Unix grep, find and maxdepth

I’m writing this so I can find it next time I want to do this, and so my student programmers can more easily compare config settings across test sites.

Problem: Find a particular line quickly in a file in 7 different directories. In this case, it’s a Moodle config setting in 7 different installs, each with thousands of files.

Solution: With the help of this site, http://helpdesk.ua.edu/unix/tipsheet/tipv1n10.html I found a quick way to do it without traversing the thousands of files in each directory. The cheat is that I knew the config file in a Moodle install is always in the same spot. But I could leave maxdepth out.

The key here is that while I know 

grep -r search_string *
would work, it would take forever to go through all of those files, some of them quite large. I didn’t know how to get the recursive grep to only look at certain files. Turns out that is what backticks are for.
grep quiet `sudo find .  -maxdepth 3 -type f -name config.php`./stage/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;./ssctrunk/moodle/config.php:$CFG->quiet_mode                         = FALSE;./kai/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;./videoannotation/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;./test/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;./coursemenu/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;./joe/moodle/config.php:        $CFG->quiet_mode                         = TRUE;

Quick Explanation:

  1. grep quiet – will search for the text “quiet” in the list of files produced by the command in backticks.
  2. sudo – to avoid being told I don’t have permission to see certain files.
  3. maxdepth – to only go 3 directories deep instead of recursing through everything. (I knew where the config.php file would be.)
  4. -type f -name config.php – only look at files named config.php. Ignore all others.
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