How to find files with certain text in the Terminal

Question

I'd like to find all files that contain a certain string of text. How would you do that in the Terminal?

If you want a fast result, use Spotlight, though. Also if you want to find files that don't necessarily store text directly within the file such as PDF or ODF.
Good advice, but in my case I'm not sure the files are indexed since they are on network drivers. And also they are xml files belonging to a particular program.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Answer 1 · 2010-07-13 09:47:11Z

up vote 8 down vote accepted

grep -r 'text goes here' path_goes_here

answered Jul 13 '10 at 9:47

	Awesome simple answer. Thanks! – Svish Jul 13 '10 at 9:51
	Congrats on your 10K. – Dennis Williamson Jul 13 '10 at 14:31

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user46046 · Answer 2 · 2010-08-12 22:38:59Z

up vote 2 down vote

use spotlight

mdfind "text goes here"
mdfind -onlyin /home/user/Desktop -live "live update"

don't forget to look at:

man mdfind

answered Aug 12 '10 at 22:38

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2 Answers