Searching for text inside of a file using grep.

[chemistry_geek]

I'm trying to search for text inside all files in deep subdirectories on an external hard drive. I've read the man page for grep but I still can't seem to get Panther to find the files I'm looking for. When I place the file I eventually found on my desktop, grep finds the file without any problems. Any suggestions?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

What's the exact command you're using?

It sounds like you're not specifying the correct search path -- like you're just searching in subfolders of your home folder.

[chemistry_geek]

This correctly finds the file when the it is on my desktop:

grep -l "0.136" /Users/chemgeek/Desktop/*.*

I have tried these and they do not find the file I needed:

grep -r "0.136" /Volumes/LaCie\ Disk/chemgeek/Documents/9-28-04/Masters_Thesis_Chemistry/Chemical_Structures/*.*

grep -l "0.136" /Volumes/LaCie\ Disk/chemgeek/Documents/9-28-04/Masters_Thesis_Chemistry/Chemical_Structures/*.*


The hard drive the files are stored on is a LaCie Big Disk Extreme 320GB.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10489

[chevy]

did you try
grep -lr "0.136" /Volumes/LaCie\ Disk/chemgeek/Documents/9-28-04/Masters_Thesis_Chemistry/Chemical_Structures/*.*
?

[chemistry_geek]

yes, I tried that too; it did not work.

[scruffy]

If you're doing a recursive search, you shouldn't need to specify *.* - in fact, I think that might only look at subdirectories that have a dot in their names.

If you specify the exact file name, rather than a globbing pattern, does it find it? what is the filename? what is its format (what if you added the -a option to make it treat binary files as text?)

[chemistry_geek]

OK, I think I know why grep -lr "0.136" /Volumes/LaCie\ Disk/chemgeek/Documents/9-28-04/Masters_Thesis_Chemistry/Chemical_Structures/*.* didn't find the file the day I was searching for it. I had not yet updated the locate database. After I ran the daily and weekly system maintenance cron jobs, grep -lr "0.136" /Volumes/LaCie\ Disk/chemgeek/Documents/9-28-04/Masters_Thesis_Chemistry/Chemical_Structures/*.* found three files in less than one second, literally.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I very much appreciate all the help I get from the members here.

[chemistry_geek]

Originally Posted by scruffy

If you're doing a recursive search, you shouldn't need to specify *.* - in fact, I think that might only look at subdirectories that have a dot in their names.

If you specify the exact file name, rather than a globbing pattern, does it find it? what is the filename? what is its format (what if you added the -a option to make it treat binary files as text?)

The reason I was looking for a specific text pattern inside all of the files for my masters thesis is because I forgot the specific file name and folder(s) it could have been placed in. I remember the the text that was in the file, that's why I was using grep. The file I was looking for was a ChemDraw file that contains both binary and text information. When viewed in BBEdit, I see "gibberish" characters everywhere and a few places with text that I entered to explain a chemical reaction.