Searching for string inside files

alaios · 06-11-2015, 10:48 AM

Dear all,
I would like to search inside my files (and into all subdirectories) for a string that might look like

Oxford
oxford
oxfordian
1fxord2
0xford9

(the common part is the xford)

What I am currently trying is the
grep -RilF '*xford*'

althoug my research does not return anything for days now.

What I am doing wrong?

Regards
Alex

Habitual · 06-11-2015, 11:05 AM

Alex:
Try

Code:

find -type f -exec grep -il xford  {} \;

John

alaios · 06-12-2015, 02:59 AM

Thansk a lot I am trying it

pan64 · 06-12-2015, 03:46 AM

you do not need *, just write:
grep -RilF xford <dir>
* has a special meaning

rtmistler · 06-12-2015, 06:48 AM

I like both the offered solutions. In the future, do not allow a search to continue for "days". If you truly expect that the occurrence of that string is extremely rare, then create a few test files to validate your search criteria, or in the more normal case, do realize that there's something wrong with your search spec if it stays up for some long time with no results.