[2005] Searching entire Computer for string?

I have searched the archives for what I'm looking for and haven't had any luck. What I need to do is write a quick & dirty simple application that will search my entire computer for a string. It needs to search not just the C:\ but the DeskTop, My Documents, etc. I know I need the System.IO namespace. My only problem is determining what is the lowest level starting point for my loop? For example:

Code:

---

    For Each dir as Directory on Computer
        For Each fl as File in dir
              Dim str as String = ""
              Dim intPos as Integer = 0
              Open fl

              While Not fl.EndOfStream
                  str = fl.ReadLine
                  intPos = Instr(str, "String Object")
                 
                  If intPos > 0 Then
                      Do something
                  End If
              End While

              fl.Close
        Next
    Next

---

Thanks,

you could start a command process and capture the output

here is the dos find command

Searches for a text string in a file or files.

FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/I] [/OFF[LINE]] "string" [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

/V Displays all lines NOT containing the specified string.
/C Displays only the count of lines containing the string.
/N Displays line numbers with the displayed lines.
/I Ignores the case of characters when searching for the string.
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set.
"string" Specifies the text string to find.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies a file or files to search.

If a path is not specified, FIND searches the text typed at the prompt
or piped from another command.

I don't want the user specifying a starting path. I want the app to default to lowest level to search...

you will need to pass a path to the process you are going to start, which is the find dos command. just a thought.

I understand the C:\, but what about DeskTop, My Documents, etc.? I need to search the entire File Structure. It's like Windows Explorer...Desktop is the topmost structure. This is where I need to start.

actually the desktop is a folder, usually three or four levels down.

also, don't use find use findstr

Searches for strings in files.

FINDSTR [/B] [/E] [/L] [/R] [/S] [/I] [/X] [/V] [/N] [/M] [/O] [/P] [/F:file]
[/C:string] [/G:file] [/D:dir list] [/A:color attributes] [/OFF[LINE]]
strings [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

/B Matches pattern if at the beginning of a line.
/E Matches pattern if at the end of a line.
/L Uses search strings literally.
/R Uses search strings as regular expressions.
/S Searches for matching files in the current directory and all
subdirectories.
/I Specifies that the search is not to be case-sensitive.
/X Prints lines that match exactly.
/V Prints only lines that do not contain a match.
/N Prints the line number before each line that matches.
/M Prints only the filename if a file contains a match.
/O Prints character offset before each matching line.
/P Skip files with non-printable characters.
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set.
/A:attr Specifies color attribute with two hex digits. See "color /?"
/F:file Reads file list from the specified file(/ stands for console).
/C:string Uses specified string as a literal search string.
/G:file Gets search strings from the specified file(/ stands for console).
/D:dir Search a semicolon delimited list of directories
strings Text to be searched for.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies a file or files to search.

Use spaces to separate multiple search strings unless the argument is prefixed
with /C. For example, 'FINDSTR "hello there" x.y' searches for "hello" or
"there" in file x.y. 'FINDSTR /C:"hello there" x.y' searches for
"hello there" in file x.y.

Regular expression quick reference:
. Wildcard: any character
* Repeat: zero or more occurances of previous character or class
^ Line position: beginning of line
$ Line position: end of line
[class] Character class: any one character in set
[^class] Inverse class: any one character not in set
[x-y] Range: any characters within the specified range
\x Escape: literal use of metacharacter x
\<xyz Word position: beginning of word
xyz\> Word position: end of word

For full information on FINDSTR regular expressions refer to the online Command Reference.

you will need to read up about
Directory.GetFiles(aPath)'get file list
Directory.GetDirectories(aPath) 'get directory list

Looking at the Screenshot...all I want to do is enter a value ("Search Criteria") and then search from Desktop all the way thru the C: drive. What kind of For Loop do I need to construct?