What grep command will include the current function name in its output?

Question

I run diff with the -p option so the output will include the name of the function where each change occurred. Is there an analogous option for grep? If not, what other command could I use instead?

Instead of -B to show a fixed number of context lines that immediately precede a match, I'd like for the match to be preceded by just one line with the most recent function signature, however many lines back it was in the file. If the option I'm looking for were -p, output might look like this, for example:

 $ cat foo.c int func1(int x, int y) {   return x + y; } int func2(int x, int y, int z) {   int tmp = x + y;   tmp *= z;   return tmp; }  $ grep -p -n -e 'return' foo.c 1-int func1(int x, int y) 3:  return x + y; -- 5-int func2(int x, int y, int z) 9:  return tmp; 

Answer 1

There is no such function in GNU grep, although it has been discussed in the past.

However if your code is under git's control, git grep has an option -p that will do that.

Answer 2

Here you go:

git grep --no-index -n -p 'return' 

You just need git. The files being searched do not need to be part of a git repo. But if they are, then omit --no-index and get an instant speed boost!