Hi Rory, I use a program called V the File Viewer. It's a Windows Explorer alternative with numerous features, primarily viewing files in text or hex mode. It is $20(US) shareware but worth far more in my opinion.
It has a very capable file find feature that covers nearly all of the points you mention. First I assume you are talking about text search as well as file and folder name search. V does both. I was going to mention Everything also, but that is only a file and folder name index. (Everything is worth a look for other purposes though: it starts with a list of all files and folders on local drives, then it filters the list as you type a search phrase, and is said to be very fast.) V will search multiple drives and multiple extensions by entering lists in the search dialog: Files named: *.mp3,*.wav In directory: e:,h: You can limit the search results based on attributes as well as file size and date ranges. It can also search inside of archive files (almost all popular formats), and Alternate Data Streams. The search can be based on selected directories, previous search results, or selections within the search results. Text search respects all of these options, as well as searching for hex unicode or EBCDIC values, limiting search to a particular column of a file, ignoring binary files, using regular expressions, and a number of other things. The "@filename" convention can be used to specify a text file of filenames to search or terms to search for. A group of search criteria can be saved as a "Favorite" which you can rerun at a later time. I believe these are saved in the registry instead of as a separate file. Favorite searches can be exported to a text file though, for the purpose of importing into V on another computer. Search results are shown in their own list from which you can do any file operations you would do from the main V screen: view contents, move copy delete, drag and drop, open in associated program, etc. Search results can be saved to the clipboard with a few options to control the format. V has an enormous number of other features too: viewing in many formats, customizable printing, flexible multiple file renaming, ability to add user commands, multiple tabs of split-pane folder views, clipboard viewing, and lots more. It's an extremely useful program, especially for developers. I pretty much start and end every day on the computer in it, and have it set as my source viewer in Firefox. For $20 it's an incredible bargain. It does have a shareware mode with some features disabled. I don't know if that includes the file search or not. I realize this may sound like an advertisement, but I'm just a happy user who thinks this program should be more widely known. http://www.fileviewer.com If "free" is a hard requirement though, I would suggest searching sites like Lifehacker, FreewareGenius, and HowtoGeek for reviews of Windows Explorer replacements and alternatives, and file search utilities. Best of luck! Todd -----Original Message----- >From: Rory Daulton <rorydaul...@email.com> >Sent: Aug 4, 2010 11:10 AM >To: delphi-en@yahoogroups.com >Subject: [delphi-en] A good file finder utility > >The file finder in my trusty Delphi 5 has some limitations, so I often use a >separate program. I have been using File Finder from Power Desk 6, but it >now conflicts with something else in my system (I think some update for >Windows) so it has to go. I have been Googling for a replacement but can't >find one that does all I need. > >Is there a free file finder that can search multiple drives based on >multiple file extensions and on some file attributes (such as Read-only), do >maintenance on the found files (such as selecting many found files with >Shift-clicks and deleting the selected files, or opening a single document), >save the find criteria to a file, and later easily re-do the search by >executing the saved criteria file? The closest thing I can find is Agent >Ransack, but it can't limit the search on file attributes. > >Rory Daulton >rorydaul...@email.com > > > > > > >------------------------------------ > >----------------------------------------------------- >Home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en/ >To unsubscribe: delphi-en-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.comyahoo! Groups Links > > >
