grep Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to grep for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is DocFetcher, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to grep and 14 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to grep are ripgrep, FAR - Find And Replace, The Silver Searcher and ack.

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grep alternatives are mainly File Search Utilities but may also be Web Log Analyzers or Text Editors.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of grep.
grep icongrep
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grep is a command-line utility for searching plain-text data sets for lines matching a regular expression.

More about grep
grep alternatives page was last updated Dec 5, 2023
  1. DocFetcher icon
     121 likes

    DocFetcher is a portable German/English open source desktop search application. It allows you search the contents of documents on your computer. - You can think of it as Google for your local document repository.

    120 DocFetcher alternatives
    Filter panel and preview panel enabled

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Top DocFetcher Features

    1.  Search-in-files
    2.  File content indexing
    3.  Indexed search
    4.  Full-Text Search
    5.  Content Searching
    6.  Portable
    7.  Built-in viewer
    8.  Shared Folders
    9.  Reads odt files
    10.  Network Scanner
    11.  Search in Archives
    DocFetcher icongrep Icon

    DocFetcher VS grep

    Is DocFetcher a good alternative to grep?
     
    • DocFetcher is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to grep.

    • DocFetcher is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to grep.

    • DocFetcher is Free and Open Sourcegrep is also Free and Open Source
  2.  19 likes

    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
    ripgrep screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    ripgrep Features

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

    ripgrep VS grep

    Is ripgrep a good alternative to grep?
     
    Comments about ripgrep as an Alternative to grep
     
    Centaro

    Shorter name, more functionality.

    Positive commentDec 5, 2023
    0
    grep Icon
    • ripgrep is Free and Open Sourcegrep is also Free and Open Source
  3. FAR - Find And Replace icon
     7 likes

    FAR is a simple tool for search and replace operations over multiple files. You can apply ordinary "word by word" replacement, or choose to use fully featured regular expressions.

    31 FAR - Find And Replace alternatives
    Find

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Top FAR - Find And Replace Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  Multiple files
    4.  Search and Replace
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Batch Rename Files
    7.  Lightweight
    8.  Batch Editing
    9.  Portable
    10.  MP3 / ID3 Renaming
    11.  No registration required
    12.  Built-in viewer
    FAR - Find And Replace icongrep Icon

    FAR - Find And Replace VS grep

    Is this a good alternative to grep?
     
  4. The Silver Searcher icon
     14 likes

    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

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD

    The Silver Searcher Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Lightweight
    3.  Code Search
    4.  Support for regular expressions
    The Silver Searcher icongrep Icon

    The Silver Searcher VS grep

    Is The Silver Searcher a good alternative to grep?
     
  5. ack icon
     10 likes

    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.

    16 ack alternatives
    ack screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux

    ack Features

    1.  Full-Text Search
    2.  Support for regular expressions
    3.  Search and Replace
    ack icongrep Icon

    ack VS grep

    Is ack a good alternative to grep?
     
    Comments about ack as an Alternative to grep
     
    DesertShadow

    SO much simpler. Sane, modern, defaults.

    Positive commentJul 12, 2018
    0
    grep Icon
    ack icon
    • ack is Free and Open Sourcegrep is also Free and Open Source
  6.  1 like

    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

    • FreeOpen 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
    grep Icon

    App-Rak VS grep

    Is App-Rak a good alternative to grep?
     
  7. SeaGOAT icon
     1 like

    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

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux

    SeaGOAT Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions
    2.  Code Search
    SeaGOAT icongrep Icon

    SeaGOAT VS grep

    Is SeaGOAT a good alternative to grep?
     
  8. macOS Console icon
     1 like

    An application to view live log files.

    19 macOS Console alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    macOS Console icongrep Icon

    macOS Console VS grep

    Is macOS Console a good alternative to grep?
     
  9. iXoft TexFinderX icon
     1 like

    TexFinderX is a freeware tool to search and replace text inside entire folders.

    TexFinderX is MacOS X, Snow Leopard, Windows XP, Vista and Seven compatible.

    Main features Search and replace text - with regular expression or not - in entire folders with the ability to filter de.

    15 iXoft TexFinderX alternatives
    Main interface

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows

    iXoft TexFinderX Features

    1.  Search and Replace
    2.  Support for regular expressions
    3.  Drag and Drop
    iXoft TexFinderX icongrep Icon

    iXoft TexFinderX VS grep

    Is iXoft TexFinderX a good alternative to grep?
     
  10. Rummage icon
     1 like

    Rummage is a cross platform tool for crawling directories and searching and replacing in text files. It is written in Python and uses wxPython for the GUI. Rummage allows for literal or regex searches and has configurations for limiting the files etc.

    26 Rummage alternatives
    Rummage - Search Tab

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Rummage Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions
    2.  Search and Replace
    Rummage icongrep Icon

    Rummage VS grep

    Is Rummage a good alternative to grep?
     
  11.  1 like

    UniversalCodeGrep (ucg) is an extremely fast grep-like tool specialized for searching large bodies of source code. It is intended to be largely command-line compatible with Ack, to some extent with ag, and where appropriate with grep.

    9 UniversalCodeGrep alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD

    UniversalCodeGrep Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions
    grep Icon

    UniversalCodeGrep VS grep

    Is UniversalCodeGrep a good alternative to grep?
     
  12. Search and Replace icon
     Like this app

    Don't worry about those many files where you have to change a few things! There's no need to open every single file and edit them manually, Search and Replace does it all for you!

    12 Search and Replace alternatives
    Search and Replace screenshot 1

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac

    Search and Replace Features

    1.  Support for regular expressions
    2.  Search and Replace
    3.  Multiple files
    Search and Replace icongrep Icon

    Search and Replace VS grep

    Is Search and Replace a good alternative to grep?
     
12 of 14 grep alternatives