Lesson 7Tools

Search & Navigation

Glob, Grep, patterns

Glob

Pattern-based file search. Quickly finds files by name, extension, path.

Grep

Content search in files. Supports regex, filters, context.

Glob — File Search

Glob uses patterns to find files. Results are sorted by modification time:

Pattern	Description
`*/.ts`	All TypeScript files
`src/*/.tsx`	All TSX files in src/
`*/test/.spec.ts`	All spec files in test folders
`*.config.{js,ts}`	All config files at root
`!/node_modules/`	Exclude node_modules

> Find all React components

Glob: src/**/*.tsx

Found 47 files:
src/components/Button.tsx
src/components/Header.tsx
src/pages/Home.tsx
...

Grep — Content Search

Grep searches text or regex inside files. Built on ripgrep (rg) for speed:

function.*asyncFind async functionsregex

TODO|FIXME|HACKFind marker commentsregex

import.*from.*reactFind React importsregex

console\.logFind debug logsliteral

> Find all TODO comments

Grep: pattern="TODO", output_mode="content"

src/auth.ts:42: // TODO: add rate limiting
src/api.ts:15: // TODO: handle errors
src/utils.ts:88: // TODO: refactor this

Output Modes

content — matching lines
files_with_matches — file paths only
count — match counts

Useful Options

-i — case insensitive
-C 3 — 3 lines of context
glob="*.ts" — file filter

Combining Tools

Claude automatically combines Glob and Grep for complex queries:

> Find where useState is used in components

1. Glob: src/components/**/*.tsx
2. Grep: pattern="useState", glob="*.tsx"

Found in 12 components:
src/components/Form.tsx:8
src/components/Modal.tsx:5
...

Search Strategies

Find file by name

Glob

> Find all files named auth

Pattern: **/auth*

Find function usage

Grep

> Where is validateUser function used?

Pattern: validateUser

Find class definition

Grep

> Find where UserService class is defined

Pattern: class UserService

Explore structure

Task + Explore

> Show project architecture

Pattern: Uses sub-agent

Search Tips

•For exploring unfamiliar codebase, use Task with Explore agent
•Grep with output_mode="files_with_matches" is faster for initial search
•Use -C for context around found lines
•Escape special chars in regex: \{\} for literals

This lesson is part of a structured LLM course.

My Learning Path

Lesson 7Tools

Search & Navigation

Glob, Grep, patterns

Glob

Pattern-based file search. Quickly finds files by name, extension, path.

Grep

Content search in files. Supports regex, filters, context.

Glob — File Search

Glob uses patterns to find files. Results are sorted by modification time:

Pattern	Description
`*/.ts`	All TypeScript files
`src/*/.tsx`	All TSX files in src/
`*/test/.spec.ts`	All spec files in test folders
`*.config.{js,ts}`	All config files at root
`!/node_modules/`	Exclude node_modules

> Find all React components

Glob: src/**/*.tsx

Found 47 files:
src/components/Button.tsx
src/components/Header.tsx
src/pages/Home.tsx
...

Grep — Content Search

Grep searches text or regex inside files. Built on ripgrep (rg) for speed:

function.*asyncFind async functionsregex

TODO|FIXME|HACKFind marker commentsregex

import.*from.*reactFind React importsregex

console\.logFind debug logsliteral

> Find all TODO comments

Grep: pattern="TODO", output_mode="content"

src/auth.ts:42: // TODO: add rate limiting
src/api.ts:15: // TODO: handle errors
src/utils.ts:88: // TODO: refactor this

Output Modes

content — matching lines
files_with_matches — file paths only
count — match counts

Useful Options

-i — case insensitive
-C 3 — 3 lines of context
glob="*.ts" — file filter

Combining Tools

Claude automatically combines Glob and Grep for complex queries:

> Find where useState is used in components

1. Glob: src/components/**/*.tsx
2. Grep: pattern="useState", glob="*.tsx"

Found in 12 components:
src/components/Form.tsx:8
src/components/Modal.tsx:5
...

Search Strategies

Find file by name

Glob

> Find all files named auth

Pattern: **/auth*

Find function usage

Grep

> Where is validateUser function used?

Pattern: validateUser

Find class definition

Grep

> Find where UserService class is defined

Pattern: class UserService

Explore structure

Task + Explore

> Show project architecture

Pattern: Uses sub-agent

Search Tips

•For exploring unfamiliar codebase, use Task with Explore agent
•Grep with output_mode="files_with_matches" is faster for initial search
•Use -C for context around found lines
•Escape special chars in regex: \{\} for literals

This lesson is part of a structured LLM course.

My Learning Path