#1 2026-09-30 10:08:31

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,107

[solved]Find file content

Using find I try to display the occurrence of "cairo_xlib" in a directory.

These commands work well, with the drawback of outputting a large number of paths:

find /media/DATEN/Conky -type f -exec grep -il "cairo_xlib" {} \;

find /media/DATEN/Conky -type f xargs grep -il "cairo_xlib"

or with grep

grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/DATEN/Conky

I only want the NUMBER of files found that contain 'cairo_xlib' (!).    Can anyone help?

Last edited by unklar (2026-09-30 14:59:42)

brontosaurusrex

Senior Associate, Middle Office

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 2,820

Website

Re: [solved]Find file content

With ripgrep

rg cairo_xlib --stats | grep 'files contained matches'

and I'am sure there is a version of this that doesn't need grep.

edit: or

grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,107

Re: [solved]Find file content

With ripgrep

rg cairo_xlib --stats | grep 'files contained matches'

and I'am sure there is a version of this that doesn't need grep.

edit: or

grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

BINGO!
Thank you, @bronto

ripgrep is not installed, but

grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

satisfies me. 

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,432

Re: [solved]Find file content

With ripgrep

rg cairo_xlib --stats | grep 'files contained matches'

and I'am sure there is a version of this that doesn't need grep.

edit: or

grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

I get different results:

2026·09·30 @ 10:56:17 /media/5/Conky
   $ rg cairo_xlib --stats /media/5/Conky | grep 'files contained matches'
420 files contained matches
 
 2026·09·30 @ 11:46:18 /media/5/Conky
   $ 

↑↑ 420 files vs ↓↓ 425 (THE WINNER) ↓↓

 2026·09·30 @ 10:54:19 ~
   $ grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/5/Conky | wc -l
425

So I stripped out the "wc -l"  and put them in a file ...

 2026·09·30 @ 11:46:37 ~
   $ grep -ilR "cairo_xlib" /media/5/Conky>cairo.txt

Then did a sort | removing any duplicates:
]

425 is the winner

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brontosaurusrex

Senior Associate, Middle Office

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 2,820

Website

Re: [solved]Find file content

For behavior closer to grep -ilR, including hidden/ignored files, symlinks and binary files:

rg -il --hidden --no-ignore --follow --text 'cairo_xlib' /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

ai says:

--hidden — include hidden files and directories, such as .config.
--no-ignore — search files even when .gitignore, .ignore, or similar rules exclude them.
--follow — follow symbolic links and search their targets.
--text — treat binary files as text and search their contents too.

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,432

Re: [solved]Find file content

Rabbit hole getting deeper.   

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Debian 13 Beardog hosted by SoxDog
Still a Conky 1.9er at heart.

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 13,491

Website

Re: [solved]Find file content

For behavior closer to grep -ilR, including hidden/ignored files, symlinks and binary files:

rg -il --hidden --no-ignore --follow --text 'cairo_xlib' /media/DATEN/Conky | wc -l

ai says:

--hidden — include hidden files and directories, such as .config.
--no-ignore — search files even when .gitignore, .ignore, or similar rules exclude them.
--follow — follow symbolic links and search their targets.
--text — treat binary files as text and search their contents too.

So, what advantages does ripgrep have over that grep command?

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Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

brontosaurusrex

Senior Associate, Middle Office

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 2,820

Website

Re: [solved]Find file content

https://ripgrep.dev/vs/grep/

For me, better defaults and speed.

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 13,491

Website

Re: [solved]Find file content

^Look like improvements, yes. Thanks for finding it, although I'll probably stay with grep for now - even grepping the whole set of BL debian package source repos doesn't take all that long.

---

...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
( a boring Japan blog (currently paused), now on Bluesky and Mastodon, there's also some GitStuff )

Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,432

Re: [solved]Find file content

https://ripgrep.dev/vs/grep/

For me, better defaults and speed.

Thanks for the link.

---

Debian 13 Beardog hosted by SoxDog
Still a Conky 1.9er at heart.