small search engine for searching own computer?

lugoteehalt · 03-31-2006, 09:26 AM

It is common to want to search the computer for a file containing the word 'filth' say. Might do something like:
$ locate lugo/Documents | xargs grep 'filth'
to search the Documents directory for a file with the text 'filth' in it.

Even if this worked the output would be difficult to interpret and unsatisfactory.

Would not a mini-search engine be much better?

Is there such a thing? Thanks any help.

pixellany · 03-31-2006, 09:57 AM

Most Linux distros have a search function as part of the GUI.

What distro are you using?

marozsas · 03-31-2006, 10:19 AM

If you are using KDE, there is kat. If you are using GNOME there is beagle. In fact beagle works under KDE too.
beagle/kat works silenty, in background, indexing all words in e-mails, openoffice documents, pdf files, Metadata in photos and mp3 files.
When you open the gui, its a matter to search your term in the database, not in the filesystem, which is a lot faster.

geeman2.0 · 03-31-2006, 11:36 AM

What's wrong with

Code:

find lugo/Documents -name 'filth'

???

syg00 · 03-31-2006, 04:36 PM

I think the OP is looking for files containing the text string, not filename(s).

jlinkels · 04-01-2006, 08:13 AM

Use a combination of find and grep:

#find all .c files, print all names, and grep for expression
find . -name \*.c -print -exec grep cpufreq\* {} \;

- the text searched for here is cpufreq*
- it is necessary to escape the '*' character
- the backslash and semicolon at the end must really be there
- the -print statement is not necessary, but shows which files have been found satisfying the file name.

jlinkels

lugoteehalt · 04-04-2006, 12:33 PM

Great thanks. I'll try the find/grep. Use Debian with Enlightenment as opposed to KDE or Gnome. Will try Beagle or Kat, might work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

I think the OP is looking for files containing the text string, not filename(s).

OP means 'original poster'