ack.vim

This plugin is a front for the Perl module App::Ack. Ack can be used as a replacement for 99% of the uses of grep. This plugin will allow you to run ack from vim, and shows the results in a split window.

Installation

You have to install ack, of course. On Ubuntu, that's as easy as

  
  sudo apt-get install ack-grep
  

Otherwise, you are on your own.

As for the plugin:

The file ack.vim goes in ~/.vim/plugin, and the ack.txt file belongs in ~/.vim/doc. Be sure to run

:helptags ~/.vim/doc

or

:helptags $VIMRUNTIME/doc

afterwards.

Usage

:Ack [options] {pattern} [{directory}]

Search recursively in {directory} (which defaults to the current directory) for the {pattern}.

Files containing the search term will be listed in the split window, along with the line number of the occurrence, once for each occurrence. [Enter] on a line in this window will open the file, and place the cursor on the matching line.

Just like where you use :grep, :grepadd, :lgrep, and :lgrepadd, you can use :Ack, :AckAdd, :LAck, and :LAckAdd respectively.

From the ack docs (my favorite feature):

  
--type=TYPE, --type=noTYPE

    Specify the types of files to include or exclude from a search. TYPE is a filetype, like perl or xml. --type=perl can also be specified as --perl, and --type=noperl can be done as --noperl.

    If a file is of both type "foo" and "bar", specifying --foo and --nobar will exclude the file, because an exclusion takes precedence over an inclusion.

    Type specifications can be repeated and are ORed together.

    See ack --help=types for a list of valid types.
  

This Vim plugin is derived (and by derived, I mean copied, essentially) from Antoine Imbert's blog post Ack and Vim Integration (in particular, the function at the bottom of the post). I added a help file that provides just enough reference to get you going. I also highly recommend you check out the docs for the Perl script 'ack', for obvious reasons: ack - grep-like text finder.

I will not upload this to vim.org without ant0ine's permission. I have attempted to contact him, but I have not recieved a response. Also, be aware that if he asks me to remove this, I'll do so immediately. Grab it while it's hot!