Search utility can be invoked from application's main menu Tools/Search Files... or by clicking a toolbar button ('Search' in config file). A dialog window with searching options pops up. Search utility is a front-end for standard GNU find utility, so you must have it installed in order to make Gex searching work. Also GNU xargs, grep and fgrep utilities are required to make content filters work.
Search
After clicking the Search button following steps are taken:
Current set of options is saved as Last used preset.
Current data view is split and a new file list is created. View layout named Search results is used for this purpose. If such layout is not defined or is not a VList layout Default layout is used.
Find command is invoked.
While `find' is working found files are added to the list. The list can't be closed during that operation.
User may click Cancel button to stop searching at any moment.
Search Path options
Start in
This is where Gex starts searching files and directories. Browse button can be used to pick a new path. When you open the search dialog it always uses current path as the starting point.
File name
Here you can specify a wildcard pattern which searched files must match.
Case sensitive
Turns on case sensitive file name matching.
Max subdirectory search depth
If you check this on only a limited depth of subdirectories will be searched. In particular case when you leave '1' as search depth only the directory specified by Start in will be searched.
Search other file systems
Check it on to allow searching in subdirectories on other partitions than the starting one.
Follow symbolic links
Dereference symbolic links when searching subdirectories. This also affects file type filtering. When off, file's type is filtered. When on, for links filter applies to file pointed by the link, not the link itself.
Include directories in output
Treat found directories as matching search results. If turned off only files and special nodes will be shown as search results. This option is overridden by file type filters.
Content and Size options
Content checking options:
No content checking
Don't search files' contents at all.
Plain Text search
Search found files' contents using plain text matching. No wildcards or regular expressions are checked, but it is much faster than regex matching.
Regular Expression search
Match all found files with the provided regular expression. You must provide a text or expression in the text entry below these radio buttons. Regular expression syntax is verified before search starts and any errors found are reported.
Case sensitive
Applies to both plain text and regular expression matching.
Size options:
If you select any option different than File size is unimportant only those files that match selected size criteria will be searched. For example
selecting File is greater than ..., entering 10 and marking KB switch means that only files of size more than 10240 bytes will match (not inclusive).
Date and Time options
Select one of modify date, access date or change date options to enable filtering files on their date and time. Select one of date filtering modes: earlier than (date1), later than (date1), in range from (date1) to (date2), outside range from (date1) to (date2) to specify what kind of filter you exactly need. (date1) and (date2) are the dates on the right side of the dialog near labels Date1 and Date2. To set one of them set the desired date on the calendar and time (hour and minute) and then press Set button. Selected date will be displayed near appropriate label.
When you select filter that needs both date1 and date2 and first date is later than second one Gex will automatically swap them although it's not displayed so you don't need to worry.
File Types options
Show only these types
Select one of node types in this column to filter search results to this node type only. If none is selected, all node types are searched.
Never show these types
Select one of node types in this column to search all types but not those selected.
Second column overrides the first one, so if some type is marked both to find and to filter out, it will be filtered out.
Advanced options
This tab contains options mostly for advanced users who have a basic knowledge of how GNU find utility works.
No User
Check this to find files with no user corresponding to file's numeric user ID.
No Group
Check this to find files with no group corresponding to file's numeric user ID.
Owner
Enter user name or its numeric UID to search files owned by this user only.
Group
Enter group name or its numeric GID to search files owned by this group only.
Permissions:
Turn on/off any of suid, guid, sticky, r, w, x buttons to create the permission pattern you need. Exact match:
When this option is turned on all found files must have exactly the same permissions as you selected. Other files will be filtered out.
When this option is turned off files must have all selected permission bits, but also may have more bits.
Custom parameters
Advanced users who know how to use command line find utility may provide custom parameters here. They will be passed to invoked find process. You can't use pipes to filter search results. Do not quote parameters that would normally require quoting because of shell command line syntax. Use quoting for parameters that contain spaces only. You can use custom parameters to override parameters generated by Gex. Invalid parameters may cause incorrect search results so use this option carefully.
Output options
This tab contains options that define how search results should be presented.
To file list - interactive
Create new file list view and add files to it while they are searched.
To list box - interactive
Create a special list window and output file names to it while they are searched.
To file list - after search is complete
Create new file list view and add files to it after search is complete.
To list box - after search is complete
Create a special list window and output file names to it after search is complete.
To a text file
Output all results to a text file after search is complete.
Output speed for interactive mode
It defines how fast newly found files should be added to interactive views. If this value is too high Gex may freeze as it may be unable to redraw view fast enough to stay interactive.
File name if saving to a file
Self explainatory.
Presets
All selected options may be saved as a preset for later use. All available presets are listed below option tabs. At any moment you can select one of them and click Load button to activate the preset. Also current preset may at any moment be saved by clicking Save as... button and providing preset's name. Finally you can delete unwanted presets.
Preset named Last used is special - it stores a set of options used for last performed searching. It is always created when you click the Search button and overwrites previous preset with that name.
When opening new search utility all options are set to blank, but Last used preset is always selected in the presets' list and you can quickly load it.
Show Command
This shows syntax of find command invoked for current set of options. File size and date filtering is performed internally by Gex so you won't see it in the command line.
Clear All
Removes all options and filters currently selected. This is faster than manual checking if some options is not enabled or not.
