                                 SRCH.EXE

SRCH, an abbreviation for SeaRCH, is a file text search utility.  There are
several PC programs that allow text searching, but I found all of the ones
I tried, difficult to use.  SRCH was written in Turbo C, making it a fairly
fast program.  It offers several options giving it a welcomed range of
flexibility.  The program parameters line is as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   params: /Count  Filenames  Ignore-case  Line#s  Max-char###  Noline#
                   Output  Printer  Recursive  Trim  View  Wait
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     (C)ount matches w/o displaying matching text line

     Display (F)ilenames only w/o displaying matching text line

     (I)gnore case differences

     Display Filenames and matching (L)ine numbers where text was found,
        but does not display matching text line

     (M)aximum characters to output, to prevent text line wrapping on the
        display

     (N)o line numbers displayed in the matching text line output

     Also send (O)utput to a disk file

     Also send output to the (P)rinter

     (R)ecursive search, searching all files matching the filespec in all
        subdirectories below the current directory

     (T)rim spaces from leading and trailing edges of output text line to
        maximize displayed information

     (V)iew file at the point of found text.  When a match is found, begin
        displaying the entire file contents.

     (W)ait when the display fills to prevent uncontrollable scrolling


SRCH utilizes a SRCH.DAT file where your preferred defaults are saved.
Editing the ASCII SRCH.DAT file will alter the program defaults for every
subsequent operation.  The following are the contents of the SRCH.DAT file.
Changing a  N to a Y turns that particular parameter on.  The default
filespec can be changed, such as "*.c"  to search all "C" source files.
Screen colors can be setup and the screen fill character in decimal format.
You can use SRCH with the defaults the way they are, or you can customize
it to run the way you prefer.

                         (SRCH.DAT  file)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         COUNT ONLY: N
                         FILENAMES ONLY: N
                         IGNORE CASE: Y
                         LINE #'S ONLY: N
                         MAX OUTPUT CHARACTERS: 077
                         OUTPUT FILENAME: filename.txt
                         NO LINE #'S: Y
                         RECURSIVE: N
                         SEND TO PRINTER: N
                         TRIM SPACES: Y
                         VIEW ALL LINES: Y
                         WAIT SCREEN: Y

                         FILESPEC: *.*

                         [Video Display Settings]
                         TEXT COLOR: LIGHTGRAY
                         BACKGROUND COLOR: BLUE
                         HIGHLIGHT TEXT: BLUE
                         HIGHLIGHT BACKGROUND: LIGHTGRAY
                         NORMAL BRIGHTNESS: HIGH
                         FOUND TEXT: WHITE
                         FOUND TEXT BACKGROUND: RED
                         FILL CHARACTER: 32
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


SRCH has many possibilities.  I use it for the obvious.  When I'm
programming, I use it to search through the 100+ source code files to find
all instances of what needs to be changed.  I also use it to store
information in text files.  If you've ever tried this, it's always
difficult to remember the filename that has the information you're looking
for.  SRCH will search through every file matching a given filespec for
occurrences of the search text string.  It can report the filenames, the
filenames and the matching line of information, or begin viewing the file
at the point where it finds the matching text string.  If you leave the
text search string empty, SRCH will perform as a file viewer allowing you
to view a file of any size.  SRCH will load a file into a memory buffer if
it will fit, to speed up searches, but if the file is too large, SRCH will
read the file one line at a time allowing it to search through virtually
unlimited size files.

When I have a problem with Windows(tm), I use SRCH to search through all of
the .INI files to find driver information.  If you like to use your computer
to store information, you'll find uses for SRCH...

