Page 1 of 2

Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 01:45
by flyingrhino
Hi,
Is there any way to use the XY file search to look for files recursively withing directories and archives.
The idea is to look inside the current directory, all directories within and all archives within the search space.
Something like treating archives as directories within the search space and looking inside them too.

Personally I use rar and zip but I assume searching within 7z, gz, would also be useful.

Thanks,

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 02:33
by armsys
flyingrhino wrote:Hi,
Is there any way to use the XY file search to look for files recursively withing directories and archives.
The idea is to look inside the current directory, all directories within and all archives within the search space.
Something like treating archives as directories within the search space and looking inside them too.

Personally I use rar and zip but I assume searching within 7z, gz, would also be useful.

Thanks,
In a nutshell, are you asking if all archives can be treated like normal folders? :?

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 05:12
by flyingrhino
The problem is that a file I'm searching for may reside in a folder or within an archive or both.
It doesn't really matter if xy treats archives as folders or not, but as long as XY can tell me where the file I want is stored then that's ok. If xy treats archives as folders then its an added bonus, but not compulsory.

Thanks,

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 08:29
by admin
Not (yet) supported. I know that most other file managers can do this, so you will quickly find something for the job. :)

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 15:48
by totmad1
I personally use this coding to make lists of archive contents

Code: Select all

"&List all this folder"
      selfilter"*.rar ; *.7z ;  *.cab ; *.gz ; *.zip";
       $SelectedItems = get("SelectedItemsNames","|");
        foreach($Item, $SelectedItems,"|") {
         $cmdline = <<<CMD_LINE
cmd /c "$p_zip l "<curpath>\$Item" >>"<curpath>\<curfolder>.txt"
CMD_LINE;
         $cmdline = Replace($cmdline, "<crlf>", ' ');
         Run($cmdline, , 0, 0);
          wait 500;
          }
"List  <curname> single"
       $cmdline = <<<CMD_LINE
cmd /c "$p_zip l "<curitem>" >"<curitem>.txt"
CMD_LINE;
         $cmdline = Replace($cmdline, "<crlf>", ' ');
         Run($cmdline, , 0, 0);
full 7zip script available here
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... 2&start=30

$p_zip is a permanent variable i have set but you could replace with full path to 7z.exe

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 15:56
by TheQwerty
totmad1 wrote:I personally use this coding to make lists of archive contents
It might be interesting to take this approach but instead of text files, store the contents list as comments on the archives.

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 20:45
by flyingrhino
admin wrote:Not (yet) supported. I know that most other file managers can do this, so you will quickly find something for the job. :)
XY has been my file manager for many years and has my loyalty and support...

Now I have two reasons to go elsewhere (archive search and drag/drop into skype). Please take away these reasons :)

I'm not a programmer so the script suggested is beyond my ability, but I do appreciate the effort people took in responding

Thanks,

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 00:17
by armsys
flyingrhino wrote:Now I have two reasons to go elsewhere (archive search and drag/drop into skype). Please take away these reasons :)
You'll regret your divorce with XY. :naughty:

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:52
by flyingrhino
armsys wrote:You'll regret your divorce with XY.
No, I'm still a devoted XY'er

I just need to open FreeCommander portable when I :
1. Need to search for files in archives (archives are treated as directories - very useful feature for XY too)
2. Drag/drop into skype (used to work in old XY but broken for about 1 year now)
Other than that I'm XY all the way. All day. Every day.

But hopefully these features will appear in XY fast enough and I'll have no reason to use two file managers...

Thanks,

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 08:25
by admin
Well, I don't think it's a total disaster to have more than one tool in your toolbox. Two good special tools can be better than one do-it-all.

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 13:28
by nerdweed
But if the second tool is not that as good as the first one, you hate jumping to the second one lacking all those beautiful features.

I do like the feature of DO an Xplorer2 to browse archives as folders - but more than that its ability to preview images whilst browsing those archives. I think winzip supports it but i hate it. I have been silently waiting for the day this gets added to XY or atleast to PeaZip or 7Zip or IZarc.

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 13:48
by LittleBiG
nerdweed wrote:But if the second tool is not that as good as the first one, you hate jumping to the second one lacking all those beautiful features.
In my point of view Don wanted to mention that there are very good searching programs with that feature. You just have to think about Copernic Desktop Search. Additionally it can do a lot more than purely look into archives.
nerdweed wrote:I do like the feature of DO an Xplorer2 to browse archives as folders
I couldn't see too relevant advantage of treating archives as folders. Enter that folder then leave it is no less mouse click than open it with an external application then close it. Only you have to find a fast one like BandiZip.

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 10:32
by Enternal
Yeah for these types of purposes, sometimes it's better to get dedicated tools for it. For example, PowerGrep, by the same people who wrote EditPad Pro.
http://www.powergrep.com/zip.html
Of course it's not free (wow, it's expensive but looks extremely powerful)...

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 10:49
by armsys
Hi Enternal & LittleBiG,
As of today, dtSearch is the fastest search tool you can buy on the market. :roll:

Re: Searching for a file within archives

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 10:52
by Enternal
armsys wrote:Hi Enternal & LittleBiG,
As of today, dtSearch is the fastest search tool you can buy on the market. :roll:
However it only search text within files. Also it's not the fastest. The fastest file search actually happens to be by copy and pasting into notepad and then do a find. :lol:

Joking asides though, if you're talking about text search, grepWin is quite sufficient. Well actually it's very powerful. It's based on the grep command but this also has a GUI for it. Pretty nice stuff!