How to search strings in certain files using absolute path by grep

I want to search for a certain string in several files using absolute path, say that I want to find all occurrences of inheritDoc in sevral java files, I have tried the following command:

grep -inr \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-server/src/com/cryptolog/universign/server/HealthCheckHandler.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-admin-www/src/com/cryptolog/universign/admin/actions/HealthCheckAction.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-www/src/com/cryptolog/universign/www/action/HealthCheckAction.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/HealthCheckConfiguration.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/HealthCheckResult.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/utils/HealthCheckUtils.java \ --include /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/utils/HttpUtils.java \ inheritDoc 

But that does not work. How could I possibly do this?

1 Answer

While you've give a pattern of files to '--include' (which will override any of these previously excluded by an '--exclude' argument) you haven't actually listed the files you want to search. Try:

grep -inr inheritDoc \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-server/src/com/cryptolog/universign/server/HealthCheckHandler.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-admin-www/src/com/cryptolog/universign/admin/actions/HealthCheckAction.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-www/src/com/cryptolog/universign/www/action/HealthCheckAction.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/HealthCheckConfiguration.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/HealthCheckResult.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/utils/HealthCheckUtils.java \ /opt/li/projects/universign-copy-2/universign/universign-core/src/com/cryptolog/universign/core/utils/HttpUtils.java 

And check 'man grep' for more information.