Searching multiple file contents from command line

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I'm trying to search a lot of files for a particular string on my webserver and don't know what command to use. I only have shell access. Thanks.

[Craig McPherson]

You can search every file in a directory like this:

grep -n * searchstring

You can also search all subdirectories as well by adding the -r option. See the grep manpage for more options.

[intensity]

Thanks Craig! :)

[intensity]

Sorry, I have another question. So my search string is an IP address. In the man pages it says that the period matches any single character. Am I correct in using a backslash allows me to do the search I want? Thanks again. :D

[Craig McPherson]

Yes, backslashing the dots will give you the search you want. You probably don't have to, though: it's true that grepping for "111.111.111.111" without the periods backslashed will also match "111b111C1114111", but there's probably not much chance that you'll have something like that in your files anyway.

I almost forgot, you can also just use the -F option, and it'll interpret your entire search string litterally, so you won't have to backslash the periods. You can also use "fgrep": "fgrep" is the same as "grep -F"