findstring 0.2

Search string from files recursively

findstring

This program, findstring, allows you to search for a specific string within files in a directory, including support for searching within PDF and DOCX files. It works similarly to the grep -rI command but adds the ability to read and search through PDF and DOCX files.

Usage

findstring [OPTIONS] search_string

Options

• search_string: The string to search for in the files.

Optional Arguments

• -b, --binary:
  Scan binary files as well. If this option is used, the tool will attempt to read binary files and search for the specified string.

• -d, --directory:
  Root directory to start searching from. If not specified, the current directory (.) is used by default.

• -l, --max_length:
  Maximum number of characters to be shown as a result. The default is 0, which means no limit is set.

• -t, --text:
  Show the matched lines containing the search string in the output.

• -v, --verbose:
  Enable verbose output. The program will provide more detailed information about its operation, including which directories and files are being checked.

Features

• PDF Support:
  The program can search within PDF files using the pdfminer library. It extracts text from the PDF and searches for the specified string.

• DOCX Support:
  DOCX files are also supported, with text extraction handled by the python-docx library.

• Binary File Scanning:
  When the --binary flag is enabled, the program will attempt to read binary files and search for the specified string. This is done by decoding the binary content into ASCII.

• Context Display:
  When the --text option is enabled, the tool will display the lines containing the search string, with optional context provided by the --max_length option.

Examples

Search for a string in the current directory

findstring "example_string"

Search for a string in a specific directory

findstring -d /path/to/directory "example_string"

Search in binary files and display matched files

findstring -b -t "example_string"

Search with verbose output

findstring -v "example_string"

Limit the length of the output context to 50 characters

findstring -l 50 "example_string"

Error Handling

The program will attempt to handle errors such as unreadable files gracefully. If an error occurs while reading a file, the program will skip the file and continue processing the rest, optionally displaying an error message if verbose mode is enabled.