1269 Until Spotlight was introduced, my main hard drive search tool was the wonderful little shareware application, SpeedSearch, which, as its name indicates, is very fast, and which happily requires no indexing. It also searches the entire content of all documents in the folders selected. It is very flexible, and supports searching any folder that is dragged to its Start Folder window individually.

Since upgrading to OS X 10.4 last spring, I have gradually eased into using Spotlight more and more, but I still find SpeedSearch indispensible for its ability to search just a specific folder rather than turning up a whole hard drive's worth of mostly extraneous hits.

This week, developer Matt Brunk released SpeedSearch X 2.3b3 with some new features and refinements. I've been trying it out, and it seems to work just great.

New in version 2.3b3:
• Added option to display line numbers in the results area.
• Added a checkbox to enable/disable searching of invisible files.
• Added tooltips (partially implemented).
• The start folder can be set by dragging onto the SpeedSearch application icon, including onto the icon in The Dock in OS X.
• Improved determination of 'TEXT' files in OS X.
• Improved determination of the correct application to use to open files in OS X.
• Allow any application to be selected for TEXT application in Preferences.

SpeedSearch uses WASTE to display search results. The size of search results is limited only by application memory, and the colors used to display search results are user-configurable. SpeedSearch displays results similar to UNIX grep -- each line that matches the search string is displayed in the results area. And like grep, SpeedSearch supports regular expressions.

SpeedSearch X 2.3b3 Features
Mac OS X native.
Searches a folder hierarchy or one or more volumes.
Searches 'TEXT' files by default. Users can define sets of file types to search.
Uses the WASTE text engine to display search results.
Regular expression matching (like UNIX grep) is available, using the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) library.
Supports "goto line" for the CodeWarrior, BBEdit and Alpha editors.
Macintosh, DOS and UNIX file formats are handled, transparent to the user.
Uses Appearance Manager controls.
Uses Navigation Services for file dialogs.
Uses offscreen drawing (user-configurable) for flicker-free updates.
Search results are limited in size only by the amount of memory given to SpeedSearch.
Search results are displayed as they are found.
Search results are displayed in color, which is user-configurable.
Search results are displayed in a font and size that is user-configurable.
Search results can be searched for a specified string.
Search results can be saved to and loaded from a file.
Search results text can be copied�straight from the results area--using the copy command or drag and drop.
Functions such as text scrolling and window resizing remain available during a search.
Files not containing matches of the search string can be displayed (useful for finding files not containing, for example, a company copyright notice).
Files and folders of matches can be opened by SpeedSearch.
Patterns can be specified to limit the search to only file names matching the patterns.
The start folder can be set using drag and drop.
Start folders can be added to a menu for easy access at a later time.
Multiple search windows can be opened.
Extensive Balloon Help is available for all windows.

To use SpeedSearch, select a start folder using the dialog box or drag and drop a folder on the Start Folder icon in the SpeedSearch window and specify the string to search for, then start the search. Any files containing text that match the search string are displayed, along with the lines that matched, in the results area. You can search in either a single folder or in one or more volumes.

A Start Folder Favorites popup-menu is located to the right of the Start Folder field. You can set the start folder by selecting an item from this menu. Recently searched folders are placed at the top if this menu. The maximum number of recently searched folders is set in the preferences.

Instead of specifying a single start folder, you can also search one or more entire volumes. To specify the volumes, select the "Select Start Volumes…" item in the Search menu. This will bring up a dialog that allows you to specify the volumes to be searched.

You specify the string you want to search for in the field labeled "Search For:". By default, the text is searched for exactly as entered. However, you can have SpeedSearch treat the string as case-insensitive, as a whole word, or as a regular expression. The following criteria can be specified:

• Ignore Case
• Entire Word
• Regular Expression
• NOT Matching

Other Items in the SpeedSearch Window include:
• Search Nested Folders
• Search Folder Aliases
• Search File Aliases
• Autoscroll While Searching
• Search File Types
• Sound When Done
• List First Match Only
• The Search Filenames Menu
• The Start Folder Favorites Menu

And that just hits the high spots of what this little application can do. If Spotlight's shortcomings are frustrating you or you haven't ugraded to Tiger yet, give SpeedSearch a try. It's just a 336k download, and you may find that you're soon as addicted to it as I am.

System requirements:
MacOS X 10.0 or later.

System support:
PPC

$10:Shareware

For more information, visit:
http://www.smartcache.net/speedsearch/index.html




Charles W. Moore

Tags: Blogs ï OSX Odyssey ï Reviews ï

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