How to use recursive grep command in Linux and UNIX? grep -iR Example tutorial

Hello guys, one of the most common tasks while working on programming projects is finding files containing some specific text like you have your application deployed in the Linux server, and you are migrating your database from one server to another. Now, you want to file all config files and scripts which are referencing your old database using the hostname or IP address, so that you can replace them with an alias. Well, you should always use an alias to connect to the database or any other system, but sometimes it happens you have to use a hostname. Anyway, how do you find all those files containing hostname in your Linux machine? Well, the grep command is here to help you.

How to find Files with Matching String in Linux? grep -l command Example

The grep command from Linux is one of the powerful commands to find files containing some text, but when you use grep, it not only print the file name but also the line, which is including the matching text. This is actually required and needed in most situations. Still, sometimes you only want to grep to show just filename and path and not the matching text. For example, when you are searching for some configurations like a Linux or database hostname across all configuration files in your application host, then you just want to see which file has contained those references.