reference > Flags

--max-memory

Accepted by

opengrep scan, opengrep ci, opengrep test

Value

INT, in MiB

Default

0, no limit

See also

--timeout, --max-target-bytes, --jobs, --max-match-per-file, --timeout-threshold

Limits the memory used by the analysis of one file, and by the cross-file analysis. When the limit is exceeded, Opengrep abandons the file, logs the warning ExceededMemoryLimit on <file>, counts the file as partially analyzed, and continues. The scan still exits with status 0, unless --strict is given.

0, the default, sets no limit. The value is in MiB.

Each of the --jobs workers analyzes its own files, so a smaller number of workers also reduces the memory that a scan uses.

## Examples

### A limit too small to analyze anything

rules:  - id: find-eval    pattern: eval(...)    message: found eval    languages: [python]    severity: WARNING

$ seq 20000 | sed 's/.*/x& = f(&)/' > big.py && echo 'eval(1)' >> big.py
$ opengrep scan -q --config rule.yaml --files-with-matches big.py
big.py
$ opengrep scan -q --config rule.yaml --files-with-matches --max-memory 1 big.py
$ opengrep scan --config rule.yaml --max-memory 1 big.py 2>&1 >/dev/null | grep ExceededMemoryLimit
warning  ExceededMemoryLimit on big.py

With the limit, the third command prints nothing: the file was abandoned and has no findings. The warning names the file, and the summary counts it as partially analyzed.