3

I have a phrase, e.g. This is an example phrase, and a collection of text files (coll.d/a.txt, coll.d/b.txt, etc.), and I'm looking for the former in the latter.

The thing is, maybe my pattern is splitted over several lines of text, so plain grep isn't so simple.
I like the way C-s deals with spaces, case, the kill-ring, and so on, and look for such behaviour.

So how can I search many files with it ?


Certainly an answer is burried somewhere in documentation or manuals but rgrep, find, replace, regexp, and occur somewhat complicate the search, without even mentionning all things dired.

1
  • Over 10k files in a remote dired buffer, (* t takes a while and) M-s a C-s freezes forever before even asking for a search string. I guess that's asking too much, but I wonder if there's another way (or why it should take so much ressources). Jul 2, 2015 at 17:13

1 Answer 1

3
  1. Mark the files in Dired (* t to mark all).

  2. Use M-s a C-s to search them. For regexp search, use M-s a C-M-s.

See the Emacs manual, nodes Misc Dired Features and Marks vs Flags.

If you need to search in a hierarchy of directories (i.e., recursively), use Dired+ and prefix key M-+ (i.e., M-+ M-s a C-s or M-+ M-s a C-M-s).

(You can also search a set of files anywhere the same way. Create a Dired buffer of arbitrary files, from anywhere, and use the same search keys.)

0

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.