.ackrc

#ack is a tool like grep, designed for programmers with large trees of heterogeneous source code

#to install ack, see http://betterthangrep.com/
#to use ack, launch terminal (mac osx) and type 'ack <some_keywords>'
#ack will search all files in the current directory & sub-directories

#here's how I have my config file setup. this file is located on mac osx here
# ~/.ackrc 

# Always sort the files
#--sort−files

# Always color, even if piping to a another program
--color

# Use "less −r" as my pager
# --pager
# less -r

--ignore-dir=.idea/
--ignore-dir=node_modules/

#make sure ack knows how to search common filetypes used in rails projects
--type-add=css=scss
--type-add=ruby=.haml,.rselm,.feature,.ru,.lock
--type-set=coffeescript=.coffee
--type-set=coffee=.coffee

#make sure ack knows how to search common filetypes used in node.js projects
--ignore-dir=node_modules
--type-set=coffee=.coffee
--type-set=jade=.jade
--type-set=feature=.feature
--type-set=json=.json

http://beyondgrep.com/documentation/

ack's command-line switches (ack --help)

Usage: ack [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILES OR DIRECTORIES]

Search for PATTERN in each source file in the tree from the current
directory on down. If any files or directories are specified, then
only those files and directories are checked. ack may also search
STDIN, but only if no file or directory arguments are specified,
or if one of them is "-".

Default switches may be specified in ACK_OPTIONS environment variable or
an .ackrc file. If you want no dependency on the environment, turn it
off with --noenv.

Example: ack -i select

Searching:
-i, --ignore-case Ignore case distinctions in PATTERN
--[no]smart-case Ignore case distinctions in PATTERN,
only if PATTERN contains no upper case.
Ignored if -i is specified
-v, --invert-match Invert match: select non-matching lines
-w, --word-regexp Force PATTERN to match only whole words
-Q, --literal Quote all metacharacters; PATTERN is literal

Search output:
--lines=NUM Only print line(s) NUM of each file
-l, --files-with-matches Only print filenames containing matches
-L, --files-without-matches Only print filenames with no matches
--output=expr Output the evaluation of expr for each line
(turns off text highlighting)
-o Show only the part of a line matching PATTERN
Same as --output='$&'
--passthru Print all lines, whether matching or not
--match PATTERN Specify PATTERN explicitly.
-m, --max-count=NUM Stop searching in each file after NUM matches
-1 Stop searching after one match of any kind
-H, --with-filename Print the filename for each match (default:
on unless explicitly searching a single file)
-h, --no-filename Suppress the prefixing filename on output
-c, --count Show number of lines matching per file
--[no]column Show the column number of the first match

-A NUM, --after-context=NUM Print NUM lines of trailing context after
matching lines.
-B NUM, --before-context=NUM Print NUM lines of leading context before
matching lines.
-C [NUM], --context[=NUM] Print NUM lines (default 2) of output context.

--print0 Print null byte as separator between filenames,
only works with -f, -g, -l, -L or -c.

-s Suppress error messages about nonexistent or
unreadable files.

File presentation:
--pager=COMMAND Pipes all ack output through COMMAND. For
example, --pager="less -R". Ignored if output
is redirected.
--nopager Do not send output through a pager. Cancels
any setting in ~/.ackrc, ACK_PAGER or
ACK_PAGER_COLOR.
--[no]heading Print a filename heading above each file's
results. (default: on when used interactively)
--[no]break Print a break between results from different
files. (default: on when used interactively)
--group Same as --heading --break
--nogroup Same as --noheading --nobreak
--[no]color Highlight the matching text (default: on unless
output is redirected, or on Windows)
--[no]colour Same as --[no]color
--color-filename=COLOR
--color-match=COLOR
--color-lineno=COLOR Set the color for filenames, matches, and line
numbers.
--flush Flush output immediately, even when ack is used
non-interactively (when output goes to a pipe or
file).

File finding:
-f Only print the files selected, without
searching. The PATTERN must not be specified.
-g Same as -f, but only select files matching
PATTERN.
--sort-files Sort the found files lexically.
--show-types Show which types each file has.
--files-from=FILE Read the list of files to search from FILE.
-x Read the list of files to search from STDIN.

File inclusion/exclusion:
--[no]ignore-dir=name Add/remove directory from list of ignored dirs
--[no]ignore-directory=name Synonym for ignore-dir
--ignore-file=filter Add filter for ignoring files
-r, -R, --recurse Recurse into subdirectories (default: on)
-n, --no-recurse No descending into subdirectories
--[no]follow Follow symlinks. Default is off.
-k, --known-types Include only files of types that ack recognizes.

--type=X Include only X files, where X is a recognized
filetype.
--type=noX Exclude X files.
See "ack --help-types" for supported filetypes.

File type specification:
--type-set TYPE:FILTER:FILTERARGS
Files with the given FILTERARGS applied to the
given FILTER are recognized as being of type
TYPE. This replaces an existing definition for
type TYPE.
--type-add TYPE:FILTER:FILTERARGS
Files with the given FILTERARGS applied to the
given FILTER are recognized as being type TYPE.
--type-del TYPE Removes all filters associated with TYPE.

Miscellaneous:
--[no]env Ignore environment variables and global ackrc
files. --env is legal but redundant.
--ackrc=filename Specify an ackrc file to use
--ignore-ack-defaults Ignore default definitions included with ack.
--create-ackrc Outputs a default ackrc for your customization
to standard output.
--help, -? This help
--help-types Display all known types
--dump Dump information on which options are loaded
from which RC files
--[no]filter Force ack to treat standard input as a pipe
(--filter) or tty (--nofilter)
--man Man page
--version Display version & copyright
--thpppt Bill the Cat
--bar The warning admiral
--cathy Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!

Exit status is 0 if match, 1 if no match.

This is version 2.12 of ack.
ack's file types (ack --help-types)

Usage: ack [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILES OR DIRECTORIES]

The following is the list of filetypes supported by ack. You can
specify a file type with the --type=TYPE format, or the --TYPE
format. For example, both --type=perl and --perl work.

Note that some extensions may appear in multiple types. For example,
.pod files are both Perl and Parrot.

--[no]actionscript .as .mxml
--[no]ada          .ada .adb .ads
--[no]asm          .asm .s
--[no]asp          .asp
--[no]aspx         .master .ascx .asmx .aspx .svc
--[no]batch        .bat .cmd
--[no]cc           .c .h .xs
--[no]cfmx         .cfc .cfm .cfml
--[no]clojure      .clj
--[no]cmake        CMakeLists.txt; .cmake
--[no]coffeescript .coffee
--[no]cpp          .cpp .cc .cxx .m .hpp .hh .h .hxx
--[no]csharp       .cs
--[no]css          .css
--[no]dart         .dart
--[no]delphi       .pas .int .dfm .nfm .dof .dpk .dproj .groupproj .bdsgroup .bdsproj
--[no]elisp        .el
--[no]elixir       .ex .exs
--[no]erlang       .erl .hrl
--[no]fortran      .f .f77 .f90 .f95 .f03 .for .ftn .fpp
--[no]go           .go
--[no]groovy       .groovy .gtmpl .gpp .grunit .gradle
--[no]haskell      .hs .lhs
--[no]hh           .h
--[no]html         .htm .html
--[no]java         .java .properties
--[no]js           .js
--[no]json         .json
--[no]jsp          .jsp .jspx .jhtm .jhtml
--[no]less         .less
--[no]lisp         .lisp .lsp
--[no]lua          .lua; first line matches /^#!.*\blua(jit)?/
--[no]make         .mk; .mak; makefile; Makefile; GNUmakefile
--[no]matlab       .m
--[no]md           .mkd; .md
--[no]objc         .m .h
--[no]objcpp       .mm .h
--[no]ocaml        .ml .mli
--[no]parrot       .pir .pasm .pmc .ops .pod .pg .tg
--[no]perl         .pl .pm .pod .t .psgi; first line matches /^#!.*\bperl/
--[no]perltest     .t
--[no]php          .php .phpt .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml; first line matches /^#!.*\bphp/
--[no]plone        .pt .cpt .metadata .cpy .py
--[no]pmc          .pmc
--[no]python       .py; first line matches /^#!.*\bpython/
--[no]rake         Rakefile
--[no]rr           .R
--[no]ruby         .rb .rhtml .rjs .rxml .erb .rake .spec; Rakefile; first line matches /^#!.*\bruby/
--[no]rust         .rs
--[no]sass         .sass .scss
--[no]scala        .scala
--[no]scheme       .scm .ss
--[no]shell        .sh .bash .csh .tcsh .ksh .zsh .fish; first line matches /^#!.*\b(?:ba|t?c|k|z|fi)?sh\b/
--[no]smalltalk    .st
--[no]sql          .sql .ctl
--[no]tcl          .tcl .itcl .itk
--[no]tex          .tex .cls .sty
--[no]textile      .textile
--[no]tt           .tt .tt2 .ttml
--[no]vb           .bas .cls .frm .ctl .vb .resx
--[no]verilog      .v .vh .sv
--[no]vhdl         .vhd .vhdl
--[no]vim          .vim
--[no]xml          .xml .dtd .xsl .xslt .ent; first line matches /<[?]xml/
--[no]yaml         .yaml .yml

Articles about ack

Articles from around the web about ack and searching. Let me know if there are any that should be on here.

Better than grep, by Ryan Kulla
2011-09-03, http://rkulla.blogspot.co.at/2011/09/better-than-grep.html