Grep-Like Search Utility

A multi-threaded, cross-platform C++ utility for recursively searching through directories for text patterns, with optional case sensitivity, regular expression support, and result highlighting similar to grep.

Features

• Recursive directory search
• Multi-threaded file processing
• Case-sensitive or case-insensitive matching
• Optional regular expression support
• Highlighting of matched patterns in output
• Unit-tested and modular design
• Portable: Windows, Linux, and macOS compatible
• Doxygen configured and documented

Build Instructions

Requirements

• CMake 3.16+
• C++20-compatible compiler (GCC, Clang, MSVC)
• Ninja (optional but recommended for faster builds)
• Gradle (optional)
• Doxygen (optional)

Post Build: Install Optional Tools

These tools are optional but recommended for full development workflow (faster builds, documentation, extra Gradle-based tasks).

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ninja-build doxygen gradle

macOS (with Homebrew)

brew update
brew install ninja doxygen gradle

Windows (with Chocolatey)

Run Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator:

choco install ninja doxygen gradle

Build

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G"Ninja" .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchain.cmake
ninja

Run unit tests

ninja runUnitTests

Alternatively, run the Gradle Tasks (optional)

# Build the project
gradle build

# Clean main build
gradle clean

# Clean everything
gradle cleanAll

# Run unit tests
gradle runTests

Usage

build/src/FileSearcher <directory> <query> [--ignore-case] [--regex]

Examples

# Simple case-sensitive search
build/src/FileSearcher ./examples "Paris"

# Case-sensitive search
build/src/FileSearcher ./examples "architecture"

# Case-insensitive search
build/src/FileSearcher ./examples "architecture" --ignore-case

# Regex search with highlighting
build/src/FileSearcher ./examples "tec." --regex
build/src/FileSearcher examples "tec.*" --ignore-case --regex

Design Overview

• FileSearcher: Interface for file searching.

• TextFileSearcher: Implements the search logic using regex or plain search.

• SearchManager: Manages file distribution and threading.

• HighlightMatches: Highlights matches inline using ANSI colors.

• Modular Design with CMake for build Structure and Dependency handling