5 Reasons ripgrep (rg) Outperforms grep 

Code search in 2025 isn’t what grep was built for…

grep is a foundational Unix tool. It’s everywhere, lightweight, and timeless. But modern engineering workflows look nothing like the environments grep was designed for:

• Monorepos with millions of lines of code

• Dozens of languages mixed together

• Gigantic dependency folders

• Vendor trees, build artifacts, binaries

• Git ignored paths

• Polyglot code: TS, Go, Rust, Java, Terraform, YAML

• AI coding agents executing searches automatically

In this world, traditional grep becomes slow, noisy, and operationally risky.

ripgrep (command: rg), built in Rust, has emerged as the de-facto standard for code search, not because it's trendy, but because its defaults match the reality of modern development.

Below are five deep, technical reasons ripgrep outperforms grep, with multiple real-world examples across different ecosystems.

1. ripgrep Automatically Ignores Clutter Your Developers Don’t Want

Modern repos contain far more junk files than in the 1980s: node_modules, vendor/, .next/, dist/, bin/, .terraform/, virtual environments, .DS_Store, generated docs, compiled assets.

grep searches EVERYTHING unless you explicitly exclude it

Meaning developers constantly see noise:

$ grep -R "authToken" .

Outputs:

./node_modules/some-library/dist/bundle.js

./vendor/github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/internal/...

./build/output/app.min.js

./.next/cache/webpack/cache.json

./terraform/.terraform/providers/registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws...

Your signal-to-noise ratio collapses.

ripgrep automatically respects 

.gitignore, .ignore, .rgignore, and hidden folders.

$ rg "authToken"

Only shows files relevant to YOUR code:

src/api/auth.ts

src/utils/session.ts

pages/api/login.ts

More examples across ecosystems:

Python

$ rg "async def" -t py

Skip:

• .venv/

• __pycache__/

• build/

• .eggs/

Go

$ rg "interface {" -t go

Skips:

• vendor/

• build binaries

• Go modules cache

Terraform

$ rg "variable" -t hcl

Skips:

• .terraform/

No grep combination of --exclude flags can match this convenience without 10–20 lines of config.

2. ripgrep Understands File Types & Programming Languages

grep only understands filename patterns:

$ grep -R --include="*.ts" "createUser"

ripgrep understands languages, not just extensions:

$ rg createUser -t ts

Examples:

Search only TypeScript (including .tsx):

$ rg "useAuth" -t typescript

Search only Kubernetes YAML:

$ rg "image:" -t yaml

Search only Java code:

$ rg "public interface" -t java

Exclude languages cleanly:

Search everything except SQL:

$ rg "customer_id" -T sql

Multi-language example, search all API definitions in Go + Python

$ rg "CreateUser" -t go -t py

grep cannot do this without awkward globbing hacks.

3. ripgrep Is Engineered for Speed (Rust, Parallelism, SIMD)

grep = single-threaded, legacy I/O model

ripgrep = multi-threaded, memory-mapped I/O, SIMD regex engine

Real benchmark scenario (very common today):

Search inside a 5M LOC monorepo:

$ time grep -R "PaymentService" .    # ~0.8–3.0 seconds

$ time rg "PaymentService"           # ~0.05–0.15 seconds

ripgrep advantages

• Spawns multiple threads automatically

• Uses Rust’s regex engine (super-optimized)

• Uses memory mapping to reduce syscalls

• Automatically avoids binary files

• Avoids ignored folders → fewer files to traverse

Speed-centric real-world examples:

Scan a Kubernetes repo for container ports

$ rg "containerPort" -t yaml

Often < 100 ms even in 5000+ YAML files.

Scan a Rust project for trait implementations

$ rg "impl Display for"

Search massive Java enterprise repos (2–4M LOC)

$ rg "extends BaseController" -t java

Developers experience instant feedback instead of waiting for grep to churn across build dirs and dependency folders.

4. ripgrep Prevents Common grep Mistakes That Break Automation

When AI agents (or humans) use grep, they commonly make mistakes:

Mistake 1: Forgetting -R

$ grep "login"

=> Searches only the current folder, misses 99% of repo.

ripgrep:

$ rg login

Recursive by default.

Mistake 2: Case mismatch

$ grep "Paymentservice"   # no result

ripgrep:

$ rg --smart-case paymentservice

If your query is lowercase → automatic case-insensitive.

Mistake 3: Searching binary files

$ grep -R "token" .

# binary noise, crashes, corrupted output

ripgrep:

• Skips binaries by default

• Prints a warning when needed

Mistake 4: Searching the entire filesystem accidentally

AI agents often run:

$ grep -R "config"

If executed at /root or /home, this is catastrophic.

ripgrep’s ignore rules + better defaults prevent runaway searches.

Automation examples

Ask an agent: “Find all Flask routes”

grep attempt:

$ grep -R "@app.route" --include="*.py" .

ripgrep:

$ rg "@app.route" -t py

Ask an agent: “Find unused React hooks”

$ rg "useEffect" -t ts -t tsx

Cleaner, safer, predictable.

5. ripgrep Supports More Complex Search Patterns With Less Pain

grep regex = POSIX 

ripgrep regex = Rust’s regex engine (PCRE-lite), can express more patterns with less escaping.

Examples grep struggles with:

Find all TODOs except in comments

$ rg "TODO" -g "!*.md" --invert-match "//"

Find multi-line Python function definitions

$ rg -U "def\s+[A-Za-z_]+\(.*\):\n\s+\"\"\"" -t py

Search and replace type definitions across TS repo

$ rg -t ts -l "UserID" | xargs sed -i 's/UserID/UserIdentifier/g'

Or using built-in rg replacement:

$ rg -t ts -r "UserIdentifier" "UserID"

Find all Kubernetes Deployments missing resource limits

$ rg -t yaml -N -l "Deployment" | xargs rg -L "resources:"

Search Terraform modules for insecure security groups

$ rg "0.0.0.0/0" -t hcl

Locate all methods with panics in Go

$ rg "panic(" -t go

The ergonomics are dramatically better than layered grep pipelines.

Conclusion: In Modern Repos, ripgrep Is Safer and Smarter

grep isn’t obsolete. It’s still everywhere, reliable, and perfect for one-liners.

But developers today deal with complex repositories, huge dependency trees, and automation systems (CI, coding agents, LLM-driven tools) that rely on predictable, safe, high-signal searches.

ripgrep wins because its defaults match modern development:

• Ignores noise

• Knows languages

• Blazing fast

• Safer for automation

• Easier regex & replacement

If you search code regularly, or build systems that do, ripgrep isn’t an upgrade; it’s a necessity.