Command Line Reference

You can always see up-to-date command line options using sg --help. ast-grep has several subcommands as listed below.

sg run

Run one time search or rewrite in command line. This is the default command when you run sg so sg -p 'foo()' is equivalent to sg run -p 'foo()'. View detailed reference.

Usage

sg run [OPTIONS] --pattern <PATTERN> [PATHS]...

Arguments

[PATHS]... The paths to search. You can provide multiple paths separated by spaces [default: .]

Options

Short	Long	Description
-p	--pattern <PATTERN>	AST pattern to match.
	--selector <KIND>	AST kind to extract sub-part of pattern to match.
-r	--rewrite <REWRITE>	String to replace the matched AST node.
-l	--lang <LANG>	The language of the pattern query. ast-grep will infer the language based on file extension if this option is omitted.
	--debug-query[=<format>]	Print query pattern's tree-sitter AST. Requires lang be set explicitly.
	--strictness <STRICTNESS>	The strictness of the pattern [possible values: cst, smart, ast, relaxed, signature]
	--follow	Follow symbolic links
	--no-ignore <NO_IGNORE>	Do not respect hidden file system or ignore files (.gitignore, .ignore, etc.) [possible values: hidden, dot, exclude, global, parent, vcs]
	--stdin	Enable search code from StdIn. See link
	--globs <GLOBS>	Include or exclude file paths
-j	--threads <NUM>	Set the approximate number of threads to use [default: heuristic]
-i	--interactive	Start interactive edit session. Code rewrite only happens inside a session.
-U	--update-all	Apply all rewrite without confirmation if true.
	--json[=<STYLE>]	Output matches in structured JSON [possible values: pretty, stream, compact]
	--color <WHEN>	Controls output color [default: auto]
	--tracing <LEVEL>	Show tracing information for file/rule discovery and scanning [default: nothing] [possible values: nothing, summary]
	--heading <WHEN>	Controls whether to print the file name as heading [default: auto] [possible values: auto, always, never]
-A	--after <NUM>	Show NUM lines after each match [default: 0]
-B	--before <NUM>	Show NUM lines before each match [default: 0]
-C	--context <NUM>	Show NUM lines around each match [default: 0]
-h	--help	Print help

sg scan

Scan and rewrite code by configuration. View detailed reference.

Usage

sg scan [OPTIONS] [PATHS]...

Arguments

[PATHS]... The paths to search. You can provide multiple paths separated by spaces [default: .]

Options

Short	Long	Description
-c	--config <CONFIG_FILE>	Path to ast-grep root config, default is sgconfig.yml
-r	--rule <RULE_FILE>	Scan the codebase with the single rule located at the path RULE_FILE.
	--inline-rules <RULE_TEXT>	Scan the codebase with a rule defined by the provided RULE_TEXT
	--filter <REGEX>	Scan the codebase with rules with ids matching REGEX
-j	--threads <NUM>	Set the approximate number of threads to use [default: heuristic]
-i	--interactive	Start interactive edit session.
	--color <WHEN>	Controls output color [default: auto] [possible values: auto, always, ansi, never]
	--report-style <REPORT_STYLE>	[default: rich] [possible values: rich, medium, short]
	--follow	Follow symbolic links
	--json[=<STYLE>]	Output matches in structured JSON [possible values: pretty, stream, compact]
	--format <FORMAT>	Output warning/error messages in GitHub Action format [possible values: github]
-U	--update-all	Apply all rewrite without confirmation
	--no-ignore <NO_IGNORE>	Do not respect ignore files. (.gitignore, .ignore, etc.) [possible values: hidden, dot, exclude, global, parent, vcs]
	--stdin	Enable search code from StdIn. See link
	--globs <GLOBS>	Include or exclude file paths
	--tracing <LEVEL>	Show tracing information for file/rule discovery and scanning [default: nothing] [possible values: nothing, summary]
	--error[=<RULE_ID>...]	Set rule severity to error
	--warning[=<RULE_ID>...]	Set rule severity to warning
	--info[=<RULE_ID>...]	Set rule severity to info
	--hint[=<RULE_ID>...]	Set rule severity to hint
	--off[=<RULE_ID>...]	Turn off the rule
	--after <NUM>	Show NUM lines after each match [default: 0]
	--before <NUM>	Show NUM lines before each match [default: 0]
	--context <NUM>	Show NUM lines around each match [default: 0]
-A	--after <NUM>	Show NUM lines after each match [default: 0]
-B	--before <NUM>	Show NUM lines before each match [default: 0]
-C	--context <NUM>	Show NUM lines around each match [default: 0]
-h	--help	Print help

sg test

Test ast-grep rules. See testing guide for more details. View detailed reference.

Usage

sg test [OPTIONS]

Options

Short	Long	Description
-c	--config <CONFIG>	Path to the root ast-grep config YAML.
-t	--test-dir <TEST_DIR>	the directories to search test YAML files.
	--snapshot-dir <SNAPSHOT_DIR>	Specify the directory name storing snapshots. Default to __snapshots__.
	--skip-snapshot-tests	Only check if the test code is valid, without checking rule output. Turn it on when you want to ignore the output of rules
-U	--update-all	Update the content of all snapshots that have changed in test.
-f	--filter	Filter rule test cases to execute using a glob pattern.
-i	--interactive	start an interactive review to update snapshots selectively.
-h	--help	Print help.

sg new

Create new ast-grep project or items like rules/tests. View detailed reference.

Usage

sg new [COMMAND] [OPTIONS] [NAME]

Commands

Sub Command	Description
project	Create an new project by scaffolding.
rule	Create a new rule.
test	Create a new test case.
util	Create a new global utility rule.
help	Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s).

Arguments

[NAME] The id of the item to create.

Options

Short	Long	Description
-l	--lang <LANG>	The language of the item to create.
-y	--yes	Accept all default options without interactive input during creation.
-b	--base-dir <BASE_DIR>	Create new project/items in the folder specified by this argument [default: .]
-h	--help	Print help (see more with '--help')

sg lsp

Start a language server to report diagnostics in your project. This is useful for editor integration. See editor integration for more details.

Usage

sg lsp

Options

Short	Long	Description
-c	--config <CONFIG_FILE>	Path to ast-grep root config, default is sgconfig.yml
-h	--help	Print help (see more with '--help')

sg completions

Generate shell completion script.

Usage

sg completions [SHELL]

Arguments

[SHELL]

Output the completion file for given shell. If not provided, shell flavor will be inferred from environment.

[possible values: bash, elvish, fish, powershell, zsh]

sg help

Print help message or the help of the given subcommand(s).