Better search tool for windows

PaulE · 27 Oct 2018

Hi,

I work on windows and have to search in text files, and wonder if there is little better tool support ...
I would like to have it:
- search in many text files (best filtered by file extension / name / pattern)
- search for texts / patterns
- there should be some support for the patterns ()
- be portable
the result should then be displayed useful (line of the finding with double-click to open)

currently I use Notepad ++
that's fine tool - my favorite editor, but I would have some extra tool so that the search can always stay open
and is faster.

zbook · 27 Oct 2018

This software is for find files.
It's not for searching within files.

See if this software is helpful: voidtools
It will index everything on internal and external drives.
It can launch on boot or when you need it.
There are instantaneous results.
The more characters that you type the narrower the search results.

PolarNettles · 28 Oct 2018

By "patterns" I assume you mean regular expressions.

AstroGrep (AstroGrep download | SourceForge.net) will do what you want. There is a portable version under the Files tab on the site.

Try3 · 28 Oct 2018

For the tasks you have described, I use File explorer most of the time but for awkward searches I use NirSoft's excellent SearchMyFiles

Added later - SearchMyFiles does search contents. I have tested this using text files, MS Office Word files & MS Office Outlook .msg files [such as MS Office Outlook emails saved to the HDD].

Denis

dalchina · 28 Oct 2018

If you are looking for a tool that does indexed content search, the typical 3rd party file search tools index file names, not content.

Some add on an optional search of found text files, but the content is not indexed.

I use Locate32 (free) - example:

Wild card filename search is supported, but not wild card text search, nor does it list the line found.

Astrogrep (mentioned above) appears to do no indexing.

For what you want, a commercial tool like Copernic Desktop Search would probably be ideal, giving instant results on indexed content.
Search Technology to instantly find files, emails, documents & much more!

You'd have to check if it supports regex on content search strings.

Google Desktop Search did much the same thing and was free. It still works, but was made obsolete some years ago. It certainly listed the content and context found - instantly.

You should be able to find a download somewhere around. Example from my PC of one way of using it.

Better search tool for windows-untitled.png

And you can do a search for (e.g.) *:txt aardvark but nothing more complex, it seems.

No support for regex content search specification as far as I know.

============================================
Presumably you know that Windows search supports content indexing potentially of a large variety of file types. (You need the ifilter for the relevant file type(s) ).

PolarNettles · 28 Oct 2018

dalchina said:

Astrogrep (mentioned above) appears to do no indexing, nor does content search support wildcards.

AstroGrep does content searches by regex.