greplike

Greplike describes software, libraries, or interfaces that provide pattern searching capabilities modeled after the Unix grep utility. Such tools locate text by applying regular expressions to files or data streams and typically offer features such as line-oriented output, case sensitivity options, and the ability to search recursively through directories.

The term derives from 'grep' with the -like suffix, signaling similarity to grep's syntax or behavior. It is used in documentation and API descriptions to indicate that a component offers grep‑style search capabilities, even if its implementation differs in language or performance.

Common features include support for regular expressions, options for including or excluding matches, counts of matches, context lines around matches, and recursive or file-type filtered search. Many greplike tools also provide performance optimizations, such as parallel processing or indexing, to speed searches on large codebases.

Examples and varieties: Traditional grep remains the reference implementation. Modern greplike projects such as ripgrep, The Silver Searcher (ag), and ack emphasize speed and usability on large repositories. In programming languages, libraries or modules that expose greplike interfaces allow applications to perform pattern matching without shelling out to external commands.

Limitations and considerations include syntax differences across tools, portability concerns when sharing commands, and variations in option naming. While greplike describes a family of capabilities rather than a single standard, it signals a familiar search workflow for finding patterns in text.