How can I install and use ack library on Windows?

Question

I have never used Perl, but I am really impressed by the ack, which I would like to use for source code searching, etc.

Can anyone guide me of how to make use of this ex

Answer 1

If you have cygwin installed, you can simply download the standalone version. Perl is installed with cygwin. Here are the steps:

$ vim .bash_profile

Remove the comments from the lines:

# if [ -d "${HOME}/bin" ] ; then
#  PATH="${HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
# fi

Load the changes:

$ source .bash_profile

Make a bin directory:

$ mkdir ~/bin

Download ack (from the homepage):

$ curl https://beyondgrep.com/ack-2.22-single-file > ~/bin/ack && chmod 0755 ~/bin/ack

Note: you will have to manually install curl as it doesn't come with cygwin by default.

Answer 2

You can install ack via cpan:

install strawberry perl

run cmd as admin

install ack:

cpan> force install App::Ack

it should work from there, followed this guide: http://www.jeedo.net/how-to-install-ack-on-windows-10/

Worked without any hitches.

Answer 3

Not all the tests pass on all versions of Windows. You can most likely get 100% functionality from ack even if the install tests fail. Here is the command to force installation if failing tests prevent a normal install:

perl -MCPAN -e "CPAN::Shell->force(qw(install App::Ack));"

Answer 4

Depending on how you feel about installing pre-built binaries from open source projects, you might also consider The Silver Searcher (ag). It's ack-compatible and faster than ack. It's also available on Linux from the repositories in recent distros.

http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/the-silver-searcher-for-windows.html

Answer 5

You should also run the following command to enable color highlights: cpan Win32::Console::ANSI

Answer 6

If you already have msysgit installed, then you don't need to install Perl, because you already have a version. You just need to download the standalone version of ack and put it somewhere in your bash path¹. You can then run ack from your msysgit bash prompt.

If you also want to be able to run ack from the Windows command prompt, then you will need to create a batch script somewhere in your Windows path² with the contents:

@"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\perl" C:\path\to\ack-standalone.pl %*

(You'll obviously need to edit the paths above to match your msysgit installation and where you placed the ack script.)

_{1: I just stuck mine in the mysysgit bin directory: C:\Program Files\Git\bin\ack. This isn't the most sensible location for it, but it works.
2: Again, I just created the file ack.bat in the msysgit bin directory C:\Program File\Git\bin.}