batch-search-before-reading

name	batch-search-before-reading
description	Use when repeatedly searching for the same or related strings across multiple grep/read commands. Consolidate into a single comprehensive search to avoid redundant queries and session loss.
category	automation

Batch Search Strategy for Codebase Investigations

1. Before making multiple searches, list ALL terms you need to find in one command.
2. Use grep -E "term1|term2|term3" to search multiple patterns simultaneously.
3. If reading multiple files, use cat file1 file2 file3 instead of separate read calls.
4. After one failed search, check if the terms appeared in other files before doing another search.
5. Cache results in your context—don't re-search for information you've already found.

Example: Instead of:

grep "appToken" file.ts grep "BITABLE" config.ts grep "tableId" setup.ts

Do: bash grep -rE "appToken|BITABLE|tableId" ~/path/src --include="*.ts" | head -50

Anti-pattern: Running 5 separate grep commands when one piped grep with multiple patterns would suffice.