# ripgrep

> Unlicense/MIT recursive grep that respects .gitignore

**Category:** Rust  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep  
**Added:** 2026-09-09

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## The Hook

ripgrep is the canonical `rg` — the grep replacement that made recursive search fast and gitignore-aware by default.

## What's Good

Unlicense OR MIT — permissive dual-license. Blazing fast recursive search with sane defaults: respects .gitignore, skips binaries, and colors output. Regex engine written in Rust with optional PCRE2. Literal optimizations, parallel directory traversal, and memory-mapped files. The speed baseline other search tools benchmark against.

## The Catch

Vs grep (POSIX baseline) and ag/The Silver Searcher (predecessor): ripgrep is the modern default, not a POSIX drop-in. If your workflow depends on GNU grep flags exactly, `rg` is similar but not identical. No built-in fuzzy matching — pair with fzf for interactive filtering.

## Verdict

Unlicense/MIT grep replacement. Free forever; the search tool every terminal should alias.