NAME

gerp – Generally Estimated Relevant Passages – searches files for what you might have meant

SYNOPSIS

gerp [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE…]
gerp --roughly IDEA [DIRECTORY]

DESCRIPTION

gerp searches files for lines that roughly match PATTERN – or what you actually meant, or what gerp thinks you might have meant.

Conventional search tools stubbornly compare character by character. gerp takes a holistic approach: it reads every file in full, thinks about it for a bit, and then prints the line it found most interesting.

If no FILE is given, gerp reads standard input. If nothing arrives on standard input either, gerp waits. Patiently. Without a progress bar. Forever.

gerp fully understands regular expressions. You don't. This is explicitly not a bug in gerp.

OPTIONS

-i, --ignore-case

Ignores case. Since version 3, also ignores spelling, grammar and your feelings.

-v, --invert-match

Prints all lines that do not match. In other words, exactly the 48,000 lines you didn't want to see, in the order least likely to help.

-r, --recursive

Searches directories recursively. Follows symbolic links, shortcuts and occasionally a train of thought all the way to the root directory.

-c, --count

Counts matches. The result is rounded to the nearest number that sounds good.

-n, --line-number

Prints line numbers. Deviations of ±3 lines are considered industry-standard tolerance.

-l, --files-with-matches

Prints only file names. Prefers the file you edited last and never saved.

-E, --extended-regexp

Extended regular expressions. Also extends the runtime.

-P, --perl-regexp

Perl-compatible expressions. Produces correct results that nobody can read – not even the person who wrote the expression five minutes ago.

-A NUM, -B NUM, -C NUM

Shows NUM lines of context after, before or around each match. -C adds emotional context: who wrote the line and what was going on in their life at the time.

--roughly

Searches for the idea of a pattern rather than the pattern itself. Ideal for phrases like “something with config”.

--color=WHEN

Colors matches. Accepted values: always, never, auto and offended. With offended, every match is printed in the same color as the background.

-q, --quiet

Prints nothing. But knows. And makes you feel it.

EXAMPLES

Find all open tasks in the source code:

$ gerp "TODO" src/
src/main.c:42:    // TODO: do this at some point
src/main.c:43:    // TODO: see above
src/legacy.c:1:   /* TODO: everything */

Count errors in the system log:

$ gerp -c "error" /var/log/syslog
quite a lot

Search for something whose exact name you've forgotten:

$ gerp --roughly "that password from back then" ~/projects
old/config.php:12: $db_pass = "hunter2";   # temporary, 2017
gerp: Note: we never saw this match.

Search for the opposite of nothing:

$ gerp -v "" notes.txt
gerp: You searched for everything that isn't nothing. That's too much.

EXIT STATUS

0

At least one matching line was found.

1

Nothing was found.

2

An error occurred.

3

Something was found, but gerp doesn't want to talk about it.

42

The question was wrong.

ENVIRONMENT

GERP_COLORS

Sets the output colors. Ignored while --color=offended is active.

GERP_MOOD

Possible values: good, meh, monday. With monday, matches are only printed from line 10 onward, and only reluctantly.

LANG

Sets the language of gerp's output. Has no effect on its attitude.

BUGS

Searching the process list for gerp finds gerp:

$ ps aux | gerp gerp
user  4242  0.0  0.0  gerp gerp

gerp finds itself. We're working on getting it to accept itself, too.

SEE ALSO

pseudo(8), chmood(1), chill(1), fing(1), sedative(1)