Using Searcher - wizden/Searcher GitHub Wiki
Usage
Searching
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On first run, the program asks if it should create a preferences file. This is an XML file used to record the last 10 searches. The file also allows customisation of the user interface. It is saved in the same location as the executable.
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To search, ensure that the Directory, Find What and Filters are provided with the location, text and file extensions are provided. To search in multiple locations for multiple text values, separate each item by using the semi-colon ( ; ) character. If the preferences file is used, the separation character can be changed by altering the SeparatorCharacter element.
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When searching for multiple text, if "all" items must exist in each file being searched, set the dropdown next to the Find What textbox to "All", otherwise leave it at "Any".
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If no file extensions are provided, the default is set as . for all files. This can lead to slower searches depending on the number of files. To improve performance, provide the extensions if known - e.g. .txt; .docx - to search text and Word documents.
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If certain files/directories are to be excluded from searching, after performing the search, right-click the file and select either Always exclude file from search or Exclude directory from search menu option.
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To quickly view the current line and the nearby text/lines, double-click the line to open a popup window.
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Regular expressions (with multi-line) can be used for the text being searched.
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In the progressbar, you may occasionally see "Processed Files (n of n) - Found x matches in y files", where "n" is smaller than "y". This as it stands is correct. The "n" is smaller as it only counts the zip/archive file as a single file, where as "y" counts the contents within the archive as well.
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To see the list of files that were searched in the current criteria, click the progress bar. This lists the excluded files/directories as well, which can be re-included.
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The preferences file can be used to:
- Alter background and highlight colour using HEX colour codes (See https://htmlcolorcodes.com/)
- Increase the number of historical searches stored
- Modify the default separator character ( ; ) to another value