{"slug": "ack", "name": "ack", "category": "terminal", "category_name": "Terminal and shell", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 1.323, "rising": -0.33, "first": "2026-03-24", "latest": "2026-07-26", "why": "It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time", "icon": false, "domain": "beyondgrep.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://beyondgrep.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["ack"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 761639888, "item_id": 47602493, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47602493", "by": "strict9", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time", "excerpt": "I've been using ack for a very long time, maybe 15 years. It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time, even in the era of Claude. https://beyondgrep.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "code searching", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["source code search", "code searching", "code search"], "compared": [{"slug": "ripgrep", "name": "ripgrep", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "grep", "name": "grep", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ag", "name": "ag", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49055553", "title": "Source Code Grep: Use your own grep, but make it source code aware", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47602040", "title": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47499245", "title": "Ripgrep is faster than {grep, ag, Git grep, ucg, pt, sift}", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"compare": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 784888866, "item_id": 49055554, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49055554", "by": "m-manu", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "compare", "quote": "source-code-aware search tools like ripgrep (rg), ack etc. - But these tools reimplement grep logic!", "excerpt": "grep is great. It comes pre-installed on your OS. In fact, a search using grep is faster than the search on your IDE when there is no code index! But, one key pain when using grep for searching in your source code or configuration files? A `grep -r` command scans all files (including binary files ) and not just source code files, making it slow. Sometimes, terribly slow. Yes, I'm aware of source-code-aware search too", "context": "", "use_case": "source code search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Source Code Grep: Use your own grep, but make it source code aware"}, {"id": 761639888, "item_id": 47602493, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47602493", "by": "strict9", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time", "excerpt": "I've been using ack for a very long time, maybe 15 years. It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time, even in the era of Claude. https://beyondgrep.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "code searching", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?"}, {"id": 760078001, "item_id": 47504875, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47504875", "by": "ventana", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried switching to the latest and greatest replacements, such as ack or ripgrep for grep", "excerpt": "One thing I learned over the years is that the closer my setup is to the default one, the better. I tried switching to the latest and greatest replacements, such as ack or ripgrep for grep, or httpie for curl, just to always return to the default options. Often, the return was caused by a frustration of not having the new tools installed on the random server I sshed to. It's probably just me being unable to persevere", "context": "", "use_case": "code search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ripgrep is faster than {grep, ag, Git grep, ucg, pt, sift}"}]}