CGrep

Name: CGrep
Author: Nicola Bonelli

A command-line search tool that finds patterns in source code with awareness of code, comments, and strings.

By Nicola Bonelli

Free Open sourceCommand line

Official websiteawgn.github.io

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View the CGrep source code

Alternatives

The Silver SearcherThe Silver Searcher finds matching text across project files, while cgrep specifically searches with awareness of code, comments and strings.
ackack searches source code in large trees like cgrep.
weggliA command-line tool for searching C and C++ codebases for patterns in their syntax trees.
ripgrepripgrep searches patterns across directory trees and skips gitignored files; cgrep instead describes code-aware matching across code, comments and strings.
ClangQLA command-line tool for querying C and C++ source code with SQL-like expressions.
CscopeA terminal tool for searching symbols, functions, text, and files across source code.

See all alternatives

About CGrep

CGrep searches source files by distinguishing code from comments and string literals. It supports semantic patterns, multi-line searches, language filters, and test code filtering across multiple languages.

It is useful for developers who want more context than plain text search provides. CGrep is available from Hackage or can be built from source.

Strengths

Searches code, comments, and string literals separately
Supports semantic and multi-line patterns
Can filter results to or exclude test code

Limitations

Command-line interface only

Details

Pricing: FreeFree and open source under the GPL-2.0 license.
License: GPL-2.0
Developer: Nicola Bonelli
Platforms: Command line
How it runs: Downloadable app
Best suited for: Developers searching code by syntax and context
Categories: CLI tools, Developer tools
Last verified: October 8, 2026
Added: October 8, 2026
Provenance: Selected from the Homebrew formula
Sources: awgn.github.io/cgrep

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