Using GREP to Find Text in Files

Question

I'm trying to use grep to find a specific line of PHP code I know for certain is present in several files, but all I get back is an empty result. Please advise on how I need to modify my grep query:

sudo grep -ilr 'if (isset($_COOKIE["id"])) @$_COOKIE["user"]($_COOKIE["id"]);' /path/to/dir/

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 27 '16 at 01:09

3

. * ^ $ [ and ] have special meaning in regular expressions and need to be backslash escaped.

sudo grep -ilr 'if (isset(\$_COOKIE\["id"\])) @\$_COOKIE\["user"\](\$_COOKIE\["id"\]);' /path/to/dir/

answered Feb 27 '16 at 01:09

David

606
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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '16 at 13:25

I'd use two greps for making search easier:

sudo grep -Inri 't(\$_C' |grep '"id' /path/to/dir

The first grep searches for t($_C and the second for "id so you have a good chance to find your file.

And you avoid to blow up your search pattern with whitespaces and similar characters.

Using GREP to Find Text in Files

2 Answers2