rg Code Search

Expert knowledge for using rg (ripgrep) as a blazingly fast code search tool with powerful filtering and pattern matching.

Core Expertise

ripgrep Advantages

• Extremely fast (written in Rust)
• Respects .gitignore automatically
• Smart case-insensitive search
• Recursive by default
• Colorized output
• Multi-line search support
• Replace functionality

Basic Usage

Simple Search

# Basic search
rg pattern                  # Search in current directory
rg "import numpy"           # Search for exact phrase
rg function_name            # Search for function name

# Case-sensitive search
rg -s Pattern               # Force case-sensitive
rg -i PATTERN               # Force case-insensitive

File Type Filtering

# Search specific file types
rg pattern -t py            # Python files only
rg pattern -t rs            # Rust files only
rg pattern -t js            # JavaScript files
rg pattern -t md            # Markdown files

# Multiple types
rg pattern -t py -t rs      # Python and Rust

# List available types
rg --type-list              # Show all known types

Extension Filtering

# Filter by extension
rg pattern -g '*.rs'        # Rust files
rg pattern -g '*.{js,ts}'   # JavaScript and TypeScript
rg pattern -g '!*.min.js'   # Exclude minified files

Advanced Patterns

Regular Expressions

# Word boundaries
rg '\bfunction\b'           # Match whole word "function"
rg '\btest_\w+'             # Words starting with test_

# Line anchors
rg '^import'                # Lines starting with import
rg 'return$'                # Lines ending with return
rg '^class \w+:'            # Python class definitions

# Character classes
rg 'TODO|FIXME|XXX'         # Find markers
rg '[Ee]rror'               # Error or error
rg '\d{3}-\d{4}'            # Phone numbers

Multi-line Search

# Multi-line patterns
rg -U 'fn.*\{.*\}'          # Function definitions (Rust)
rg -U 'struct.*{[^}]*}'     # Struct definitions

# Context lines
rg -A 5 pattern             # Show 5 lines after
rg -B 3 pattern             # Show 3 lines before
rg -C 2 pattern             # Show 2 lines before and after

Output Formatting

# Control output
rg -l pattern               # List files with matches only
rg -c pattern               # Count matches per file
rg --count-matches pattern  # Total match count

# Show context
rg -n pattern               # Show line numbers (default)
rg -N pattern               # Don't show line numbers
rg --heading pattern        # Group by file (default)
rg --no-heading pattern     # Don't group by file

# Customize output
rg --vimgrep pattern        # Vim-compatible format
rg --json pattern           # JSON output

Advanced Filtering

Path Filtering

# Search in specific directories
rg pattern src/             # Only src/ directory
rg pattern src/ tests/      # Multiple directories

# Exclude paths
rg pattern -g '!target/'    # Exclude target/
rg pattern -g '!{dist,build,node_modules}/'  # Exclude multiple

# Full path matching
rg pattern -g '**/test/**'  # Only test directories

Content Filtering

# Search only in files containing pattern
rg --files-with-matches "import.*React" | xargs rg "useState"

# Exclude files by content
rg pattern --type-not markdown

# Search only uncommitted files
rg pattern $(git diff --name-only)

Size and Hidden Files

# Include hidden files
rg pattern -u               # Include hidden
rg pattern -uu              # Include hidden + .gitignore'd
rg pattern -uuu             # Unrestricted: everything

# Exclude by size
rg pattern --max-filesize 1M  # Skip files over 1MB

Code Search Patterns

Finding Definitions

# Function definitions
rg '^def \w+\('             # Python functions
rg 'fn \w+\('               # Rust functions
rg '^function \w+\('        # JavaScript functions
rg '^\s*class \w+'          # Class definitions

# Interface/type definitions
rg '^interface \w+'         # TypeScript interfaces
rg '^type \w+ ='            # Type aliases
rg '^struct \w+'            # Struct definitions (Rust/Go)

Finding Usage

# Find function calls
rg 'functionName\('         # Direct calls
rg '\.methodName\('         # Method calls

# Find imports
rg '^import.*module_name'   # Python imports
rg '^use.*crate_name'       # Rust uses
rg "^import.*'package'"     # JavaScript imports

Code Quality Checks

# Find TODOs and FIXMEs
rg 'TODO|FIXME|XXX|HACK'    # Find all markers
rg -t py '#\s*TODO'         # Python TODOs
rg -t rs '//\s*TODO'        # Rust TODOs

# Find debug statements
rg 'console\.log'           # JavaScript
rg 'println!'               # Rust
rg 'print\('                # Python

# Find security issues
rg 'password.*=|api_key.*=' # Potential secrets
rg 'eval\('                 # Eval usage
rg 'exec\('                 # Exec usage

Testing Patterns

# Find tests
rg '^def test_' -t py       # Python tests
rg '#\[test\]' -t rs        # Rust tests
rg "describe\(|it\(" -t js  # JavaScript tests

# Find skipped tests
rg '@skip|@pytest.mark.skip' -t py
rg '#\[ignore\]' -t rs
rg 'test\.skip|it\.skip' -t js

File Operations

Search and Replace

# Preview replacements
rg pattern --replace replacement

# Perform replacement (requires external tool)
rg pattern -l | xargs sed -i 's/pattern/replacement/g'

# With confirmation (using fd and interactive)
fd -e rs | xargs rg pattern --files-with-matches | xargs -I {} sh -c 'vim -c "%s/pattern/replacement/gc" -c "wq" {}'

Integration with Other Tools

# Pipe to other commands
rg -l "TODO" | xargs wc -l          # Count lines with TODOs
rg "function" --files-with-matches | xargs nvim  # Open files in editor

# Combine with fd
fd -e py | xargs rg "class.*Test"   # Find test classes
fd -e rs | xargs rg "unsafe"        # Find unsafe blocks

# Count occurrences
rg -c pattern | awk -F: '{sum+=$2} END {print sum}'

Stats and Analysis

# Count total matches
rg pattern --count-matches --no-filename | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print sum}'

# Find most common matches
rg pattern -o | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# Files with most matches
rg pattern -c | sort -t: -k2 -rn | head -10

Performance Optimization

Speed Tips

# Limit search
rg pattern --max-depth 3    # Limit directory depth
rg pattern -g '*.rs' -t rust  # Use type filters

# Parallel processing (default)
rg pattern -j 4             # Use 4 threads

# Memory management
rg pattern --mmap           # Use memory maps (faster)
rg pattern --no-mmap        # Don't use memory maps

Large Codebase Strategies

# Narrow scope first
rg pattern src/             # Specific directory
rg pattern -t py -g '!test*'  # Specific type, exclude tests

# Use file list caching
rg --files > /tmp/files.txt
rg pattern $(cat /tmp/files.txt)

# Exclude large directories
rg pattern -g '!{target,node_modules,dist,build}/'

Best Practices

When to Use rg

• Searching code for patterns
• Finding function/class definitions
• Code analysis and auditing
• Refactoring support
• Security scanning

When to Use grep Instead

• POSIX compatibility required
• Simple one-off searches
• Piped input (stdin)
• System administration tasks

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Forgetting to escape regex special characters
• Not using -u flags when searching ignored files
• Not excluding large binary/generated files
• Using grep when rg would be much faster

Quick Reference

Essential Options

File Types (Common)

Common Command Patterns

# Find function definitions across codebase
rg '^\s*(def|fn|function)\s+\w+' -t py -t rs -t js

# Find all imports
rg '^(import|use|require)' -t py -t rs -t js

# Find potential bugs
rg 'TODO|FIXME|XXX|HACK|BUG'

# Find test files and count tests
rg -t py '^def test_' -c

# Find large functions (50+ lines)
rg -U 'def \w+.*\n(.*\n){50,}' -t py

# Security audit
rg 'password|api_key|secret|token' -i -g '!*.{lock,log}'

This makes rg the preferred tool for fast, powerful code search in development workflows.