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# Better than Grep

# update

As Andy Lester told me `ack` is a simple file you only have to copy in your `~/bin` folder. Now I’ve got `ack` on my professional server.

Go on http://betterthangrep.com to download it.

Sincerely, I don’t understand `ack` don’t become a common command on all UNIX systems. I can no more live without. For me it is as essential as `which` or `find`.

# Better than grep

One of the my main usage of `grep` is

    grep 'pattern' **/*(.)

Most of time it is enough. But it is far better with colored output. `ack-grep` in Ubuntu does that. As I couldn’t install it on my ‘Evil Company Server’, I had done one myself in very few lines:

    #!/usr/bin/env zsh
    (($#<1)) && { print 'usage: ack "regexp"' >&2; exit 1 }

    listeFic=( **/*(.) )
    autoload zargs
    zargs -- $listeFic -- grep $1 | perl -ne 'use Term::ANSIColor;
    if (m/([^:]*)(:.*)('$1')(.*)/) {
        print color("green").$1;
        print color("reset").$2;
        print color("black","on_yellow").$3;
        print color("reset").$4."\n";
    } '

For my team and I it is usable enough. I hope it could help.

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Published on 2009-07-22
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Yann Esposito©
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