rg is a line-oriented search tool that recursively searches the current directory for a regex pattern, respecting .gitignore by default and outperforming grep/ack/ag on large trees.
Include Ignored Files
By default rg skips files matched by .gitignore and .ignore. --no-ignore disables that filtering.
rg --no-ignore ...Include Hidden Files
rg also skips dotfiles and dotdirs by default. --hidden/-. includes them; combine with --no-ignore to search everything.
rg --hidden ...
rg --hidden --no-ignore ...Search Only Files of a Certain Type
-t restricts the search to a known file type (e.g. py, js, md). List all supported types with rg --type-list.
rg -t <type> ...Search Files Matching a Pattern Instead of a Known Type
-t only accepts types from --type-list. For anything else — a custom extension, a filename pattern — use -g/--glob to filter by glob, or --iglob for a case-insensitive glob. Globs aren’t regex, but cover most filename-matching needs without a known -t type.
rg <pattern> -g '<glob>'
rg <pattern> -g '*.<ext>'
rg <pattern> -g '!<glob>' # exclude instead of includeSort by Date
--sort orders results instead of the default (arbitrary/parallel) traversal — useful when you want the most recently touched matches first.
rg --sort modified ...OR a Pattern
-e repeated, or | inside a single pattern, matches a line against any of several alternatives.
rg -e <pattern1> -e <pattern2> ...
rg '<pattern1>|<pattern2>' ...AND a Pattern
Ripgrep has no native AND operator. Chain a second rg to require both patterns on the same line, or use -P (PCRE2) with lookaheads.
rg <pattern1> ... | rg <pattern2>
rg -P '(?=.*<pattern1>)(?=.*<pattern2>)' ...Follow Symlinks
By default rg doesn’t follow symbolic links. -L/--follow makes it traverse them, which is handy when your search root contains symlinked dirs or files.
rg -L <pattern> ...Cheatsheet
rg <pattern> # basic recursive search
rg --no-ignore <pattern> # include gitignored files
rg --hidden <pattern> # include hidden files/dirs
rg -t <type> <pattern> # restrict to a file type
rg --type-list # list available -t types
rg <pattern> -g '*.<ext>' # restrict via glob instead of -t
rg <pattern> -g '!<glob>' # exclude via glob
rg --sort modified <pattern> # sort results by modification time
rg -e <pattern1> -e <pattern2> # OR: match either pattern
rg <pattern1> | rg <pattern2> # AND: match both patterns
rg -P '(?=.*<p1>)(?=.*<p2>)' # AND via PCRE2 lookaheads
rg -L <pattern> # follow symlinks