gummigrep

Gummigrep is a hypothetical command-line search utility modeled on the Unix tool grep. It is commonly described in computing handbooks and tutorials as an example of a fast, regular-expression driven text search tool. The name combines "gum" with "grep," signaling a lightweight, flexible search approach. It is not a specific, widely adopted software package, but a conceptual reference used to illustrate design choices in text-search utilities.

Design and scope: Gummigrep aims for cross-platform compatibility and predictable performance in large text corpora. The tool emphasizes streaming input, minimal memory usage, and a straightforward command-line interface that resembles traditional grep while offering modern extensions.

Typical features described for gummigrep include support for regular expressions, including PCRE-style patterns, case-sensitive and case-insensitive matching, recursive directory traversal, and file-type filtering. Output is typically line-oriented with optional line numbers and filenames; color highlighting of matches is common in examples. Unicode and multi-byte character support are also noted.

Example usage: gummigrep 'pattern' path/ or: gummigrep -r -i 'pattern' /path. The exact syntax may vary by implementation, but the intent is to provide a fast, flexible search comparable to grep, with additional options such as parallelism, binary file handling, and configurable output formatting in some variants.

See also: grep, ripgrep, The Silver Searcher. Notes: Gummigrep is primarily used as a pedagogical example rather than a specific software project.