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Software Development Mathematica

Tools question: how to search a directory full of notebooks

Joe Gilray

Posted 11 years ago

As I'm learning to program Mathematica, I'm quickly collecting quite a number of notebooks that I've written. When I want to remember an idiom or technique I've used, I need to search the notebooks. I've found that the directory search in Win 7 is pretty bad for this. For example if I search for Reap, it will find it when it starts a line, but not if it is "buried" as in Cases[Reap[... What tools do folks use for this? Thanks! -Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

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C ormullion

C ormullion, I belong to no organization.

Posted 11 years ago

Is this any use? You might be able to adapt it...or even get rid of the pattern matching stuff...

POSTED BY: C ormullion

Joe Gilray

Posted 11 years ago

OK, I've gotten it good enough for me. Here's the code I'm using: nbScan[line_, str_] := Block[{s = StringSplit[StringDrop[line, -1], x : RegularExpression[(str)] :> Style[x, Red, Bold, 16]]}, If[Length@s >= 2, Print[Row[s]]]] onefile[fn_, str_] := Block[{}, Print["searching for \"", str, "\" in ", fn]; Map[nbScan[#, str] &, StringSplit[Import[fn, "Plaintext", IgnoreEmptyLines -> True], "\n"]]] nbs[str_] := Block[{files = FileNames[StringJoin[NotebookDirectory[], "*.nb"]]}, Map[onefile[#, str] &, files];] It works with regexps and does a decent job of highlighting. I can simply type: nbs["Cases"] or nbs["P..t"] try it! I'm sure there are some improvements that can be made -Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Joe Gilray

Posted 11 years ago

I've done some web searches and still haven't found anything. Anybody got the same issue? Maybe I need to write a quick tool to do these notebook searches? -Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Joe Gilray

Posted 11 years ago

Thanks that was a great starting point! OK, I've made a start, but I need help: I created the following simple functions (which could be put in init.m, for example) nbScan[line_, str_] := If[StringMatchQ[line, ___ ~~ str ~~ ___], Print@line] onefile[fn_, str_] := (Print["searching for \"", str, "\" in ", fn]; Map[nbScan[#, str] &, StringSplit[Import[fn, "Plaintext"], "\n"]];) nbs[str_] := (files = FileNames[StringJoin[NotebookDirectory[], "*.nb"]]; Map[onefile[#, str] &, files];) Now I can search all notebooks in the current directory by typing something like this in a cell": nbs["Plot"] Here is sample output: searching for "Plot" in C:\Users\Gilrays\Documents\Mathematica\Play1.nb ListPlot[Map[Total, Map[Last, FactorInteger[Range[2, 1000]], {2}]]] Manipulate[ListPlot[Total/@Map[Last, FactorInteger[Range[2, x]], {2}]], {x, 2, 1000}] searching for "Plot" in C:\Users\Gilrays\Documents\Mathematica\tips.nb ... Some things I'd like help with: 1) How do I get rid of the extra empty line after each "match" 2) I'd like to bold each match like this: ListPlot[Map[Total, Map[Last, FactorInteger[Range[2, 1000]], {2}]]] 3) other ideas? Thanks in advance, -Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Joe Gilray

Posted 11 years ago

Has anybody tried the code above? I had a funny typo ("Limes" instead of "Lines"), fixed now. I've been using it very happily (I have a directory of about 80 small notebooks - I can search them pretty quickly for idioms, use of functions, etc.), but I'm sure it can be improved. Thanks, -Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Joe Gilray

Posted 9 years ago

Hi again, I've started using Mathematica on Linux now, have learned some things (surprise!) and have fixed the code as well as added a "recursive search" feature. Let me know if you try it. You can make it available in all notebooks by putting it in your init.m file. -Joe (* provides notebook searching functionality ) ( nbs["P..t"] will match all lines in notebooks in the current directory ) ( nbs["Idiom","directory"] will match all lines in notebooks in the passed directory and below ) nbScan[line_, str_] := Block[{s = StringSplit[StringDrop[line, -1], x : RegularExpression[(str)] :> Style[x, Red, Bold, 16]]}, If[Length@s >= 2, Print[Row[s]]]] onefile[fn_, str_] := Block[{}, Print["searching for \"", str, "\" in ", fn]; Map[If[# != "", nbScan[#, str]] &, StringSplit[Import[fn, "Plaintext"], "\n"]]] nbs[str_, lookup_: ""] := Block[{lu = lookup, nbd = NotebookDirectory[], files = {}}, If[lu == "", files = FileNames[StringJoin[nbd, ".nb"]], SetDirectory[lu]; files = FileNames["*.nb", {Directory[]}, Infinity]; SetDirectory[nbd]] Map[onefile[#, str] &, files];]

Hi again, I've started using Mathematica on Linux now, have learned some things (surprise!) and have fixed the code as well as added a "recursive search" feature.

Let me know if you try it. You can make it available in all notebooks by putting it in your init.m file. -Joe

(* provides notebook searching functionality *)
(* nbs["P..t"] will  match all lines in notebooks in the current directory *)
(* nbs["Idiom","directory"] will match all lines in notebooks in the passed directory and below *)
nbScan[line_, str_] := 
     Block[{s = StringSplit[StringDrop[line, -1], x : RegularExpression[(str)] :> Style[x, Red, Bold, 16]]}, 
      If[Length@s >= 2, Print[Row[s]]]]
onefile[fn_, str_] := Block[{}, Print["searching for \"", str, "\" in ", fn];
      Map[If[# != "", nbScan[#, str]] &, StringSplit[Import[fn, "Plaintext"], "\n"]]]
nbs[str_, lookup_: ""] := Block[{lu = lookup, nbd = NotebookDirectory[], files = {}}, 
      If[lu == "", files = FileNames[StringJoin[nbd, "*.nb"]],
         SetDirectory[lu]; files = FileNames["*.nb", {Directory[]}, Infinity]; SetDirectory[nbd]]
        Map[onefile[#, str] &, files];]

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Sander Huisman

Sander Huisman, University of Twente

Posted 9 years ago

Though the method works quite well, why not try the new `TextSearch` function. I've used it already a few times, works super convenient! si = CreateSearchIndex[directory]; TextSearch[si, "never"]

POSTED BY: Sander Huisman

Frank Iannarilli

Posted 9 years ago

Agent Ransack

POSTED BY: Frank Iannarilli

Joe Gilray

Posted 9 years ago

Hi Guys, thanks for the great suggestions. I still think nbs[] has value for the following reasons: 1) tools like Agent Ransack run outside of Mathematica. I like to be able to search "in situ" while I'm working in a Mathematica workbook. 2) TextSearch is not in earlier versions of Mathematica (I'm still on 9.0.1 for example) and it is marked "Experimental" in the docs at least for now. Thanks again! Joe

POSTED BY: Joe Gilray

Michael McCain

Michael McCain, Ventura College

Posted 9 years ago

I am attempting to use the Text Search function... I cannot get the b[[i]] to cycle through all the i's the table function. It has something to do with the hold rest attribute for rule delayed symbol in the last line of code. Can someone help me? You can try it by putting in your own file directory where you see mine. d = InputString[]; si = CreateSearchIndex[ "/Users/michaelmccain/Library/Mobile \ \ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Ventura College/Mathematica/How To/"]; doc = TextSearch[si, d]; b = Table[doc[[i]]["Location"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; a = Table[doc[[i]]["FileName"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; ActionMenu["Search Results", Table[a[[i]] :> SystemOpen[b[[1]]], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]]

I am attempting to use the Text Search function...

I cannot get the b[[i]] to cycle through all the i's the table function. It has something to do with the hold rest attribute for rule delayed symbol in the last line of code. Can someone help me?

You can try it by putting in your own file directory where you see mine.

d = InputString[];

si = CreateSearchIndex[
   "/Users/michaelmccain/Library/Mobile \ \
Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Ventura College/Mathematica/How To/"];

doc = TextSearch[si, d];

b = Table[doc[[i]]["Location"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; a = 
 Table[doc[[i]]["FileName"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}];

ActionMenu["Search Results", 
 Table[a[[i]] :> SystemOpen[b[[1]]], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]]

POSTED BY: Michael McCain

Michael McCain

Michael McCain, Ventura College

Posted 9 years ago

I am attempting to use the Text Search function... I cannot get the b[[i]] to cycle through all the i's the table function. It has something to do with the hold rest attribute for rule delayed symbol in the last line of code. Can someone help me? You can try it by putting in your own file directory where you see mine. d = InputString[]; si = CreateSearchIndex[ "/Users/michaelmccain/Library/Mobile \ \ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Ventura College/Mathematica/How To/"]; doc = TextSearch[si, d]; b = Table[doc[[i]]["Location"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; a = Table[doc[[i]]["FileName"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; ActionMenu["Search Results", Table[a[[i]] :> SystemOpen[b[[1]]], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]]

I am attempting to use the Text Search function...

I cannot get the b[[i]] to cycle through all the i's the table function. It has something to do with the hold rest attribute for rule delayed symbol in the last line of code. Can someone help me?

You can try it by putting in your own file directory where you see mine.

d = InputString[];

si = CreateSearchIndex[
   "/Users/michaelmccain/Library/Mobile \ \
Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Ventura College/Mathematica/How To/"];

doc = TextSearch[si, d];

b = Table[doc[[i]]["Location"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]; a = 
 Table[doc[[i]]["FileName"], {i, 1, Length[doc]}];

ActionMenu["Search Results", 
 Table[a[[i]] :> SystemOpen[b[[1]]], {i, 1, Length[doc]}]]

POSTED BY: Michael McCain

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