You can try
http://www.wingrep.com/ (Windows Grep, which is very good), or
MS-DOS "findstr" that comes with Vista/XP (not very powerful), or some other
3rd party grep tool.
Or you can download Perl for windows and use the provided script (not very
powerful. just whipped it up in a few minutes and did some minor testing):
http://www.activestate.com/store/pro...5-08d58c2648ca
#---BEGIN SCRIPT-------------------------------------------------------------
# Usage: perl findtext.pl <regular expression (perl format)> <search path>
#
# Example (see
http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/Perl/matching.html for regex info):
#
# perl findtext.pl "Administrator" C:\
#
# Output:
#
# <file>:<line number>:<single space><line where regex was found>
use strict;
# Searches for regex in given file.
sub FindString($ $)
{
my $regex = $_[0];
my $file = $_[1];
my $lineNumber = 1;
open(my $SRC, "<$file");
while(<$SRC>) {
if(/$regex/) {
if(/[\x00-\x08\x0B\x0C\x0E-\x1F\x80-\xFF]/) {
print "binary file \"$file\" matches\n";
return;
} else {
print "$file:$lineNumber: $_";
}
}
++$lineNumber;
}
}
# Searches for files in given path and goes into sub directories recursively.
sub Search($ $)
{
my $regex = $_[0];
my $path = $_[1];
$path =~ s/\\$//;
$path .= "\\";
my @files = split(/\n/, `dir /b \"$path\"`);
my @folders;
foreach my $file (@files) {
my $fullPath = $path . $file;
if(-d $fullPath) {
Search($regex, $fullPath);
} else {
FindString($regex, $fullPath);
}
}
}
# Main.
{
if(@ARGV != 2) {
print "usage: $0 <regular expression> <search path>\n" .
"\nExample (see
http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/Perl/matching.html " .
"for regex info):\n" .
"\n\tperl findtext.pl \"Administrator\" \"C:\\Windows\"\n" .
"\nOutput:\n" .
"\n\t<file>:<line number>:<single space><line where regex was found>\n";
exit 1;
}
my $regex = $ARGV[0];
my $path = $ARGV[1];
Search($regex, $path);
}
#---END SCRIPT---------------------------------------------------------------
"Bpfh" wrote:
> Holy What!!!! Is this the official solution? Can a real search tool (like the
> XP search assistant) be installed?
>
> I hate being second-guessed. I thought that "All files" meant "all files"
> and not "all files that MS thinks you should search"... I'm not impressed...
>
> OK, so imagine that I go through this rather than installing grep (horror of
> horrors, having to install a Linux tool on Windows to get the job done... not
> a good sign), I now have to go through the complete list and make sure that
> the "index properties and contents" box is selected for all file extensions
> and hope that these settings are used even if the indexer is not activated?
>
> This seems seems a most user unfriendly way of doing things, and a massive
> waste of time to boot 
>
> Cheers,
> Daniel
>
> "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
>
> > Open Control Panel/Indexing Options/Advanced Button/File Types Tab. You can
> > select any or all of the file types there. If the file type you are looking
> > for is not listed, enter the files extension in the box at the bottom of
> > that dialog and click the Add New Extension button. Make sure that the
> > "Index Properties and File Contents" option is checked.
> >
> > Select the Index Settings Tab and click the Rebuild Button.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Ronnie Vernon
> > Microsoft MVP
> > Windows Shell/User
> >
> >
> > "Bpfh" <daniel@danielpage.com> wrote in message
> > news:0F15A3CC-DACA-4BC7-B081-B35291DD674E@microsoft.com...
> > > Just like XP (SP2), it seems that the Vista does not search for keywords
> > > in
> > > "non registered" files.
> > >
> > > I have the same problem as "auser" for searching within non-indexed files
> > > (ie. put string "SEARCH" in file called file.dpe and the search system
> > > will
> > > never look. Rename the file to file.txt, and lo, the file & string will be
> > > found.
> > >
> > > How do I get the keyword search to work properly? For me All files means
> > > "All files" not "all files except a large bunch that we can't be bothered
> > > to
> > > process"...
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Daniel
> > >
> >
Linear Mode
