GAK (Global Awesome Keywords)

A powerful command-line tool for searching files with multiple keywords, offering flexible context display and advanced filtering options.

Features

• 🔍 Search for multiple keywords across files
• 📂 Recursive directory searching
• 🎯 File type filtering
• 📝 Context-aware results (show surrounding lines or characters)
• 🎨 Syntax-highlighted output
• 📊 Search statistics
• 🚫 Binary file filtering
• 📏 File size limits
• 🎛️ Case-sensitive search options
• 📁 Custom ignore patterns

Installation

Choose your preferred installation method:

NPM (All Platforms)

npm install -g gak

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap 8bit-wraith/gak
brew install gak

APT (Debian/Ubuntu)

# Add our PPA
curl -s https://gak.8b.is/key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://gak.8b.is/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gak.list

# Install GAK
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gak

Manual Installation

git clone https://github.com/8bit-wraith/gak.git
cd gak
npm install -g .

Windows Notes

• GAK works seamlessly on Windows with automatic path handling
• Windows-specific directories (Program Files, System32, etc.) are automatically ignored
• Windows batch (.bat) and PowerShell (.ps1) files are recognized with special icons
• Use PowerShell or Command Prompt to run GAK commands
• Forward slashes (/) in paths work in addition to backslashes ()

Usage

gak [options] [keywords...]

Basic Examples

# Find files containing "password"
gak password

# Find files with both "config" and "secure" in /etc
gak -p /etc config secure

# Search only in JavaScript and Python files
gak -t js,py class method

# Show 2 lines of context around matches
gak -l 2 TODO

# Only show filenames of matches
gak -q password

Options

Option	Description	Default
-p, --path <path>	Search path	Current directory
-b, --binary	Include binary files	false
-i, --ignore <patterns...>	Glob patterns to ignore	/node_modules/, /.git/
-t, --type <extensions...>	File extensions to search (e.g., js,py,txt)	All files
-c, --context <chars>	Characters to show around match	0
-cb, --context-before <chars>	Characters to show before match	0
-ca, --context-after <chars>	Characters to show after match	0
-l, --lines <count>	Lines to show around match	0
-lb, --lines-before <count>	Lines to show before match	0
-la, --lines-after <count>	Lines to show after match	0
-m, --max-matches <count>	Maximum matches per file	No limit
-C, --case-sensitive	Enable case-sensitive search	false
-s, --size <limit>	Skip files larger than size (e.g., 1mb, 500kb)	10mb
-q, --quiet	Only show file names	false
--stats	Show search statistics	false
-ss, --show-skips	Show skipped files	false

Advanced Usage

Context Display

GAK provides flexible ways to show context around matches:

# Show 5 characters before and after matches
gak -c 5 searchterm

# Show 2 lines before and 3 lines after matches
gak -lb 2 -la 3 searchterm

# Show 2 lines of context in both directions
gak -l 2 searchterm

File Filtering

# Search only specific file types
gak -t js,py,md searchterm

# Ignore additional patterns
gak -i "**/dist/**" "**/build/**" searchterm

# Include binary files in search
gak -b searchterm

# Limit file size (skip larger files)
gak -s 500kb searchterm

Output Control

# Show search statistics
gak --stats searchterm

# Show skipped files
gak -ss searchterm

# Quiet mode (only show file names)
gak -q searchterm

# Case-sensitive search
gak -C searchterm

File Type Emojis

GAK uses emojis to indicate file types in the output:

• 📜 JavaScript (.js, .mjs)
• 🐍 Python (.py)
• 🦀 Rust (.rs)
• 🐹 Go (.go)
• 💎 Ruby (.rb)
• 🐘 PHP (.php)
• ☕ Java (.java)
• ⚡ C/C++ (.c, .cpp)
• 📋 Header files (.h)
• 🎨 CSS (.css)
• 🌐 HTML (.html)
• 📝 Markdown (.md)
• 📦 JSON (.json)
• ⚙️ YAML (.yml, .yaml)
• 🐚 Shell scripts (.sh, .bash)
• 📄 Text files (.txt)
• 📂 Other files

Performance

• Skips binary files by default
• Configurable file size limits
• Efficient glob-based file filtering
• Optimized for large codebases

Why GAK over grep?

GAK offers several advantages over traditional grep:

🚀 Speed & Performance

• Faster search performance due to modern Node.js streams and optimized file handling
• Smart file filtering that skips binary files and large files by default
• Efficient memory usage even with large codebases

🎯 Better User Experience

• Beautiful, colorful output with file type emojis
• Clear, human-readable error messages
• Progress indicators and search statistics
• No need to remember complex regex patterns for basic searches

💪 Advanced Features Made Simple

• Multi-keyword search without complex regex (just space-separate your terms!)
• Character-level context control (show exactly N chars before/after match)
• Smart file type detection and filtering
• Modern glob pattern support for ignoring files/directories

🛠️ Modern Defaults

• Sensible defaults that work for most use cases
• Case-insensitive search by default (use -C for case-sensitive)
• Automatic binary file skipping
• Smart file size limits to prevent hanging on large files

📊 Better Output Control

• Flexible context display (characters or lines)
• Statistics about your search
• Quiet mode for scripting
• Show skipped files for debugging

Error Handling

GAK provides clear error messages for common issues:

• Permission denied errors
• Invalid file paths
• Binary file detection
• Size limit violations
• Invalid regex patterns

Credits

Imagined by @8bit-wraith(Hue) & @aye.is

License

MIT