ripgrep: Powerful, one-shot text search
Always invoke ripgrep skill for text search - do not execute bash commands directly.
Default Strategy
Invoke ripgrep skill for fast text search with one-shot patterns. Use -e 'pattern' -n -C 2 to get files, line numbers, and context in a single call.
This minimizes iterations and context usage. Always prefer getting line numbers and surrounding context over multiple search attempts.
Common workflow: ripgrep skill → other skills (fzf, bat, sd, analyzing-code-structure) for interactive selection, preview, or modification.
Tool Selection
Grep tool (built on ripgrep) - Use for structured searches:
- Basic pattern matching with structured output
- File type filtering with
typeparameter - When special flags like
-F,-v,-w, or pipe composition are not needed - Handles 95% of search needs
Bash(rg) - Use for one-shot searches needing special flags or composition:
- Fixed string search (
-F) - Invert match (
-v) - Word boundaries (
-w) - Context lines with patterns (
-n -C 2) - Pipe composition (
| head,| wc -l,| sort) - Default choice for efficient one-shot results
Glob tool - Use for file name/path matching only (not content search)
When to Load Detailed Reference
Load ripgrep guide when needing:
- One-shot search pattern templates
- Effective flag combinations for complex searches
- Pipe composition patterns
- File type filters reference (
-tflags) - Performance optimization for large result sets
- Pattern syntax examples
- Translation between Grep tool and rg commands
The guide focuses on practical patterns for getting targeted results in minimal calls.
Pipeline Combinations
- rg | fzf: Interactive selection from search results
- rg | sd: Batch replacements on search results
- rg | xargs: Execute commands on matched files
Skill Combinations
For Discovery Phase
- fd → ripgrep: Find files of specific type, then search within them
- extracting-code-structure → ripgrep: Understand structure, then search for specific patterns
- jq/yq → ripgrep: Extract field values, then search for their usage
For Analysis Phase
- ripgrep → fzf: Interactive selection from search matches
- ripgrep → bat: View matched files with syntax highlighting
- ripgrep → ast-grep: After finding text patterns, apply structural changes
For Refactoring Phase
- ripgrep → sd: Replace found patterns with new content
- ripgrep → xargs: Execute commands on all matching files
- ripgrep → tokei: Get statistics for files containing specific patterns
- ripgrep → analyzing-code-structure: After finding text patterns, apply structural changes
Integration Examples
# Find and edit all references to a function
rg "functionName" -l | fzf --multi --preview="bat --color=always --highlight-line $(rg -n "functionName" {} | head -1 | cut -d: -f2) {}" | xargs vim
# Find TODOs and create summary
rg "TODO|FIXME" -n | fzf --multi --preview="bat --color=always --highlight-line {2} {1}"