6 ms·

If you means something that searches for files within any directory, I think the best so far I've used was Everything (https://www.voidtools.com/ https://www.vo

by isxek 10y ago

If you means something that searches for files within any directory, I think the best so far I've used was Everything (https://www.voidtools.com/ https://www.voidtools.com/). Lightweight, fast, and really simple UI. I'm still looking for a Linux equivalent (I'm currently using a shell wrapper for `ag --depth 0 -g <pattern> <directory>`.)

to3m 10y ago
I've been happy with Everything, too. Everything is good because it searches by multiple substrings, so you can be precise about what you're looking for. (The much-loved fuzzy search, on the other hand, in my experience returns results that might as well be random, until you type so much of what you're looking for that you might as well have typed the whole thing.) For searching file content I quite like Agent Ransack aka File Locator: https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack - main thing I like about it is that it's very quick and easy to see the content results from a subset of the file search results.
Lagged2Death 10y ago
I use Everything as well, it's really useful, very focused. It may seem "lightweight" in a modern desktop machine, but I believe the way it works is: it keeps the index of your entire filesystem in RAM at all times. And it continuously monitors that filesystem to keep the index updated. It's kind of brute-force, really. I can think of some ways that could get out of hand and not seem so lightweight. Regardless, the gap between what Everything can do and what the built-in File Explorer search can do is an embarrassing canyon, and I can't believe MS hasn't even fixed the built-in search enough to make it function correctly let alone quickly at this late stage.
lucb1e 10y ago
> I'm still looking for a Linux equivalent You mean `locate`? Package name in Debian is mlocate. I don't know ag and it's not a package in Debian. That said, I agree that Everything is a must-have on Windows. I don't understand how Microsoft's own search engine is so incredibly crappy (and has been since, what, Windows 95?) while Everything is a 200KB binary that does it perfectly.
- yoo1I 10y ago
  > I don't know ag and it's not a package in Debian. You're in for a treat then: the package name is "silversearcher-ag". Next time you want to grep a directory of files: instead of grepping it, pause, remember this comment, install it and then do "ag <searchterm>" instead. It's quite a bit faster. Well, lots faster.
  - softawre 10y ago
    faster still: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep
    - e12e 10y ago
      Interesting. This probably the first utility in Rust I'm aware of that looks like it might belong on a production system (other than "cargo" and other rather excellent rust tooling). Nice way to show off rusts regular expression engine too.
    - luibelgo 10y ago
      Golang flavour https://github.com/monochromegane/the_platinum_searcher https://github.com/monochromegane/the_platinum_searcher
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - lucb1e 10y ago
    Thanks! I installed it a and aliased grep to 'echo Try ag'.
    - hulahoof 10y ago
      May as well alias grep to ag XD
      - lucb1e 10y ago
chevas 10y ago
And today I discovered a tool that solves a frustrating problem in Windows, thanks!
marmaduke 10y ago
Listary is another good one for this, and it chains search results with common actions. From any explorer window or desktop you can just start typing to find stuff.

by isxek 10y ago

to3m 10y ago

I've been happy with Everything, too. Everything is good because it searches by multiple substrings, so you can be precise about what you're looking for. (The much-loved fuzzy search, on the other hand, in my experience returns results that might as well be random, until you type so much of what you're looking for that you might as well have typed the whole thing.) For searching file content I quite like Agent Ransack aka File Locator: https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack - main thing I like about it is that it's very quick and easy to see the content results from a subset of the file search results.

Lagged2Death 10y ago

I use Everything as well, it's really useful, very focused. It may seem "lightweight" in a modern desktop machine, but I believe the way it works is: it keeps the index of your entire filesystem in RAM at all times. And it continuously monitors that filesystem to keep the index updated. It's kind of brute-force, really. I can think of some ways that could get out of hand and not seem so lightweight. Regardless, the gap between what Everything can do and what the built-in File Explorer search can do is an embarrassing canyon, and I can't believe MS hasn't even fixed the built-in search enough to make it function correctly let alone quickly at this late stage.

lucb1e 10y ago

> I'm still looking for a Linux equivalent You mean `locate`? Package name in Debian is mlocate. I don't know ag and it's not a package in Debian. That said, I agree that Everything is a must-have on Windows. I don't understand how Microsoft's own search engine is so incredibly crappy (and has been since, what, Windows 95?) while Everything is a 200KB binary that does it perfectly.

yoo1I 10y ago
> I don't know ag and it's not a package in Debian. You're in for a treat then: the package name is "silversearcher-ag". Next time you want to grep a directory of files: instead of grepping it, pause, remember this comment, install it and then do "ag <searchterm>" instead. It's quite a bit faster. Well, lots faster.
- softawre 10y ago
  faster still: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep
  - e12e 10y ago
    Interesting. This probably the first utility in Rust I'm aware of that looks like it might belong on a production system (other than "cargo" and other rather excellent rust tooling). Nice way to show off rusts regular expression engine too.
  - luibelgo 10y ago
    Golang flavour https://github.com/monochromegane/the_platinum_searcher https://github.com/monochromegane/the_platinum_searcher
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- lucb1e 10y ago
  Thanks! I installed it a and aliased grep to 'echo Try ag'.
  - hulahoof 10y ago
    May as well alias grep to ag XD
    - lucb1e 10y ago

chevas 10y ago

And today I discovered a tool that solves a frustrating problem in Windows, thanks!

marmaduke 10y ago

Listary is another good one for this, and it chains search results with common actions. From any explorer window or desktop you can just start typing to find stuff.