idutils ☆
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Description:
ID database and query tools
Type: Formula  |  Latest Version: 4.6@0  |  Tracked Since: Nov 26, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Developer tools
Tags: code-search developer-tools indexing source-code gnu
Install: brew install idutils
About:
idutils builds and maintains a fast, compact identifier database (ID) for source code repositories. It provides the mkid command to index files and the lid/gid/fid utilities to query identifiers with context. This offers superior speed and precision for code navigation compared to generic text search tools.
Key Features:
  • Fast database construction with mkid
  • Multiple query tools (lid, gid, fid) for different search modes
  • Supports numerous programming and markup languages
  • Highly configurable via ID file and environment variables
Use Cases:
  • Quickly finding function, class, or variable definitions in large codebases
  • Refactoring code by locating all references to a specific identifier
  • Indexing project documentation or configuration files for rapid lookup
Alternatives:
  • cscope – cscope is better for deep C code analysis (call graphs), while idutils is faster for general identifier lookup across many languages.
  • GNU Global – Global provides tighter editor integration and cross-referencing, whereas idutils focuses on raw speed and simplicity of indexing.
  • grep -r – grep is universally available but slower and less precise, as it matches text rather than semantic code identifiers.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Nov 26, 2025 11:03pm 1 VERSION_BUMP 798e87ed
Sep 12, 2025 10:25am 1 VERSION_BUMP 2080e310
Sep 14, 2024 6:00am 1 VERSION_BUMP 6283d201
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