[2005] Searching entire Computer for string?

[blakemckenna]

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:

    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,

[dbasnett]

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.

[blakemckenna]

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

[dbasnett]

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

[blakemckenna]

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.

[dbasnett]

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.

[dbasnett]

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

[blakemckenna]

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?