
Use the Preview pane
The Preview pane is available in all views by choosing View > Show Preview from the menu bar. Or press Shift-Command (⌘)-P to quickly show or hide the Preview pane.
macOS Mojave enhances the Preview pane in several ways:
- More information, including detailed metadata, can be shown for each file. This is particularly useful when working with photos and media, because key EXIF data, like camera model and aperture value, are easy to locate. Choose View > Preview Options to control what information the Preview pane can show for the kind of file selected.
- Quick Actions let you easily manage or edit the selected file.
Use Quick Actions in the Preview pane
With Quick Actions in macOS Mojave, you can take actions on a file without opening an app. Quick Actions appear at the bottom of the Preview pane and vary depending on the kind of file selected.
- Rotate an image
- Mark up an image or PDF
- Combine images and PDFs into a single PDF file
- Trim audio and video files
To manage Quick Actions, click More , then choose Customize. macOS Mojave includes a standard set of Quick Actions, but Quick Actions installed by third-party apps also appear here. You can even create your own Quick Actions using Automator.
Use Stacks on your desktop
macOS Mojave introduces Stacks, which lets you automatically organize your desktop into neat stacks of files, so it's easy to keep your desktop tidy and find exactly what you're looking for. Learn more about Stacks.
The sidebar in Finder windows contains shortcuts to AirDrop, commonly used folders, iCloud Drive, devices such your hard drives, and more. Like items in the Dock, items in the sidebar open with just one click.
To change the items in your sidebar, choose Finder > Preferences from the Finder menu bar, then click Sidebar at the top of the preferences window. You can also drag files into or out of the sidebar. Learn more about customizing the sidebar.
Search for files
To search with Spotlight, click the magnifying glass in the menu bar, or press Command–Space bar. Spotlight is similar to Quick Search on iPhone or iPad. Learn more about Spotlight.
To search from a Finder window, use the search field in the corner of the window:
When you select a search result, its location appears at the bottom of the window. To get to this view from Spotlight, choose “Show all in Finder” from the bottom of the Spotlight search results.
In both Spotlight and Finder, you can use advanced searches to narrow your search results.
Delete files
To move a file to the Trash, drag the file to the Trash in the Dock. Or select one or more files and choose File > Move To Trash (Command-Delete).
To remove a file from the Trash, click the Trash to open it, then drag the file out of the Trash. Or select the file and choose File > Put Back.
To delete the files in the Trash, choose File > Empty Trash. The storage space used by those files then becomes available for other files. In macOS Sierra, you can set up your Mac to empty the trash automatically.