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 13 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to grep are ripgrep, The Silver Searcher, ack and FAR - Find And Replace.

grep alternatives are mainly File Search Utilities but may also be Web Log Analyzers or Text Editors. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of grep.

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grep

Free • Open Source
File Search Utility

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

More about grep

DocFetcher
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
File Search Utility
Mac
Windows
Linux
110 DocFetcher alternatives
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.
- - DocFetcher is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to grep.
- - DocFetcher is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to grep.
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DocFetcher Features
1. Full-Text SearchDocFetcher lets you search for specific words or phrases from inside a document or database.
2. PortableDocFetcher can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Built-in viewerDocFetcher shows you a quick preview of an image, page or file in supported formats.
4. Shared FoldersDocFetcher supports shared folders that can be used to store, search, and access files with multiple people.
Search-in-files
File content indexing
Indexed search
Content Searching
Semantic Search
Reads odt files
Network Scanner
Search in Archives
ripgrep
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
13 ripgrep alternatives
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.
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ripgrep Features
1. Command line interfaceripgrep either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. Full-Text Searchripgrep lets you search for specific words or phrases from inside a document or database.
Support for regular expressions
PHP IDE
Ngnix Caching
The Silver Searcher
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
File Search Utility
Mac
Linux
BSD
18 The Silver Searcher alternatives
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.
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The Silver Searcher Features
1. Command line interfaceThe Silver Searcher either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. LightweightThe Silver Searcher consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
Code Search
Support for regular expressions
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ack
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
File Search Utility
Mac
Linux
15 ack alternatives
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.
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ack Features
1. Full-Text Searchack lets you search for specific words or phrases from inside a document or database.
Support for regular expressions
Search and Replace
Comments about ack as a Alternative to grep
pros, cons and recent comments
DesertShadow
SO much simpler. Sane, modern, defaults.
Positive comment•
0
FAR - Find And Replace
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
31 FAR - Find And Replace alternatives
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.
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FAR - Find And Replace Features
Support for regular expressions
Multiple files
Search and Replace
SeaGOAT
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No
Free • Open Source
Windows
Mac
Linux
38 SeaGOAT alternatives
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.
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SeaGOAT Features
Support for regular expressions
Code Search
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macOS Console
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Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
Web Log Analyzer
Log Analyzer
Mac
17 macOS Console alternatives
An application to view live log files.
macOS Console has no features, suggest some!
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iXoft TexFinderX
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No
Free • Proprietary
Mac
Windows
15 iXoft TexFinderX alternatives
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.
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iXoft TexFinderX Features
Search and Replace
Support for regular expressions
Drag and Drop
Log Transformer
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Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Web Log Analyzer
Mac
10 Log Transformer alternatives
Monitor log files in real time using customized filter and formatting rules. Use regular expressions to apply color and formatting. Go even further by filtering out unwanted text or lines. https://logtransformer.com.
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Log Transformer Features
Watch multiple files
Auto Scrolling
Golang Regular Expressions
Character level high-lighiting
Logging
Location-based
Rummage
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No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
26 Rummage alternatives
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.
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Rummage Features
Support for regular expressions
Search and Replace
UniversalCodeGrep
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No
Free • Open Source
File Search Utility
Mac
Linux
BSD
8 UniversalCodeGrep alternatives
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.
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UniversalCodeGrep Features
Support for regular expressions
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Search and Replace
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Paid • Proprietary
File Search Utility
Mac
12 Search and Replace alternatives
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!
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Search and Replace Features
Support for regular expressions
Search and Replace
Multiple files