Search a folder/files for string of text

[Ian]

Ian submitted a new article:

Search a folder/files for string of text - Use PowerShell to search a folder for a particular string of text in your files

I was looking for a Windows application that would allow me to search some files in the same folder for a particular string of text, but many of the apps to do this were fairly expensive. So, I made use of a few lines of PowerShell code to do this for free!

This script will prompt you for the folder to search (it will search ALL files in this folder and any sub-directories), then it will ask you for the string of text to search for.

The filename and line of text are then listed, so you can...

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[Regedit32]

Nice one Ian

Love your ASCii art too !


Here's a suggestion for a modification though for the lazy ones who can't be bothered typing their File Path, or like me have fingers who joined a Union and at any moment decide they want to Strike and as a result the typed path gets a little jumbled

OK I confess, in my rush to try your script out I couldn't recall the full file path I wanted to test it on So I wrote a quick function as it was faster for me to do that than remember the file path *lol*

Function Get-SearchFolder {
  $object = New-Object -comObject Shell.Application
  $folder = $object.BrowseForFolder(0, "Which folder do you wish to search (includes subfolders)", 0)
  if ($folder -ne $null) {
    $searchfolder = $folder.self.Path.substring(0,$folder.self.path.length)
    if ($folder.self.path.substring($folder.self.path.length - 1, 1) -ne "\") {
      $searchfolder = $folder.self.Path.substring(0,$folder.self.path.length) + "\"
    }
  }
  Set-Location $searchfolder
}
Write-Host 'Which folder do you wish to search (includes subfolders)'
$searchfolder = Get-SearchFolder
$textstring = Read-Host -Prompt 'Please enter the string to search for'
Get-ChildItem $searchfolder -Filter *.* -Recurse | Select-String $textstring
Read-Host -Prompt 'Search Complete. Press ENTER to exit...'

 

[davehc]

This is a little over my head. It seems like a good thing.
You can actually search for text using the built in search facility, if you plunge into the advanced index options.
I have never tried it!!!

 

[Ian]

Here's a suggestion for a modification though for the lazy ones who can't be bothered typing their File Path, or like me have fingers who joined a Union and at any moment decide they want to Strike and as a result the typed path gets a little jumbled

Great idea - this makes things a lot easier!

I'm updating the article now .

 

[Ian]

Ian updated Search a folder/files for string of text with a new update entry:

Added file browser box

Updated the script to include a file browser, using @Regedit32's modification.

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[Regedit32]

Don't forget to add your username to your file header on the version 2 download.

 

[Ian]

Ian updated Search a folder/files for string of text with a new update entry:

Fixed Username Tag

Fixed empty user name tag

Read the rest of this update entry...