Can I create an ack file type based on a filename, not extension?

Question

I would like to include files with a specific name -- not an extension -- in my ack search. Is this possible with ack?

If I use the -G option, this would exclude all other file types. (So I can't put it in my .ackrc file.)

I tried to use --type-set mytype=filename.txt but this only works for extensions, so this would search for files including the pattern .filename.txt, thus not find filename.txt. (That's also what the ack --help types shows: --mytype .filename.txt, not --mytype filename.txt.)

Someone any ideas?

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '11 at 08:30

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man ack says that the files to be searched in can be given through standard input.
So this should work:

find . -name filename.txt | ack PATTERN -

Unfortunately, it doesn't. It gives ack: Ignoring 1 argument on the command-line while acting as a filter., which apparently is a bug in ack. When this bug will be fixed, we should be able to use

find . -name filename.txt | ack --nofilter PATTERN -

answered Jul 05 '11 at 08:30

Marvin

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In the mean time, just use xargs: `find . -name filename.txt | xargs ack PATTERN -` – Brian Leathem May 22 '12 at 21:52

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 16 '13 at 18:33

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You also do it like if you're using zsh:

ack 'Pattern' **/filename.txt

edited Aug 16 '13 at 18:33

slm

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answered Dec 09 '12 at 20:54

iltempo

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In my case, this doesn't check all the files `filename.txt` in the subtree, only some of them. – Marvin Dec 11 '12 at 09:15
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This seems to depend on the shell you are using. For bash you can go on searching like this: `*/filename.txt, */*/filename.txt,...` – Marvin Mar 21 '13 at 17:36

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 09 '12 at 21:21

What you're asking is "can I make a filetype that ack recognizes based on a filename", and the answer is "No, not in ack 1.x, but you can in ack 2.0". ack 2.0 is in alpha release, and we hope to have a beta by Christmas.

As @Christian pointed out above, you can specify the given filename on the command line, but that bypasses filetype checking entirely.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 05 '11 at 02:08

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I know this is a late reply, but could you simply specify the filename when you run ack?

ack 'My Text' filename.txt

answered Jul 05 '11 at 02:08

Christian

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-> `ack filename.txt: No such file or directory` unless there is a `filename.txt` in the current directory, but that would still ignore all the other files with this name in the subdirectories. – Marvin Jul 05 '11 at 08:01

Can I create an ack file type based on a filename, not extension?

4 Answers4