19 Jan 2012

How Multi-File Search in BBEdit improved my workflow


It's fairly common that I'll have to look through dozens of files for particular lines of text. Sometimes it's a set of log files that I need to find every instance of a certain action in... Sometimes it's a CodeIgniter project that I need to find each instance of a function in...

In the past, I've used grep to do this. It allowed me to search an entire directory of files with one command, which was incredibly helpful. I still had to note the filenames that contained the search results, and open those files in an editor. After I was in the editor, I'd have to do another search to actually get to the text that I was looking for.

Now, with BBEdit, I do one Multi-File Search and click the search results that I want to inspect closer. This opens the file in the lower half of the window - just below the search results in the same window. The file is opened directly to the line I need, with the search result highlighted. It's not just a display of the file, either, it's a fully functioning editor.

Fast searching.
Instant access.
Complete context.
In-search editing.

BBEdit just replaced grep in my workflow.

Tags

bbedit grep search workflow

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