ack AlternativesFile Search Utilities and other similar apps like ack

ack is described as 'Ack is designed as a standalone (one perl file) replacement for 99% of the uses of grep. ack is intelligent about the files it searches. It knows about certain file types, based on both the extension on the file and, in some cases, the contents of the file' and is a File Search utility in the file management category. There are more than 10 alternatives to ack for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Windows, Mac, BSD and Wine apps. The best ack alternative is Agent Ransack, which is free. Other great apps like ack are ripgrep, dnGREP, grep and The Silver Searcher.

ack iconack
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Ack is designed as a standalone (one perl file) replacement for 99% of the uses of grep. ack is intelligent about the files...

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ack alternatives page was last updated Nov 1, 2023
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  1. Agent Ransack icon

    Agent Ransack

     109 likes
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    Agent Ransack is a tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack also displays the text found. Users can then quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file!

    75 Agent Ransack alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Search results, showing the contents view docked below the file list view:

    Agent Ransack Features

    1.  File Search
    2.  Search-in-files
    3.  Context Menu extension
    4.  Outlook search
    5.  Ad-free

    Agent Ransack VS ack

     

    • Agent Ransack is the most popular Windows alternative to ack.

    • Agent Ransack is the most popular free alternative to ack.

    • Agent Ransack is Freemium and Proprietaryack is Free and Open Source

  2. ripgrep

     19 likes
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    ripgrep is a command line search tool that combines the usability of The Silver Searcher (an ack clone) with the raw speed of GNU grep.

    14 ripgrep alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    ripgrep screenshot 1

    ripgrep Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Full-Text Search
    3.  Support for regular expressions
    4.  PHP IDE
    5.  Ngnix Caching

    ripgrep VS ack

     
    Comments about ripgrep as an Alternative to ack
    Guest
    Positive •Jun 18, 2019
    0

    Easy install, seems pretty fast, works well on Windows with the provided binary

    ack Icon

    • ripgrep is the most popular Mac & Linux alternative to ack.

    • ripgrep is the most popular Open Source alternative to ack.

    • ripgrep is Free and Open Sourceack is also Free and Open Source
  4. dnGREP icon

    dnGREP

     41 likes
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    dnGrep allows you to search across files with easy-to-read results. Search through text files, Word documents, PDFs, and archives using text, regular expression, XPath, and phonetic queries. dnGrep includes search-and-replace, whole-file preview, right-click search in File...

    56 dnGREP alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Screen

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Dark Mode
    3.  Search and Replace
    4.  Support for regular expressions
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Full-Text Search
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  No registration required

    dnGREP VS ack

     
  5. grep icon

    grep

     35 likes
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    grep is a command-line utility for searching plain-text data sets for lines matching a regular expression.

    41 grep alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Haiku
    grep screenshot 1

    grep Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions

    grep VS ack

     
  6. The Silver Searcher icon

    The Silver Searcher

     14 likes
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    Silver Searcher is a code search tool similar to ack that claims to be much faster. It's implemented in C and has some extra features such as ignoring files per .hignore, .gitignore contents.

    19 The Silver Searcher alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Code Search
    3.  Support for regular expressions

    The Silver Searcher VS ack

     

  7. App-Rak

     1 like
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    App::Rak provides a CLI called rak that allows you to look for a pattern in (a selection of files) from one or more directories recursively. It has been modeled after utilities such as grep, ack, ag and rg, with a little bit of find mixed in, and -n and -p parameters of many...

    14 App-Rak alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • BSD

    App-Rak Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Batch Rename Files
    3.  Full-Text Search
    4.  Text substitution
    5.  Comma Separated Values
    6.  Support for regular expressions
    7.  Regex substitution

    App-Rak VS ack

     

  9. Gawk

     4 likes
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    The awk utility interprets a special-purpose programming language that makes it possible to handle simple data-reformatting jobs with just a few lines of code. Gawk is Gnu's interpreter for the awk language.

    6 Gawk alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Gawk Features

    1.  Interpreter

    Gawk VS ack

     
  10. SeaGOAT icon

    SeaGOAT

     1 like
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    SeaGOAT is an "AI-based" code search engine that you can run on your local computer, or you can run it on your server as a REST API. It can be considered an alternative to grep.

    39 SeaGOAT alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux

    SeaGOAT Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions
    2.  Code Search
    3.  Vector Database

    SeaGOAT VS ack

     
  11. SSR: Simple Search & Replace icon

    SSR: Simple Search & Replace

     1 like
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    Easy alternative to Grep. Portable. Supports extended regular expression syntax.

    24 SSR: Simple Search & Replace alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    SSR: Simple Search & Replace screenshot 1

    SSR: Simple Search & Replace VS ack

     
  12. Multi String Search icon

    Multi String Search

     1 like
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    Search multiple strings occurrences simultaneously with the help of this piece of software that comes with support for regular expressions.

    49 Multi String Search alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Multi String Search screenshot 1

    Multi String Search Features

    1.  Full-Text Search
    2.  Portable
    3.  Support for regular expressions
    4.  Text-manipulation

    Multi String Search VS ack

     

  13. spot

     1 like
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    Tiny ack-style file search utility. All arguments constitute the search text. No need to wrap most searches in double quotes. Short & written in Bash - just find & grep: you can edit it easily to suit your liking.

    6 spot alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux
    spot screenshot 1

    spot VS ack

     

  14. Mawk

     1 like
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    mawk is an interpreter for the AWK Programming Language.

    6 Mawk alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Mawk Features

    1.  Interpreter

    Mawk VS ack

     
12 of 16 ack alternatives