Alright, so I wanted to mess around with `ag` and `rakes` today. I’d heard about them, seen them in some configs, but never really used them. So, I figured, why not dive in and see what the fuss is about?
Getting Started
First things first, I needed to make sure I had `ag` (The Silver Searcher) installed. It wasn’t too hard, it’s already existed. Just a simple command. After that, I figured I’d start with a basic search, you know, just to get my feet wet.
I had a messy project folder lying around – a perfect test subject. It was full of old code, random text files, who-knows-what-else. So I `cd`’d into that directory and typed something like:
ag "some_function_name"
Boom! It spit out a bunch of results, way faster than I expected. It highlighted the matches, showed the line numbers… pretty slick. Okay, `ag` definitely seemed cool.
Experimenting with Rakes
Next up, I needed to figure out what “rakes” were actually about. Turns out, they’re kind of like custom commands or shortcuts you can set up with `ag`. You can use them to search for specific patterns, in specific file types, or whatever you want, really.
I started by looking at some examples. I found some setups where people were using rakes to search for, like, TODO comments in their code, or to quickly find all files of a certain type. Gave me some ideas.
My First Rake
I decided to create a rake to search for all my `.js` files that contained the word “error”. I figured that’s a pretty common thing I might want to look for.
I created some text in the configuration files.
It worked! I just typed my new rake and it instantly showed me all the `.js` files with “error” in them. Felt pretty powerful, like I was customizing my search tool to fit my exact needs.
Tweaking and Refining
Of course, I didn’t stop there. I started playing around with different options, adding more rakes for different types of searches. I made one to search for specific CSS classes in my `.html` files, another to find all my Markdown files… you get the idea.
It was actually kind of addictive. I kept thinking of new ways to use it, new little shortcuts that could save me time. I even started experimenting with more complex patterns, using regular expressions and stuff. (Don’t ask me to explain those, though… still figuring that part out myself!).
The End Result (For Now)
So, yeah, that was my day messing with `ag` and `rakes`. I went from knowing practically nothing about them to having a customized setup that I’m actually using. I feel I’m leveled up on searching skill.
I’m sure I’ll keep tweaking it, adding more rakes as I go. But for now, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. It’s like I’ve built my own little search engine, tailored specifically for my projects. Pretty cool, right?