How to show line numbers by default with git grep command?

I know I can use the -n flag in git grep to show the line numbers of the results, i.e

git grep -n "some string"

but how could I include this flag by default without making an alias? I found git config --global grep.lineNumber true but it doesn't seem to be working for me.

From the git grep manual:

Options:

   -n, --line-number
       Prefix the line number to matching lines.

Configuration:

   grep.lineNumber
       If set to true, enable -n option by default.

To turn on globally: git config --global grep.lineNumber true

I set my grep.lineNumber using your command and it worked for me.

Have you considered using ack? It's significantly more programmer friendly and comes in the repositories of most major linux distributions.

Under .gitconfig file

add this section

[grep]                                                                                                                           
  linenumber = true        

line number would be showed if you using git grep

The command you use

git config --global grep.lineNumber true

is the correct way to enable -n option by default.

But this feature is not available until v1.7.5-rc1. Check your local document for more information.

git grep --help

Also if you are interested, here is the commit introduced this feature:

grep: allow -E and -n to be turned on by default via configuration