Windows - search for text

hydrophilic
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Posts: 794

Windows - search for text Feb 2, 2016 3:42:16 GMT

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Post by hydrophilic on Feb 2, 2016 3:42:16 GMT

First let me apologize, this is not C128 related, but because I ain't no Windows forum member (um, maybe I should be?), maybe somebody can help?

I am trying to do something very simple. But Microsoft (and other big-britches entities) like to make simple things WAY TOO COMPLEX... All I want to do is find any/all text files in a (sub)directory which contain the text "_FILE". This is very easy to do on Windows 9x or WinXP... just type "_FILE" into the "containing text..." box.

But the current laptop I am using is running Windows Vista. The "advanced search options" doesn't include any box labeled "containing text..." although it does have a generic "search" box. When I set the advanced options to search only text files in a specific directory, and with a generic search of "_FILE", I get a boat-load of crap...

time.h
6502.h
dirent.h
inttypes.h
tgi.h
lynx.h
cbm.h

The list goes on and on... I only listed the first 7...

The important thing is none of them contain the text "_FILE". (By the way, I've tried lower-case too, with the same results).

The Windows' Help feature was no help at all... shock!

Do I need to copy my hard drive to Windows XP in order to do such a simple search? That seems totally retarded to me. So please (if you can), give me a clue. Am I retarded (missing something obvious), or is Windows search totally forked up??

Thanks everyone!!

I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts!
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buzbard
PET User

Posts: 45

Windows - search for text Feb 2, 2016 15:07:17 GMT hydrophilic likes this

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Post by buzbard on Feb 2, 2016 15:07:17 GMT

I agree, MS seems to be focusing on visual appeal instead of usefulness and I fear that it's only going to get worse.

One thing you can do is, and this may not be the answer you're looking for, open a command prompt in the target folder and type:

FINDSTR /I/M "_FILE" *.*
The '/I' makes the search non-case sensitive, '/M' lists only the filename.
You can even redirect '>' the output to a file and open it in notepad assuming .txt files are associated with notepad.

FINDSTR /I/M "_FILE" *.*> output.txt && start output.txt

Ray...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's OK if you don't agree with me, I can't force you to be right.

hydrophilic
Global Moderator

Posts: 794

Windows - search for text Feb 3, 2016 23:49:00 GMT

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Post by hydrophilic on Feb 3, 2016 23:49:00 GMT

Thanks buzbard! That works well. (I vaguely remember the similar FIND command from my DOS 6 days...) Only issue is navigating through paths in text mode is a bit of a chore. If anybody knows how to make Windows search feature actually find specific text, do chime in!

I've got a registry hack on one of my older Windows that lets you right-click a folder and select "Open CMD prompt" (or similar). I guess I need to track that down and see if it will work on Windows Vista/10...

[Edit]
Well, I just recreated the registry hack from scratch. It works from on folders, and automagically, "super folders" (drives). Unlike some hacks I've seen on the web, this will correctly work with multiple drives.... (a lot of published ones default to the system drive, which is usually C:, an which obviously fails if the folder is on a different drive). I imagine it will fail with "virtual folders" like "Network Neighborhood", etc.

Here's the registry file (in plain text) that works for me:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\Open CMD prompt]
@="Open CMD pro&mpt"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\Open CMD prompt\command]
@="cmd[DOT]exe /K cd /D %L

This will affect all users (and will probably require admin privileges to install/merge such a DOT-reg file). You can modify the file and replace both instances of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with HKEY_CURRENT_USER to get a version that only affects you (that should not require special privileges to install).
[/Edit]

[Edit 2]
The webserver gave me a "blocked" message when I tried posting the .reg file as an attachment. So you have to create in manually. Happy, happy, joy, joy

[/Edit 2]

[Edit 3]
The webserver gave me a "blocked" message when my post included text [dot]reg ... aaaaaargh

[/Edit 3]

[Edit 4]
The webserver game me a "blocked" message when my post included text "cmd[dot]exe" (when the [dot] was a literal period character). So now if you want to try this, not only do you have to manually copy and paste the text into a file and save it with a [dot]reg extension, but you must also change the text "[dot]" in the last line to a literal dot, "."

Sheesh, why do computers like making our lives so damn difficult?
[/Edit 4]

I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts!
∇ • hydrophilic ≠ 0

pinacolada
Windows User

Posts: 10

Windows - search for text Feb 14, 2016 2:52:31 GMT hydrophilic likes this

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Post by pinacolada on Feb 14, 2016 2:52:31 GMT

Nice command-line fu, buzbard.

Hey Hydrophilic! I see your plight there and raise you one "FreeCommander XE," a great free, orthogonal file manager for Windows -- freecommander.com/en/summary/

You can do a recursive search using regular expressions on any directory, sub-directory or tree of subdirectories you wish, log results to a text file, save the particular search as a search profile, and a whole host of useful things.

hydrophilic Global Moderator Posts: 794	Windows - search for text Feb 17, 2016 2:45:56 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by hydrophilic on Feb 17, 2016 2:45:56 GMT Thanks for the link, pinacolada ! I haven't tried it yet... will use buzbard 's method until I get desperate... but I do like other options, so thank you or another option!
	I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts! ∇ • hydrophilic ≠ 0

buzbard
PET User

Posts: 45

Windows - search for text Mar 28, 2016 15:57:03 GMT

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Post by buzbard on Mar 28, 2016 15:57:03 GMT

This little trick might be more of what you're after:

In Explorer (not Internet Explorer) navigate to the root folder where your files are located, then click the "Organize" drop-down menu (should be near the top-left corner),
click "Folder and search options",
click the "Search" tab,
click on the radio button next to "Always search file names and contents"
and finally click "Apply" then "Ok"

This will re-index the folder and sub-folders, then in the search box type:

*.h _file

That should find "_file" in only .h files.

Hope it works for you.

Last Edit: Mar 28, 2016 15:58:36 GMT by buzbard: Typos

Ray...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's OK if you don't agree with me, I can't force you to be right.

hydrophilic
Global Moderator

Posts: 794

Windows - search for text Mar 29, 2016 4:16:29 GMT

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Post by hydrophilic on Mar 29, 2016 4:16:29 GMT

Thanks for the tip, buzbard ! That seems like both a lengthy and non-intuitive approach, but I sure am willing to try!

Oh wait... from the root folder (in Windows Explorer... and not Internet Explorer), when... OK, never mind, I see what you mean... wow that really is bit archaic to get to...

Okay, I set it to include file contents too... hopefully this works...

From what I've "learned" today, so far (ha!), is that "Folder Options" also controls "Search"... well that it is quite a stretch of my limited imagination, but okay....

I also learned the "Search" tab of "Folder Options" includes nifty options "Include system directories" and "Include compressed files (ZIP, CAB...)"

Anyway, with these new / "correct" settings I once again tried searching my folder for files containing "_FILE"

The result is a list of over 2100 items! The first dozen (or so) items are directories (I definitely ain't gonna search through all that crap). The remainder are actual files... following is a list of the top ten (or so) files:

announce.txt
clock.s
time.h
interrupt.s
6502.h
posixdirent.s
dirent.h
global.c
version.c
codeseg.c
expr.c

(if you wonder about strange order, it is sorted by "date modified")

The most important thing, in all of those files, is the fact that the text "_FILE" was found zero times! Not at all!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I hope you understand when I say that I don't have the patience to examine the remaining 2090 files!

In summary, Microsoft Search is royally forked-up. (Or maybe this PC is FUBAR?)

I thought *maybe* due to the leading underscore ("_FILE" ... as opposed to "FILE") this *might* have something to do with Regular Expressions ??

Well I double-checked the Folder/Search options (thanks again, buzbard )... I did *not* have the option "natural language search" enabled, and unless I am missing something, there is no option for "Regular Expression" matching...

Did I discover a fundamental flaw in MS Search? Is there a way to exploit this vulnerability to make millions of dollars (I am anxious to equally share in the profits with all contributors!) ?

Or is this just another example of really, REALLY, REALLY bad software?

P.S. ... If you haven't noticed by now, I'm really good at finding bugs ... if you dare to call your software "bug-free" (or at least, bug-repellent), then you should at least hire me as a consultant!

That was only semi-serious, as MS products have more bugs than we (humans) have fingers to point with! (But I am truly gifted at finding bugs, and well worth the investment.)

Going off-topic... WAY off-topic... is there any way to market my skills at crashing code? Thanks for any/all feedback in this area!!

I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts!
∇ • hydrophilic ≠ 0

Commodore 128

Windows - search for text

Post by hydrophilic on Feb 2, 2016 3:42:16 GMT

Post by buzbard on Feb 2, 2016 15:07:17 GMT

Post by hydrophilic on Feb 3, 2016 23:49:00 GMT

Post by pinacolada on Feb 14, 2016 2:52:31 GMT

Post by hydrophilic on Feb 17, 2016 2:45:56 GMT

Post by buzbard on Mar 28, 2016 15:57:03 GMT

Post by hydrophilic on Mar 29, 2016 4:16:29 GMT

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