helm-ag.el provides interfaces of The Silver Searcher with helm.
- Support multiple search tools(ag, the platinum searcher, ack etc)
- Edit search result like wgrep
- Emacs 27 or higher
- helm 1.7.7 or higher
- The Silver Searcher 0.29.0 or higher.
helm-ag is available on MELPA and MELPA stable
You can install helm-ag with the following command.
M-x package-install [RET] helm-ag [RET]
Input search word with ag command. You can change search directory
with C-u prefix.
Same as helm-ag except to search only current file
Search with ag like helm-do-grep-ag , helm-grep-do-git-grep.
You can specify extra command line option of ag with minus prefix(M-- or C--).
Same as helm-do-ag except to search only current file
Smartly switch between helm-do-ag-this-file and helm-occur based on helm-ag-large-file-threshold.
Call helm-ag at project root. helm-ag seems directory as project root where
there is .git or .hg or .svn.
Call helm-do-ag at project root.
Search buffers by helm-ag
Search buffers by helm-do-ag
Move to point before jump
Clear context stack
Please set helm-follow-mode-persistent to non-nil if you want to use helm-follow-mode by default. You must set it before loading helm-ag.el.
(custom-set-variables
'(helm-follow-mode-persistent t))You can see file content temporarily by persistent action(C-j).
Pattern: -Gmd$ search_pattern
Command line options is -Gmd$ and search pattern is search_pattern.
helm-ag treats words which starts with - as command line option.
Pattern: foo\ bar\ baz
Search pattern is foo\ bar\ baz. You need to escape spaces with backslash.
In helm-ag, you need not to escape spaces.
Pattern: -- --count
Search pattern is --count.
helm-ag treats words after -- as search pattern.
ag(ack, pt) takes Perl compatible PCRE so that you need to escape meta characters
likes brackets, braces, asterisk, when you search them as literals.
Don't use space between option and its value. For example -tcpp is ok, -t cpp is not ok.
Please always use = separator for using long option. Don't use space as separator. For example --ignore=pattern is ok, --ignore pattern is not ok.
Base command of ag. Windows users should set --vimgrep option for using helm-do-ag. See #293
Command line option of base command.
Insert thing at point as default search pattern, if this value is non nil.
You can set the parameter same as thing-at-point(Such as 'word, symbol etc).
Enable fuzzy matching.
Use grep-find-ignored-files and grep-find-ignored-directories as ignore pattern.
They are specified to `--ignore' options."
Always set extra command line option of ag in helm-do-ag
if this value is non-nil.
Save buffers you edit at editing completed.
Use Emacs Lisp regexp instead of PCRE as pattern. NOTE: this is very simple conversion.
Use .agignore file at project root if this variable is non nil.
Use temporary buffer and not open file for persistent action.
Ignore buffer patterns of buffer search commands.
helm removes file-line type feature from 1.6.9. So helm-ag-source-type is no longer available.
helm-ag-map and helm-do-ag-map are inherited by helm-map.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
C-c o |
Open other window |
C-l |
Search in parent directory |
C-c C-e |
Switch to edit mode |
C-x C-s |
Save ag results to buffer(Ask save buffer name if prefix key is specified) |
C-c C-f |
Enable helm-follow-mode |
C-c >, right |
Move to next file |
C-c <, left |
Move to previous file |
C-c ? |
Show help message |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
C-c C-c |
Commit changes |
C-c C-k |
Abort |
C-c C-d |
Mark delete line |
C-c C-u |
Unmark |
You can use next-error and previous-error for seeing file content which
current line indicates.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
RET |
Jump to current line position |
C-o |
Jump to current line position in other window |
g |
Update result |
(custom-set-variables
'(helm-ag-base-command "ag --nocolor --nogroup --ignore-case")
'(helm-ag-command-option "--all-text")
'(helm-ag-insert-at-point 'symbol)
'(helm-ag-ignore-buffer-patterns '("\\.txt\\'" "\\.mkd\\'")))helm-ag.el can work other searching tools like platinum searcher or ack instead of the silver searcher.
I think the searching tool which supports grep like output, helm-ag can work with it.
(custom-set-variables
'(helm-ag-base-command "pt -e --nocolor --nogroup"))(custom-set-variables
'(helm-ag-base-command "ack --nocolor --nogroup"))(custom-set-variables
'(helm-ag-base-command "sift --no-color -n"))Ripgrep uses exit-status 2 to indicate a partial success:
(custom-set-variables
'(helm-ag-base-command "rg --no-heading --line-number --color never")
`(helm-ag-success-exit-status '(0 2)))When using ag or ack, helm-do-ag convert pattern from foo bar to "(?=.*" foo ".*)(?=.*" bar ".*)"
which pattern matches line which contains both foo and bar. But when using pt or rg, helm-do-ag
does not convert the pattern because Golang regexp(pt is written in Golang)
and rust's regex (rg is written in rust) does not support look-a-head pattern.
So using pt or rg behaves differently from ag when you use such pattern.
ag.el provides M-x grep interface.
Also it can work without helm.