Bulk search

[Daniel]

Hi

I have Vista Ultimate.

I need to find about 60 files on my PC, the file names are listed on a word
document, and the actual files are stored in many different folders on my
PC.

I need to consolidate the files into one folder.

Is there some way I can do a bulk search using "search" where I load the
file names and Vista finds them and shows where they are located.

please advise

regards

Daniel

 

[Jed]

Hi

I have Vista Ultimate.

I need to find about 60 files on my PC, the file names are listed on a word
document, and the actual files are stored in many different folders on my
PC.

I need to consolidate the files into one folder.

Is there some way I can do a bulk search using "search" where I load the
file names and Vista finds them and shows where they are located.

Try Agent Ransack, it's free.

http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

Just a happy user, no relationship.

 

[Daniel]

Try Agent Ransack, it's free.

http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

Just a happy user, no relationship.

As far as I can tell it does not do a "bulk" search

 

[the wharf rat]

Is there some way I can do a bulk search using "search" where I load the
file names and Vista finds them and shows where they are located.

Well AFAIK vista doesn't have a command line search. You'll need
to script something yourself, like


REM
REM LIST.TXT SHOULD HAVE THE NAMES OF THE FILE SYOU WANT TO FIND
REM TRY TO BE SPECIFIC SO YOU DONT GET C:\FOO AND C:\SOMEDIR\FOO
REM
REM IT SHOULD BE RUN AS CLOSE TO THE ROOT AS NECESSARY TO GET THE FILES
REM YOU WANT BUT AS FAR FROM THE ROOT AS POSSIBLE SO IT DOESNT SEARCH
REM THE WHOLE DISK
REM
REM YEAH, IT SHOULD BE BETTER BUT ITS JUST A NEWSGROUP EXAMPLE SHEESH
REM
REM LOL
REM

ECHO "GENERATING FILE LIST. THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE"
DIR/B/S>MYFILES.TXT
FOR /F "TOKENS=1" %%I IN ('TYPE LIST.TXT') DO FINDSTR "%%I" MYFILES.TXT


You can script in the copy commands or save the output and just
edit it then run it as another bat script...

 

[Daniel]

Well AFAIK vista doesn't have a command line search. You'll need
to script something yourself, like


REM
REM LIST.TXT SHOULD HAVE THE NAMES OF THE FILE SYOU WANT TO FIND
REM TRY TO BE SPECIFIC SO YOU DONT GET C:\FOO AND C:\SOMEDIR\FOO
REM
REM IT SHOULD BE RUN AS CLOSE TO THE ROOT AS NECESSARY TO GET THE FILES
REM YOU WANT BUT AS FAR FROM THE ROOT AS POSSIBLE SO IT DOESNT SEARCH
REM THE WHOLE DISK
REM
REM YEAH, IT SHOULD BE BETTER BUT ITS JUST A NEWSGROUP EXAMPLE SHEESH
REM
REM LOL
REM

ECHO "GENERATING FILE LIST. THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE"
DIR/B/S>MYFILES.TXT
FOR /F "TOKENS=1" %%I IN ('TYPE LIST.TXT') DO FINDSTR "%%I" MYFILES.TXT


You can script in the copy commands or save the output and just
edit it then run it as another bat script...

Thanks mate, I'm sure you are trying to be helpful and I appreciate your
efforts but I have absolutely no
idea where to start with this, all I know is that I can write a bat file in
notepad, the rest is meaningless.

regards

Daniel

 

[Daniel]

After doing a great deal of research and trial and error I found that I can
do bulk search.

If I type the following in the search box
John.* OR Matthew.* OR Brian* OR Greg.*
I find any file that contains John, Matthew, Brian or Greg in the file name
and it shows the folder it is in, I can select and copy all into another
folder as I require.

regards

Daniel

 

[Retroman]

After doing a great deal of research and trial and error I found that I can
do bulk search.

If I type the following in the search box
John.* OR Matthew.* OR Brian* OR Greg.*
I find any file that contains John, Matthew, Brian or Greg in the file name
and it shows the folder it is in, I can select and copy all into another
folder as I require.

Hi Daniel,

Actually, that's not quite the correct syntax. You will get faster and more accurate
results by using the new syntax for WDS to search for file names, for example:

name:john OR matthew OR brian OR greg

Using wild cards is unnecessary and slows down the search. Using upper case will
exclude names beginning with lower case, whereas using lower case finds both lower
and upper case versions.

Doug M. in NJ

 

[Jed]

As far as I can tell it does not do a "bulk" search

It appears you have found an alternative, however, Agent Ransack will
do bulk searches. Just enter "*.txt" or "fp*.*" etc. in the "files to
search" field and enter the text you are looking for in the text
search field.

 

[BChat]

<snip>
Hi Daniel,

Actually, that's not quite the correct syntax. You will get faster and more
accurate
results by using the new syntax for WDS to search for file names, for
example:

name:john OR matthew OR brian OR greg

Using wild cards is unnecessary and slows down the search. Using upper case
will
exclude names beginning with lower case, whereas using lower case finds both
lower
and upper case versions.

Doug M. in NJ


Thanks for the info Doug.
BChat

 

[Daniel]

Hi Daniel,

Actually, that's not quite the correct syntax. You will get faster and
more accurate
results by using the new syntax for WDS to search for file names, for
example:

name:john OR matthew OR brian OR greg

Using wild cards is unnecessary and slows down the search. Using upper
case will
exclude names beginning with lower case, whereas using lower case finds
both lower
and upper case versions.

Doug M. in NJ

Thanks for that, you are right, I used all lower case in my search, and it
does work without the dot
but I could not get it to work without the asterisk.so this is what it looks
like for me
john* OR matthew* OR brian* OR Greg*

regards

Daniel

 

[Daniel]

It appears you have found an alternative, however, Agent Ransack will
do bulk searches. Just enter "*.txt" or "fp*.*" etc. in the "files to
search" field and enter the text you are looking for in the text
search field.

Thanks for the information and help, Ill use it in future.

regards

Daniel

 

[the wharf rat]

the rest is meaningless.

Sorry...