[SOLVED] How to search through contents of .csv and .txt files in folders and sub-folders

grumpyskeptic · 03-01-2018, 06:45 AM

I have Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa Cinnamon

I have a lot of .csv and some txt files in a hierarchy of folders.

I want to search through the contents of all the files for a particular word.

What is the easiest way to do this please?

Is there some software available (preferably with a GUI) or are there console commands I should use?

Note that I want to search inside the files, not find files.

Thanks

keefaz · 03-01-2018, 07:00 AM

I use grep for this

Code:

grep -rli 'some words' /path/to/directory

rtmistler · 03-01-2018, 07:03 AM

I personally use the find command and the -exec option to perform a grep. That's what is easiest, for me. If you want a GUI option, I do not know if the File Manager on most desktops works similar to the search option in Windows where it can find in files.

Code:

$ find . -name "*.csv" -exec grep word {} /dev/null \;

syg00 · 03-01-2018, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtmistler

I personally use the find command and the -exec option to perform a grep.

You are one twisted puppy.

Oops - did I just say that or only think it ? ....

grep as above is good, most of the bigger/popular DEs these days seem to include a (supposedly) background indexer that should do the job from a GUI file manager.

BW-userx · 03-01-2018, 08:52 AM

find would eliminate having to search through every stinking file in a directory and limit it to just the ones you tell it to search, so yeah I can its its purpose.

Code:

find blah blah | grep foo bar

never tried that mind you.

Code:

grep -rwn /path -e search pattern

that's the one I use.

just cvs and some txt files or text files?

Code:

find /path -name "*.cvs" -o -name "*.txt" -exec grep word {} /dev/null \;

should work

hydrurga · 03-01-2018, 09:15 AM

I can't speak for 17.3, but for 18.x, if you click on the Mint menu button and type in "search" then you'll see "Search for Files" appear.

Click on that to launch it (it's actually Gnome Search Tool), click on "Select more options" and fill in the "Contains the text" field.

Select the folder to look in (it also looks in subfolders) and you're good to go.

grumpyskeptic · 03-04-2018, 05:57 AM

Thank you hydrurga, that is not already in my 17.3 version of Linux Mint, but can be found in the Software Manager as "gnome-search-tool" and installed. It can search within files as you say.