pt

Find files containing "foo" and print the files with highlighted matches

$ pt [foo]

$ pt [[-c|--count]] [foo]

$ pt [[-wi|--word-regexp --ignore-case]] [foo]

$ pt [[-G|--file-search-regexp]]='[\.bar$]' [foo]

$ pt --depth=[2] -e '[^ba[rz]*$]'

pt [OPTIONS] PATTERN [PATH...]

-i, --ignore-case
    Ignore case distinctions in the pattern and input files.

-S, --smart-case
    Ignore case if the pattern contains no uppercase characters; otherwise, match case.

-w, --word-regexp
    Force the pattern to match only whole words.

-Q, --literal
    Treat the pattern as a literal string, escaping any regular expression metacharacters.

-v, --invert-match
    Invert the sense of matching, to select non-matching lines.

-l, --files-with-matches
    Only print the names of files that contain matches, one per line.

-L, --files-without-matches
    Only print the names of files that do not contain matches, one per line.

-C NUM, --context=NUM
    Print NUM lines of context around matches.

-B NUM, --before-context=NUM
    Print NUM lines of leading context before matches.

-A NUM, --after-context=NUM
    Print NUM lines of trailing context after matches.

-p PATTERN, --path-regexp=PATTERN
    Only search files whose path matches the given regular expression PATTERN.

-g PATTERN, --file-regexp=PATTERN
    Only search files whose name matches the given regular expression PATTERN.

-a, --all-files
    Search all files, including hidden and ignored files (those typically ignored by .gitignore).

-j NUM, --jobs=NUM
    Number of search workers to use. Defaults to the number of CPU cores.

The Platinum Searcher (pt) is a powerful command-line tool designed for ultra-fast code searching across large codebases. It serves as a modern alternative to traditional tools like grep, ack, and ag (The Silver Searcher), offering significant speed improvements by leveraging concurrent processing. Written in Go, pt intelligently navigates file systems, respecting .gitignore and .ptignore rules to automatically skip irrelevant files and directories. It supports various search patterns, including regular expressions and literal strings, and provides options for filtering by file type, path, and context control. Its primary advantage lies in its ability to quickly locate code snippets within vast projects, making it an indispensable tool for developers working on large software repositories.

pt is not a standard Linux utility and must be installed separately. While highly optimized for speed, its parallel processing can consume significant CPU resources on very large codebases. Its regular expression syntax follows Go's standard library, which might have minor differences from GNU grep's regex flavor.

pt intelligently respects common version control ignore files. It automatically skips files and directories specified in .gitignore, .hgignore, and its own specific ignore file, .ptignore. The .ptignore file takes precedence over others, allowing for fine-grained control over what gets searched.

A core design principle of pt is speed. It achieves its high performance by utilizing multiple CPU cores through Go's Goroutines for parallel file processing and optimized I/O operations. This allows it to outperform many traditional search tools, especially when dealing with massive repositories containing millions of lines of code.

The Platinum Searcher (pt) was created by monochromegane (Yasuhiro Matsumoto), inspired by similar code search tools like ack and ag (The Silver Searcher). It was developed with a primary focus on speed and efficiency for large codebases, leveraging the Go programming language's powerful concurrency features. Since its inception, it has gained popularity among developers for its ability to quickly navigate and search through extensive software projects, making it a valuable addition to many development workflows.

grep(1), ack(1), ag(1), rg(1), find(1)