Looking for fast/efficient way to search PC for certain files

[TXTechie]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for what you think would be a fast and efficient way to search an entire PC (at least all fixed drives, possibly attached USB drives?) for all .ftp & .bat files (in my case).

Then, I'll need to read the contents of each of these files doing a find & replace function on each file.

Can someone recommend the best way to start this project?

[Edano]

FileFindFirstFile ( "filename" )

you'll find thousands of examples in the forum

E.

[BrewManNH]

You're going to need to use a recursive/iterative file search function, or build your own, to search for all files of a certain type. 

[Melba23]

TXTechie,

You can use the _RecFileListToArray UDF in my sig to get an array of these files - or the _FileListToArrayRec function in the latest Beta which is essentially the same code.

M23

[TXTechie]

Well, I'm wondering which of the following (or something else that I haven't found yet) might be faster and/or more efficient for this purpose?:

• FileFindFirstFile & FileFindNextFile
• _FileListToArray()
• RecFileListToArray
• other?

[Melba23]

TXTechie,

The latter 2 are wrappers for FileFindFirst/NextFile to save you having to code it all yourself.

_FileListToArray lists in a single folder - _RecFileListToArray (or as I explained above _FileListToArrayRec in the Beta) lists recursively into all subfolders (and a whole lot more).

M23

[Edano]

they are all based on FileFindFirstFile & FileFindNextFile afaik. searching the entire computer will take a lot of time for sure

[TXTechie]

Melba23 & Edano,

Thank you very much for the information, I will start playing around with _RecFileListToArray UDF.

Thanks!

[TXTechie]

I'm using the following script:

#include <Array.au3>
#include "RecFileListToArray.au3" ; External UDF by Melba

#NoTrayIcon

Local  $aFileList, $aDrives = DriveGetDrive("FIXED")
If @error Then
    ; An error occurred when retrieving the drives.
    MsgBox(4096, "Drives", "It appears an error occurred.")
Else
    For $i = 1 To $aDrives[0]
        ; Show all the drives found and convert the drive letter to uppercase.
        MsgBox(4096, "DriveGetDrive", "Drive " & $i & "/" & $aDrives[0] & " = " & StringUpper($aDrives[$i]))
        ; Search the drive for all .bat & .ftp files
        $aFileList = _RecFileListToArray("C:\", "*.bat;*.ftp", 0, 1, 0, 2)
    Next
EndIf

_ArrayDisplay($aFileList, @ScriptName)

The _ArrayDisplay function only displays the folder path, not the actual filename - how can I get the full path to the .bat or .ftp file, since I'll need it later in order to perform the find & replace on them?

[BrewManNH]

Change the $iReturn parameter to 1 and try it again.

BTW, the way you have it written won't work the way you want it to. The search will always be done on the C: drive and even if written correctly, the array returned is always going to only contain the last drive checked.

[Melba23]

TXTechie,

You are asking the UDF to return "Folders and Files" ($iReturn = 0) so it is not surprising that you get a lot of folders in the returned array - you need to set that parameter to 1 ("Files only"). When I do that and run the calling line I get only files with a full path displayed.

But you do realise that at the moment you are only searching the C: drive? You need to use $aDrives[$i] in the $sPath parameter - and concatenate the returned arrays - to search the whole machine.

M23

[TXTechie]

Thanks for the clarification, BrewManNH & Melba23! And, yes, I did just notice that I had left the C: drive hard-coded.

I have been modifying it.

Edited August 1, 2013 by TXTechie

[TXTechie]

Ok, I'm sorry but I've not worked a lot with arrays, how would I go about concatenating the array in a loop like this?

[BrewManNH]

Do something like this, where it says do something here, you could call a function to do the find and replace on the files found, passing the array as an argument to the function.

#include <Array.au3>
#include "RecFileListToArray.au3" ; External UDF by Melba

#NoTrayIcon

Local $aFileList, $aDrives = DriveGetDrive("FIXED")
If @error Then
    ; An error occurred when retrieving the drives.
    MsgBox(4096, "Drives", "It appears an error occurred.")
Else
    For $i = 1 To $aDrives[0]
        ; Show all the drives found and convert the drive letter to uppercase.
        MsgBox(4096, "DriveGetDrive", "Drive " & $i & "/" & $aDrives[0] & " = " & StringUpper($aDrives[$i]))
        ; Search the drive for all .bat & .ftp files
        $aFileList = _RecFileListToArray($aDrives[$i], "*.bat;*.ftp", 0, 1, 0, 2)
        ; <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Do what you need to do with the array here, not after the loop has ended.
        _ArrayDisplay($aFileList, @ScriptName)
    Next
EndIf

[Melba23]

TXTechie,

_ArrayConcatenate is what you need. But remember that you need to skip the [0] count element when concatenating - and add the value therein to the [0] element of the resulting array so you keep the correct count.

Give me a moment and I will produce a quick example.

M23

Edit:

#include <Array.au3>

; Here are our 2 arrays
Global $aArray_1[5] = [4, 1, 2, 3, 4]
Global $aArray_2[3] = [2, "A", "B"]

; Add the count of the second to the first
$aArray_1[0] += $aArray_2[0]

; And now concatenate the arrays - missing the count element of the second
_ArrayConcatenate($aArray_1, $aArray_2, 1)

; and here is the result
_ArrayDisplay($aArray_1)

Edited August 1, 2013 by Melba23

[Wombat]

Darn,

I was hoping I could jump in here and help out but the pros beat me to it lol. I highly recommend _RecFileListToArray it has just about everything you'll need to run a search function. Bit of advice= read the UDF then reread it until you know it front and back, its all there. Melba23 does a great job of explaining how to use her his wrappers in the udf.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Wombat

[TXTechie]

BrewManNH - Thanks, that makes sense - just do what I need to it before checking another drive, no need to concatenate.

Melba23 - Thank you for the example... I would have NEVER come up with how to do that on my own (I did see and study the _ArrayConcatenate function, but I still couldn't figure out how to go about coding it).

Again, thank you both! 

[TXTechie]

Hi Wombat,

Thank you for the additional advice and information. I'll have to read the UDF more closely for clues on how to use it! Thanks (to you and Melba23)!

[Melba23]

Wombat,

 

her wrappers

I have a perfectly good Y chromosome I would have you know!

M23

[Wombat]

Wombat,

 

I have a perfectly good Y chromosome I would have you know!

M23

 

I knew you're male, I have no idea why i typed her and not his, lets chalk it up to a errored keystroke.... My apologies

Edited August 1, 2013 by Wombat