Search for a String in a File?

hi all
is there a methid in java with which i can open a file and
search for a specified string in the file? i also have to
replace the String then.
Thanks angela

There is no magic method that can do all this for you. First you need to create an inputstream from the file you want to read. Then you can read it (without necessarily store the whole file in memory), until you find a match. If you want to replace the string with another string of the same length, you can use RandomAccessFile. If not, then you will have to move all the rest of the file forward or backwards when you replace the string, or write the whole file modified to a new file and then delete the old file before you rename the new updated file.
Or you can depending on what you do, append changes to the end of the file, more or less like what is done with Word documents. And then only once in a while update the file with all the appended changes.

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Searching for a string within a file

In control panel \ folder options \ search tab I've selected "always search file names and conents (this might take several minutes). and under "how to search" I have checked all 4 boxes. Yet, when I search a folder
and all sub-folders for a file containing a string Windows 7 finds nothing. in XP this worked perfectly. How do you search like this in Windows 7? I actually had to write a PowerShell script that does the search for me and I thought Windows
7 could do this by default but I guess not?!?!?
mqh7

Hello mqh7.
You can use the find command from the Windows 7 command prompt window.
Open a command prompt window and run find /? to have more informations about the command syntax or read the command documentation available
here in TechNet Library.
Bye.
Luigi Bruno
MCP, MCTS, MOS, MTA

How do i search for a string in a txt file using java??

How do i search for a string in a txt file using java??
could you please help thanks
J

Regular expressinos work just fine, especially when
searching for patterns. But they seem to be impying
it's a specific group of characters they're looking
for, and indexOf() is much faster than a regex.If he's reading from a file, the I/O time will likely swamp any performance hit that regex introduces. I think contains() (or indexOf() if he's not on 5.0 yet) is preferable to regex just because it's simpler. (And in the case of contains(), the name makes for a very clear, direct mapping between your intent and the code that realizes it.)

Searching for a string in an excel file and return true if found.

How can I search for a string in an excel file and return true if found, its location and also a value.

The problem with searching an excel file is that it contains a header. It would be easiest if you just read the file into a LabVIEW array and search the array. This way you can also get the index and the value of the location.

Search for a String in a list of files

Could anyone please send me a java sample code which searches for a string from a list of files and returns me the filename and the line in which the Search String was found ?
Thanks in advance
RR

Simple solution would be -
1. Traverse a directory for each file.
2. Read each file using Buffered Reader.
3. Use readLine() method to read a line.
4. Use String.indexOf to see if the data which you are looking for is there in the line or not.
5. If its there then store the line number and file name.
6. When the loop will end you will have list of file name and line number where the data which you are looking for is present.

How to search a special string in txt file and return it's position in txt file?

How to search a special string in txt file and return it's position in txt file?

I just posted a solution for a similar question here: http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=362699#M362699
The top portion can search for the location of a string, while the bottom portion is to locate the position of a character. Both can search for a character.
The position of the character within the file is displayed in the indicator(s).
R

Search and replace strings in a file while ignoring substrings

Hi:
I have a java program that searches and replaces strings in a file. It makes a new copy of the file, searches for a string in the copy, replaces the string and renames the new copy to the original file, thereafter deleting the copy.
Now searching for "abcd", for eg works fine, but searching for "Topabcd" and replacing it doesnot work because there is a match for "abcd" in a different search scenario. How can I modify the code such that if "abcd" is already searched and replaced then it should not be searched for again or rather search for "abcd" as entire string and not if its a substring of another string.
In the below code output, all instances of "abcd" and the ones of "Topabcd" are replaced by ABCDEFG and TopABCDEF respectively, whereas according to the desired output, "abcd" should be replaced by ABCDEFG and "Topabcd" should be replaced by REPLACEMEFIRST.
try
          String find_productstring = "abcd";
          String replacement_productstring = "ABCDEFG";
          compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
          compsConfigFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
          File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
          File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
          BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
          while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
                new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring, replacement_productstring);
                out.write(new_compsLine);
                out.write("\n");
            out.close();
            compsConfigFile.close();
            compsFile.delete();
            compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
        catch (IOException e)
        //since "Topabcd" contains "abcd", which is the search above and hence the string "Topabcd" is not replaced correctly
         try
               String find_producttopstring = "Topabcd";
               String replacement_producttopstring = "REPLACEMEFIRST";
               compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
               compsConfigFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
               File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
               File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
               BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
               while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
                     new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_producttopstring, replacement_producttopstring);
                     out.write(new_compsLine);
                     out.write("\n");
                 out.close();
                 compsConfigFile.close();
                 compsFile.delete();
                 compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
             catch (IOException e)
        }Thanks a lot!

Hi:
I have a java program that searches and replaces
strings in a file. It makes a new copy of the file,
searches for a string in the copy, replaces the
string and renames the new copy to the original file,
thereafter deleting the copy.
Now searching for "abcd", for eg works fine, but
searching for "Topabcd" and replacing it doesnot work
because there is a match for "abcd" in a different
search scenario. How can I modify the code such that
if "abcd" is already searched and replaced then it
should not be searched for again or rather search for
"abcd" as entire string and not if its a substring of
another string.
In the below code output, all instances of "abcd" and
the ones of "Topabcd" are replaced by ABCDEFG and
TopABCDEF respectively, whereas according to the
desired output, "abcd" should be replaced by ABCDEFG
and "Topabcd" should be replaced by REPLACEMEFIRST.
try
String find_productstring = "abcd";
String replacement_productstring = "ABCDEFG";
compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
compsConfigFile = new
BufferedReader(compsXml);
File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new
FileWriter("file1.xml"));
while ((compsLine =
compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
new_compsLine
=compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring,
replacement_productstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
out.close();
compsConfigFile.close();
compsFile.delete();
compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
catch (IOException e)
//since "Topabcd" contains "abcd", which is
the search above and hence the string "Topabcd" is
not replaced correctly
try
               String find_producttopstring = "Topabcd";
String replacement_producttopstring =
topstring = "REPLACEMEFIRST";
               compsXml = new FileReader(compsLoc);
compsConfigFile = new
gFile = new BufferedReader(compsXml);
               File compsFile =new File("file.xml");
               File compsNewFile =new File("file1.xml");
BufferedWriter out =new BufferedWriter(new
dWriter(new FileWriter("file1.xml"));
while ((compsLine =
compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
new_compsLine
new_compsLine
=compsLine.replaceFirst(find_producttopstring,
replacement_producttopstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
out.close();
compsConfigFile.close();
compsFile.delete();
compsNewFile.renameTo(compsFile);
             catch (IOException e)
Thanks a lot!I tried the matches(...) method but it doesnt seem to work.
while ((compsLine = compsConfigFile.readLine()) != null)
if(compsLine.matches(find_productstring))
     System.out.println("Exact match is found for abcd");
     new_compsLine =compsLine.replaceFirst(find_productstring, replacement_productstring);
out.write(new_compsLine);
out.write("\n");
     else
     System.out.println("Exact match is not found for abcd");
     out.write(compsLine);
     out.write("\n");

I need autocomplete for search for words in a txt. file

i am not so good in java.
I have a running code for search in text with a txt. file (from user bluefox815).
But I need a solution with autocomplete for search for words in a txt. file.
test_file.txt (Teil des Inhaltes):
Roboter robots
Mechatronik mechatronics
and so on
Can you help me please.
Here is the code:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
* this program searches for a string in a text file and
* says which line it found the string on
public class SearchText implements ActionListener {
private String filename = "test_file.txt";
private JFrame frame;
private JTextField searchField;
private JButton searchButton;
private JLabel lineLabel;
private String searchFor;
private BufferedReader in;
public SearchText() {
frame = new JFrame("SearchText");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
searchField = new JTextField(80);
searchButton = new JButton("Search");
// this is used later in our actionPerformed method
searchButton.setActionCommand("search");
// this sets the action listener for searchButton, which is the current class
// because this class implements ActionListener
searchButton.addActionListener(this);
lineLabel = new JLabel("nach dem Fachbegriff suchen");
public void createGUI() {
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
topPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(topPanel, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
topPanel.add(searchField);
topPanel.add(searchButton);
bottomPanel.add(lineLabel);
mainPanel.add(topPanel);
mainPanel.add(bottomPanel);
frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// now we get the action command and if it is search, then it is the button
if ("search".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
searchFor = searchField.getText();
searchTheText();
private void searchTheText() {
// I initialize the buffered reader here so that every time the user searches
// then the reader will start at the beginning, instead of where it left off last time
try {
in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(new File(filename)));
} catch (IOException e) {
String lineContent = null;
int currentLine = 0;
// this will be set to true if the string was found
boolean foundString = false;
while (true) {
currentLine++;
// get a line of text from the file
try {
lineContent = in.readLine();
} catch (IOException e) {
break;
// checks to see if the file ended (in.readLine() returns null if the end is reached)
if (lineContent == null) {
break;
if (lineContent.indexOf(searchFor) == -1) {
continue;
} else {
lineLabel.setText(String.valueOf(lineContent));
foundString = true;
break;
if (!foundString)
lineLabel.setText("Es kann kein Fachbegriff gefunden werden.");
try {
in.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new SearchText().createGUI();
}

Markus1 wrote:
But I need a solution with autocomplete for search for words in a txt. file.What is your question? What have you tried so far? What are you having difficulty with?
Mel

How to search specific text/string in pdf files from command prompt?

Hi,
How to search specific text/string in pdf files from command prompt?
Will be great if you can refer to any adobe provided command base utility to achieve the above target.
Best Regards,

You can't. The commandline parameters for Acrobat and Adobe Reader do not allow any type of commands to be run.

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Hello everyone
How do I search for a word through multiple files in my directories ??
I am guessing one tedious way to do it would be to pass all the file names as command line arguments but I"m sure there exist a much easier and faster way to do it.
Thanks a lot

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There were at least 2 threads yesterday on how to retrieve files from directory, and there are many others in the archive so I leave the search part to you ;)
HTH
Mike

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This happens no matter whether quotation is used or not.
When quotation is used it probably will match on the given order as well, but beeing in the timezone '+0100' the string "10" is always found first (in the email headers...).
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When searching for a string like "10.255." the global search finds messages containing "255" or "10" and both.
This happens no matter whether quotation is used or not.
When quotation is used it probably will match on the given order as well, but beeing in the timezone '+0100' the string "10" is always found first (in the email headers...).
Is there a way to tell the global search not to use '.' or any other character as whitespace?

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Andy

hi,
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Hi
I have created a little application that uses combination of JSP and HTML. Users of this application can upload documents which are then stored on the server. I need to develop functionality where I can allows users to search for a string within a document. More precisely, user would type in some string in a text box and application will search all uploaded documents for that string and return the downloadable links to those documents that contains that string. I have never done this before. I was wondering if someone could get me started on this or point me to some thread where this idea is already discussed. Any Jave code exists for searching through documents??
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http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-text-searching.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_text_search
Type these parameter in yahoo:+efficient text search
you will need something like openoffice library to read microsoft word document.

Search for a String in a File?

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