ack is a great tool for searching within text files, not for parsing them. [shameless plug] Try also the pure-Python based alternative to ack called "pss" (pip

ack is a great tool for searching within text files, not for parsing them. [shameless plug] Try also the pure-Python based alternative to ack called "pss" (pip/easy_install or https://bitbucket.org/eliben/pss https://bitbucket.org/eliben/pss).