PCREsearch 2.5

PCREsearch 2.5

A RegEx content plug-in with Unicode support - based on Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) library.
This plug-in may replace TC's RegEx engine for file content.
As of version 2.5 you can also use it for searching in filenames.
There is no need to provide Regular Expressions, just use a general search string for the file's content and escape the necessary syntax characters or quote the whole term (\Q...\E), and you can e.g. count the string occurrences and therefore filter and narrow your search with a custom number of strings that your files must contain in order to match the search in Total Commander.
Additionally you can create Random Strings and return the detected file encoding (check for Unicode files) and use the plug-in to compare files in TC's Synchronize dirs function.

There is support for a text filter, which will filter certain file formats, e.g. for .PDF and .DOC files, to expand the otherwise raw file search to most document/office files.
As of version 2.5 there is support for the Oracle Outside In Technology Content Access filters. When installed and working, those filters will provide an additional powerful Unicode capable fulltext search for TC 9.0 and above (on top of the text filter capability for the normal plug-in operation).

All configuration is done through an INI file, where you can create fields you may need for search repeatedly or just for general search (un- and re-load the plug-in).
There is a configuration utility provided ("PCREsearchConfig"), which greatly helps you configuring your fields, and additionally has the ability to test expressions by using a test string, plus it provides instant feedback in case of erroneous expressions.

Features
- Using the full feature set for Perl/PCRE expressions when searching file content in TC, e.g. the Dotall/Singleline mode, Look-around assertions, Character properties incl. complete Unicode scripts and properties
- Up to 999 fields configurable in the plug-in's INI file
- Custom field names and types (boolean (yes/no), counting, string return, random strings, average length)
- Counting individual string occurrences
- Compare files in TC's Synchronize dirs function, also for files with different encoding
- Searching in most Unicode files, not just plain ANSI (automatic encoding detection)
- Unicode file names and Unicode Regular Expressions
- Result Caching in memory - for retrieving fields in an instant when they were already obtained in the past
- Configurable memory limits for avoiding slow file reads and nonresponsive TC
- Custom replacement schemes when returning strings (referencing subgroups)
- Create random strings by providing a RegEx
- Text filter support (xdoc2txt and Oracle OiT), which enables search in the otherwise unreachable text parts in most most office/pdf/text documents
- Unicode capable fulltext search for TC 9.0 and above when using the OiT filters
- Output line numbers and file offsets for search results
- Count the average string/result length in a file
- sort fields alphabetically before reporting them to TC
- Ships with a config utility which features: a RegEx test by typing a test string, on-the-fly RegEx error check,
built-in RegEx and replace string syntax summary, font selection

Usage examples:
- Count line numbers of any file
- Count the occurrence of any string, character or byte in a file
- Count individual Strings/Matches, e.g. for skipping identical lines or words
- display the line number or the file offset on which your search term is found
- display the average string/result length of your search term
- Return the 1st, 2nd or nth line of a file to TC for display or search
- Filter and display file Headers for Magic Numbers / Signature, to check for files with erroneous extensions or embedded files
- Comparing files with different line endings and/or varying whitespace (including empty lines), or source files with different indent styles, etc.
- Check files for Unicode encoding
- Return random strings with a custom character range, for e.g. randomizing file names in MRT, or quick random filling fields from different plug-ins in TC
- Search in filenames only and return a custom built result string to quickly preview purified filenames in TC's custom columns

The text filter tool requires Visual C++ 2008 runtimes, but you can patch the file to be portable (instructions provided).
The optional OiT filter needs a separate download from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/downloads/oit-dl-otn-097435.html

TOTALCMD.NET © 2004 Personal project
Idea, design and programming © Andrei Piasetski aka Ergo
This is an unofficial Total Commander site
Official Total Commander site is www.ghisler.com