[comp.sys.mac.wanted] "Grep"-Like Utility For Mac?

jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) (12/19/90)

I have transferred about a Megabyte of text files from a Unix-based
machine to my Mac.  I would like to be able to search through the files
for certain strings by giving a program a list of filenames to search
through.  e.g. in unix:  "grep -ni *.text foobar" to look for "foobar"
in all files with names ending in "text", case insensitive --> return
to me the file names and line numbers.

I have the HyperCard stack "FreeText" and also the "Browser" program,
but these are much more elaborate than what I need.  (Also, I don't
want to use disk space by creating index files).

MacSink works nice for one-file-at-a-time types of jobs, but I want to
be able to have the program look through a set of text files.  

A DA would be especially nice.  Thanks in advance,




Jeff Haferman                            internet: jlhaferman@icaen.uiowa.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering     DoD 0186  BMWMOA 44469  AMA 460140
University of Iowa
Iowa City IA  52242

jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) (01/01/91)

I'll try one more time.  I didn't receive any responses to my
first posting, so here goes:

I would like to find a utility (maybe a DA) for the Mac which can
search through a series of text files searching for a given string
or pattern.

This is utility should be similar in functionality as the Unix "grep"
command.  

Currently, I have the Browser and Freetext programs to search through
text files, but they build large indexes which are very cumbersome to
deal with for the small files that I have.

Thanks in advance.



Jeff Haferman                            internet: jlhaferman@icaen.uiowa.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering     DoD 0186  BMWMOA 44469  AMA 460140
University of Iowa
Iowa City IA  52242

starta@tosh.UUCP (John Starta) (01/01/91)

jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) writes:

> I would like to find a utility (maybe a DA) for the Mac which can
> search through a series of text files searching for a given string
> or pattern.

An INIT by the name of Fetch It! will do what you require. Although it 
won't search for patterns like grep, it does look in files. If you would 
prefer a DA solution and need pattern and files searchs, then try looking 
at Gofer. Gofer is a commerical utility written by Microlytics (+1 716 248 
9150). Fetch It! is shareware and should be found on any of the information 
services as well as in your local user group library.

Happy New Year!

John

--
John A. Starta        Internet: tosh!starta@asuvax.eas.asu.edu
Software Visionary        UUCP: ncar!noao!asuvax!tosh!starta
                           AOL: AFA John; CompuServe: 71520,3556

fadushin@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Phred Dushin) (01/02/91)

In article <3772@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) writes:
>I would like to find a utility (maybe a DA) for the Mac which can
>search through a series of text files searching for a given string
>or pattern.

Try Grep-Wc1.2, which should be on the sumex archives.  It's a 
DA which lets you grep strings (with appropriate wildchars)
from standard text files.  You can also word count, and
output to a file.  It is in the public domain.

You can also try my HyperSearch, a HyperCard stack which does
searches on standard text files.  You can do boolean combinations
of strings on single files with any degree of complexity,
depending, of course, on your patience.  HyperSearch, I am
afraid, is tediously slow, especially on the low-end machines.
But it was fun to write.  Let me know if you would like
a copy.  HyperSearch is free.

I've heard Gofer has a grep function, also, but I haven't seen it.

Fred Dushin  				Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Internet:				Bitnet:
fadushin@rodan.acs.syr.edu 		fadushin@sunrise.bitnet	
(FYI, RODAN is a Sun4 running SunOS Release 4.1_PSR_A.)

rrr@u02.svl.cdc.com (Rich Ragan) (01/02/91)

In <3772@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) writes:

>I would like to find a utility (maybe a DA) for the Mac which can
>search through a series of text files searching for a given string
>or pattern.
I believe a version of grep exists that runs under Apple's
MPW programming shell. Unfortunately, unless you are already
an MPW user this is probably not of much good to you.

The only other product I know of is On Location which indexes
all files on your hard disk by name and content and allows you
to list all files with a certain string in them. In some ways
this is better than grep because you get everything on your
disk handled. In other ways it is worse because you may see
more than you want and you must bear overhead for storing the
indexes and the time to index everything. This is normally done
in the background but if you haven't let it run in a while
your search may be incomplete so you have to run it before
searching.
--
Richard R. Ragan   rrr@svl.cdc.com    (408) 496-4340 
Control Data Corporation - Silicon Valley Operations
5101 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054-1111

Randy.Shaw@p1.f555.n161.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Randy Shaw) (01/05/91)

> jlhaferman@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman)

> I would like to find a utility (maybe a DA) for the Mac which can
> search through a series of text files searching for a given string
> or pattern.
> 
> This is utility should be similar in functionality as the Unix "grep"
> command.  

There is a DA called (appropriately enough) "GREP.wc", for GREP/word count. 
The version I have is v1.1, it is freeware, and I believe I got it from 
GEnie...but my memory is not too clear on that.

It performs GREP-like functions and is capable of working on any text file, 
as well as MacWrite 4.5 files.

If you are unable to locate a copy, EMAIL me and I will make sure one gets 
to you either by direct modem hookup or by US Mail.


--  
Randy Shaw - via FidoNet node 1:125/777
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bin@primate.wisc.edu (Brain in Neutral) (01/10/91)

One thing I was often asked about Grep-Wc was "do you have
a version that reads Word files?"  I didn't, and don't.

Has anyone else written such a thing?
--
Paul DuBois
dubois@primate.wisc.edu