Searcher - Multi-threaded File Searcher

Recursively search for files containing text. Built with C#, .NET 10 and Avalonia

Available Versions

• SearcherGui (SearcherGui/ directory): Cross-platform Avalonia GUI application
• SearcherCli (SearcherCli/ directory): Command-line version that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux

Both versions are included in the main Searcher.sln solution file.

Parameters

Mandatory parameters:
  --search <text>, -s <text>          Text to find

Optional parameters:
  --folder <x>, -f <x>                Folder to search (default '.')
  --pattern <x, ...>, -p <x, ...>     File patterns to match eg '*.txt,*.docx' (default '*')
  --open-with <x>, -w <x>             Open files with this program instead of Notepad

  --inside-zips, -z                   Always search inside zip files. Implies -p *.zip
  --one-thread, -o                    Don't search files in parallel
  --case-sensitive, -c                Text is matched in a case-sensitive way
  --hide-errors, -h                   Hide errors in output list

Examples

Search current folder for txt and Word files containing 'hello world':
  SearcherGui --folder . --pattern *.txt,*.docx --search "hello world"

Search just zip files for anything containing 'hello':
  SearcherGui -f . -p *.zip -s hello

Search txt files (including those in zips) for anything containing 'hello':
  SearcherGui -z -f . -p *.txt -s hello
Or..
  SearcherGui -f . -p *.txt,*.zip -s hello

Search txt files (excluding those in zips) for anything containing 'hello':
  SearcherGui -f . -p *.txt -s hello

Searcher can look inside zips (use the -z option), docx and pdf files.

SearcherCli - Command Line Version

The SearcherCli/ directory contains a cross-platform command-line version that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It shares the same core search functionality but provides a pure console interface.

Building SearcherCli

cd SearcherCli/
dotnet build

# Or for a self-contained executable:
dotnet publish -r win-x64 -c Release -p:PublishSingleFile=true --self-contained true
# For Mac: use -r osx-x64 or -r osx-arm64
# For Linux: use -r linux-x64

SearcherCli Examples

# Basic search
SearcherCli --search "hello world" --folder /path/to/search

# Search with patterns
SearcherCli -s "TODO" -f src/ -p "*.cs,*.js"

# Search inside archives (cross-platform)
SearcherCli -z -f . -p "*.txt" -s "config"

# Get help
SearcherCli --help

For detailed SearcherCli documentation, see SearcherCli/README.md.

Building SearcherGui (Avalonia GUI)

Requires .NET 10 SDK.

# Build for current platform
dotnet build SearcherGui/SearcherGui.csproj -c Release

# Publish as single-file executable
dotnet publish SearcherGui/SearcherGui.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false /p:PublishSingleFile=true
# For Mac: use -r osx-arm64 or -r osx-x64
# For Linux: use -r linux-x64

.NET version support

Main branch supports .NET 10. dotnet8 branch for .NET 8, and .NET 7 work closed out in commit 5daec2245f

Testing

xUnit is used for testing with 117 tests covering core functionality, GUI components, and CLI options. Tests can be run from Test Explorer in Visual Studio, or by running:

# Run all tests (from repository root)
dotnet test TestSearcher/

# Run with detailed output
dotnet test TestSearcher/ --verbosity normal