amber – code search and replace tool

amber is a command-line code search and replacement utility inspired by grep-like tools including ack and The Silver Searcher. It provides two commands: ambs for searching and ambr for replacing text.

The search command scans directories recursively and displays matching results with coloured output. Its defaults are intended for source-code repositories, avoiding version-control directories and binary files during ordinary searches.

The replacement command uses an interactive workflow in which users can approve, reject or apply all proposed substitutions. amber also supports multithreaded searching, including dividing large files into sections that can be processed in parallel.

Configuration files allow users to change the default behaviour of searching and replacing. The two commands have separate settings, so their recursion, output and filtering options can be configured independently.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

• Search source files using the ambs command.
• Perform replacements using the ambr command.
• Search recursively from the current directory by default.
• Accept an explicit directory as the search root.
• Ignore common version-control directories including .git, .hg, .svn and .bzr.
• Skip binary files during ordinary searches.
• Display matching results using coloured output.
• Search large files in parallel using multiple threads.
• Treat search patterns as literal text by default.
• Enable regular-expression matching using –regex.
• Use regular-expression capture groups in replacement text.
• Prompt before making replacements.
• Approve, reject, apply all or quit during interactive replacement.
• Perform non-interactive replacements when explicitly requested.
• Configure search and replacement behaviour using separate TOML files.
• Control recursion, symlink handling, ignored files, output formatting and statistics.
• Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Website: github.com/dalance/amber
Support:
Developer: dalance
License: MIT License

amber is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials

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