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lib/Acme/CPANModules/GrepVariants.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

use Acme::CPANModulesUtil::Misc;

our $AUTHORITY = 'cpan:PERLANCAR'; # AUTHORITY
our $DATE = '2025-08-20'; # DATE
our $DIST = 'Acme-CPANModules-GrepVariants'; # DIST
our $VERSION = '0.014'; # VERSION

my $description = <<'MARKDOWN';
This list catalogs various grep-like tools.

**1. Reimplementations**

grep (from <pm:PerlPowerTools>) simply tries to reimplement grep in Perl, as
part of the project to reimplement many Unix utilities in Perl. It has few
practical uses; mainly educational. The portability advantage of Perl is
probably minor as grep and many Unix utilities are now available on other
platforms including Windows.


**2a. Improvements in recursive searching against files**

<prog:ack>. Created in 2005 by Andy Lester, <pm:ack> is the granddaddy of
grep-like programs that try to improve the experience of using grep to search
for text in source code. ack skips VCS directories like `.git` or `.svn`, and
understands file types so it doesn't look into giant `.mp4`s and other binaries
by default. ack has spurred the development of its improvements (mostly in speed
aspect) like The Silver Searcher (`ag`) (implemented in C) or `ripgrep`
(implemented in Rust). `git` also now includes a `git-grep` utility (implemented
in C). ack has a website: <https://beyondgrep.com>. See also
<https://betterthanack.com>.

<prog:gre> (from <pm:App::Gre>) is a "grep clone using Perl regexp's with better
file filtering, defaults, speed, and presentation". It seems to focus on
providing many options to filter files (from including/excluding by file
extension, by matching against filename, by first line, by maximum directory
depth, and so on). It also offers some alternative output styles.


**2b. Improvements in searching for multiple patterns in no particular order**

Normally with the regular grep, to search for all 'foo' and 'bar' *in no
particular order*, you either have to do something like:

    % grep --color=always foo FILES | grep bar

or:

    % grep -P 'foo.*bar|bar.*foo' FILES

both of which get unwieldy if the number of patterns get higher. Or you can use
look-ahead:

    % grep -P '(?=.*foo)(?=.*bar)' FILES

but this does not capture (thus highlight) the patterns. To do that, you can
pipe to grep once more:

    % grep -P '(?=.*foo)(?=.*bar)' FILES | grep -P '(foo|bar)'

but you introduce the complications of double filtering (e.g. filenames in
FILES is now the subject of the second grep).

Note that searching for multiple patterns in particular order ('foo.*bar'), or
searching for aternates from multiple patterns ('foo|bar') is no problem in
grep.

Some tools have been written to make it easier to specify multiple patterns:

<prog:abgrep> (from <pm:App::abgrep>) sports a `--all` option to require all
patterns to appear in a line (in no particular order). Normally, when multiple
patterns are given (via multiple `-e` or `--regexp` options), grep will include
lines that just contain at least one of the patterns.

<prog:greple> (from <pm:App::Greple>). By default, greple only display lines
that contain all patterns, instead of just one. greple also has a few other
tricks up its sleeve, like configuration file to define complex regexes,
matching across lines, and Japanese text support.

<prog:grep-terms> (from <pm:App::GrepUtils>) is a grep wrapper to convert
multiple terms into a chain of look-ahead patterns like described above. This
allows you to use the standard grep.


**3. Variants: alternate ways of specifying things to search for**

Instead of specifying a regexp pattern directly, with <prog:rpgrep> (from
<pm:App::rpgrep>) you can specify a pattern name in a <pm:Regexp::Pattern>::*
module instead.

With <prog:wcgrep> (from <pm:App::wcgrep>) you can search using wildcard pattern
instead of regex, which is admittedly more limited than regex.

<prog:grep-similar-to> (from <pm:App::grep::similar::text> lets you specify a
text and it will only show lines from input that are similar to the provided
text.

<prog:grep-sounds-like> (from <pm:App::grep::sounds::like> lets you specify a
word and it will only show lines from input that have words that sound like the
provided word. You can choose from one of several phonetic algorithms like
Metaphone (the default), Soundex, etc.

**4a. Variants: alternate source: repository (version control system) content and history**

For git, the abovementioned `git-grep` can search for files in the work tree as
well as commit content. For Mercurial, `hg grep` accomplishes the same.
Alternatively you can dump the history then use the standard `grep` to go
through it.


**4b. Variants: alternate source: Perl source code**

<prog:pmgrep> (from <pm:App::pmgrep>) lets you grep over locally installed Perl
modules. It's basically a shortcut for something like this:

    % pmlist -Rx | xargs grep PAT
    % grep PAT $(pmlist -Rx)

<prog:cpangrep> (from <pm:App::cpangrep>) is a CLI for web service
<https://cpan.grep.me>, which is no longer operating. To grep from files on
CPAN, use <https://metacpan.org>.

<prog:grepl> (from <pm:App::Grepl>) uses <pm:PPI> to let you grep over Perl
*documents*; it allows you to do things like: search only in Perl code comments
or inside string literals.

<prog:podgrep> (from <pm:pmtools>) greps from POD sections of Perl source.


**4c. Variants: alternate source: CSV**

<prog:csvgrep> (from <pm:csvgrep>)

<prog:csv-grep> (from <pm:App::CSVUtils>) allows you to apply Perl code against
rows of CSV.


**4d. Variants: alternate source: word lists**

<prog:wordlist> (from <pm:App::wordlist>) greps words from wordlist modules
(modules that contains word lists, see WordList).


**4e. Variants: other alternate sources**

<prog:grep-bash-history-entries> (from <pm:App::BashHistoryUtils>), with
<prog:grephist> as shorter alias.

<prog:grep-from-iod> (from <pm:App::IODUtils>).

<prog:grep-from-ini> (from <pm:App::INIUtils>).

<prog:grep-from-coin> (from <pm:App::CryptoCurrencyUtils>).

<prog:grep-from-exchange> (from <pm:App::CryptoCurrencyUtils>).

<prog:jgrep> (from <pm:App::JsonLogUtils>).

<prog:pdfgrep> (alias: <prog:grep-from-pdf>) (from <pm:App::PDFUtils>) searches
against text in PDF files (it's a wrapper for `pdftotext` utility and grep).

<prog:ptargrep> (from <pm:Archive::Tar>) searches against table of contents of
tar files.


**5a. Variants: searching URLs**

<prog:grep-url> (from <pm:App::grep::url>) greps URLs from lines of input. You
don't have to manually specify regex that matches URLs yourself; you can just
add additional criteria for the URLs, e.g. whether the host part must contain
some text, or whether a certain query parameter must match some pattern.


**5b. Variants: searching dates**

<prog:grep-date> (from L<App::grep::date>) greps for dates in lines of text.

<prog:dategrep> (from L<App::dategrep>) prints lines matching a date range.

MARKDOWN

our $LIST = {
    summary => 'List of grep-like CLI utilities available on CPAN',
    description => $description,
    entries => [
    ],
};

lib/Acme/CPANModules/GrepVariants.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

=head1 NAME

Acme::CPANModules::GrepVariants - List of grep-like CLI utilities available on CPAN

=head1 VERSION

This document describes version 0.014 of Acme::CPANModules::GrepVariants (from Perl distribution Acme-CPANModules-GrepVariants), released on 2025-08-20.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This list catalogs various grep-like tools.

B<1. Reimplementations>

grep (from L<PerlPowerTools>) simply tries to reimplement grep in Perl, as
part of the project to reimplement many Unix utilities in Perl. It has few
practical uses; mainly educational. The portability advantage of Perl is
probably minor as grep and many Unix utilities are now available on other
platforms including Windows.

B<2a. Improvements in recursive searching against files>

L<ack>. Created in 2005 by Andy Lester, L<ack> is the granddaddy of
grep-like programs that try to improve the experience of using grep to search
for text in source code. ack skips VCS directories like C<.git> or C<.svn>, and
understands file types so it doesn't look into giant C<.mp4>s and other binaries
by default. ack has spurred the development of its improvements (mostly in speed
aspect) like The Silver Searcher (C<ag>) (implemented in C) or C<ripgrep>
(implemented in Rust). C<git> also now includes a C<git-grep> utility (implemented
in C). ack has a website: L<https://beyondgrep.com>. See also
L<https://betterthanack.com>.

L<gre> (from L<App::Gre>) is a "grep clone using Perl regexp's with better
file filtering, defaults, speed, and presentation". It seems to focus on
providing many options to filter files (from including/excluding by file
extension, by matching against filename, by first line, by maximum directory
depth, and so on). It also offers some alternative output styles.

B<2b. Improvements in searching for multiple patterns in no particular order>

Normally with the regular grep, to search for all 'foo' and 'bar' I<in no
particular order>, you either have to do something like:

 % grep --color=always foo FILES | grep bar

or:

 % grep -P 'foo.*bar|bar.*foo' FILES

both of which get unwieldy if the number of patterns get higher. Or you can use
look-ahead:

 % grep -P '(?=.*foo)(?=.*bar)' FILES

but this does not capture (thus highlight) the patterns. To do that, you can
pipe to grep once more:

 % grep -P '(?=.*foo)(?=.*bar)' FILES | grep -P '(foo|bar)'

but you introduce the complications of double filtering (e.g. filenames in
FILES is now the subject of the second grep).

Note that searching for multiple patterns in particular order ('foo.*bar'), or
searching for aternates from multiple patterns ('foo|bar') is no problem in
grep.

Some tools have been written to make it easier to specify multiple patterns:

L<abgrep> (from L<App::abgrep>) sports a C<--all> option to require all
patterns to appear in a line (in no particular order). Normally, when multiple
patterns are given (via multiple C<-e> or C<--regexp> options), grep will include
lines that just contain at least one of the patterns.

L<greple> (from L<App::Greple>). By default, greple only display lines
that contain all patterns, instead of just one. greple also has a few other
tricks up its sleeve, like configuration file to define complex regexes,
matching across lines, and Japanese text support.

L<grep-terms> (from L<App::GrepUtils>) is a grep wrapper to convert
multiple terms into a chain of look-ahead patterns like described above. This
allows you to use the standard grep.

B<3. Variants: alternate ways of specifying things to search for>

Instead of specifying a regexp pattern directly, with L<rpgrep> (from
L<App::rpgrep>) you can specify a pattern name in a L<Regexp::Pattern>::*
module instead.

With L<wcgrep> (from L<App::wcgrep>) you can search using wildcard pattern
instead of regex, which is admittedly more limited than regex.

L<grep-similar-to> (from L<App::grep::similar::text> lets you specify a
text and it will only show lines from input that are similar to the provided
text.

L<grep-sounds-like> (from L<App::grep::sounds::like> lets you specify a
word and it will only show lines from input that have words that sound like the
provided word. You can choose from one of several phonetic algorithms like
Metaphone (the default), Soundex, etc.

B<4a. Variants: alternate source: repository (version control system) content and history>

For git, the abovementioned C<git-grep> can search for files in the work tree as
well as commit content. For Mercurial, C<hg grep> accomplishes the same.
Alternatively you can dump the history then use the standard C<grep> to go
through it.

B<4b. Variants: alternate source: Perl source code>

L<pmgrep> (from L<App::pmgrep>) lets you grep over locally installed Perl
modules. It's basically a shortcut for something like this:

 % pmlist -Rx | xargs grep PAT
 % grep PAT $(pmlist -Rx)

L<cpangrep> (from L<App::cpangrep>) is a CLI for web service
L<https://cpan.grep.me>, which is no longer operating. To grep from files on
CPAN, use L<https://metacpan.org>.

L<grepl> (from L<App::Grepl>) uses L<PPI> to let you grep over Perl
I<documents>; it allows you to do things like: search only in Perl code comments
or inside string literals.

L<podgrep> (from L<pmtools>) greps from POD sections of Perl source.

B<4c. Variants: alternate source: CSV>

L<csvgrep> (from L<csvgrep>)

L<csv-grep> (from L<App::CSVUtils>) allows you to apply Perl code against
rows of CSV.

B<4d. Variants: alternate source: word lists>

L<wordlist> (from L<App::wordlist>) greps words from wordlist modules
(modules that contains word lists, see WordList).

B<4e. Variants: other alternate sources>

L<grep-bash-history-entries> (from L<App::BashHistoryUtils>), with
L<grephist> as shorter alias.

L<grep-from-iod> (from L<App::IODUtils>).

L<grep-from-ini> (from L<App::INIUtils>).

L<grep-from-coin> (from L<App::CryptoCurrencyUtils>).

L<grep-from-exchange> (from L<App::CryptoCurrencyUtils>).

L<jgrep> (from L<App::JsonLogUtils>).

L<pdfgrep> (alias: L<grep-from-pdf>) (from L<App::PDFUtils>) searches
against text in PDF files (it's a wrapper for C<pdftotext> utility and grep).

L<ptargrep> (from L<Archive::Tar>) searches against table of contents of
tar files.

B<5a. Variants: searching URLs>

L<grep-url> (from L<App::grep::url>) greps URLs from lines of input. You
don't have to manually specify regex that matches URLs yourself; you can just
add additional criteria for the URLs, e.g. whether the host part must contain
some text, or whether a certain query parameter must match some pattern.

B<5b. Variants: searching dates>

L<grep-date> (from L<App::grep::date>) greps for dates in lines of text.

L<dategrep> (from L<App::dategrep>) prints lines matching a date range.

=head1 ACME::CPANMODULES ENTRIES

=over

=item L<PerlPowerTools>

Author: L<BRIANDFOY|https://metacpan.org/author/BRIANDFOY>

=item L<ack>

=item L<App::Gre>

Author: L<JACOBG|https://metacpan.org/author/JACOBG>