File extension search

@t0t0 "and external devices"

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/winpsh/manual/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=df8ed469-9007-401c-85e7-46649a32d0e0&displaylang=en&tm

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/dd742419.aspx

http://www.johndcook.com/PowerShellCookbook.html

I had a quick look, but I do not have powershell on my machine

Perhaps this is a start - I have never written powershell before

diskpart < listv.txt > vols.txt
echo "" > output.txt
# we need to skip the header somehow and stop at the end of the list
# drive names are one letter so perhaps look at the length of the 3rd word
foreach($line in (get-content vols.txt)) {
  $vol = $line.split()[2]
  $cmd = "dir $vol:\*.$args[0] /s >> output.txt"
  invoke-expression $cmd
}
 
 
 
where listv.txt contains
list volume
exit

                                              

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Dear Yeniye

I understand your frustration with the DIR command. I must admit it's not the friendliest of commands DOS has to offer and at times, the squiggly-like characters following the command can be so cryptic at first.

Unfortunately, DIR with it's often cryptic bits and pieces that follow it is what we're normally stuck with. Oh, why-oh-why couldn't the makers or DOS allow us to enter commands like this:

    LIST ALL FILES WITH AN XYZ EXTENSION NAME

Surely, that can't be rocket-science!

So we're stuck with having to get by with DIR. Here are a few example uses of DIR that I picked up fairly quickly. It might help to jot a few of these down on the inside of your cigarette packet or even on your forearm....

   DIR *.*                 <-- The '*' (star) (SHIFT-8) means 'ANY'. In this case, 'any' filename with 'any' extension.
                                       In other words, EVERY file.

   DIR *.TXT            <-- Any filename with a TXT extension.

   DIR LETTER.*    <-- Any file named LETTER (with any extension).

   DIR LETTER*.*   <-- Any file whose name STARTS with 'LETTER'

All the above commands work in the current folder only, but you can extend these searches to other folders.

   DIR C:\*.XYZ              <-- All files with an XYZ entension in the root folder of drive C:

   DIR C\:temp\*.XYZ    <-- All files with an XYZ extension in the folder C:\temp\

   DIR /S C:\*.XYZ          <-- All files with an XYZ extension STARTING in root folder of drive C:....
                                              and all sub-folders extending from the root folder of drive C:

                                              In other words - the WHOLE of drive C:

Hmmm.... I can understand now why we don't use plain English... Wow, imagine having to type that in every time we want to search the drive.

Finally, your system may support the following:

   DIR /S C;\*.XYZ  D:\*.XYZ

This will search your whole drives - both C: and D:. Wow... I'm not even going to try putting that into words!!

I hope some of that helps you get by for the moment but please remember, it gets easier the more you use it. And of course, when you're ready to know more, just enter the following command:

   DIR /?

which will display DIR's help pages giving many more options.

But take note, you don't need to know it all at once - so take your time and learn just waht you need to get by for now.

Good luck.

Oh, by the way, the output from DIR can be saved to a file. The advantage of this is that you can then open the file and browse through the list of filenames. Here's how it's done:


     DIR /S c:\*.xyz d:\*.xyz >list.txt

The '>list.txt' at the end of the command tells DIR to output it's results to a file named LIST.TXT instead of diaplaying it's output on the screen.

Hi,
Here is a Powershell script that you can use that scans your computer for drives (note network shares) and saves the filename and path into a file (and shows them on the console).

Its easy to modify this script if you want to do other things with each file. Each file is saved as a FileInfo object into $files, so you can get size, dates etc as well.

Change the variable at the top named $filter to search for different file extensions like "*.txt" or anything else

Good luck!

/ Mikael

$Files = @()
$Filter = "*.xyz"
#Excludes network connected shares
Get-WmiObject win32_logicaldisk | where {$_.drivetype -ne 4} | 
    ForEach-Object { 
        Write-Host "Scanning : " $_.deviceID -foregroundcolor blue
        if (Test-Path -Path $_.DeviceID) {
            Get-ChildItem -Filter $Filter -Path $_.DeviceID -Recurse | 
                ForEach-Object {
                    #Write each file it finds and adds to collection
                    $Files += $_
                    $_.FullName
                }
        }
    }
    #export to CSV file
    $files | select FullName | Export-Csv -Path "files.csv" -NoTypeInformation
    Write-Host "Found totally " $files.count " files"
    $Files = $null
    $filter = $null    
    
    

                                              

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I can simplify the script above a bit :)

Note that no matter what we do here we're not altering the underlying algorithm, efficiency is not impacted (depending on how you define that). Also note that "dir" in PowerShell is an alias for Get-ChildItem, so by using Get-ChildItem you are using "dir".

Chris

$Filter = "*.xyz"
Get-WMIObject Win32_LogicalDisk -Filter "DriveType='3'" | %{
  Get-ChildItem -Filter $Filter -Path $_.DeviceID -Recurse | Select-Object FullName
} | Export-CSV "files.csv" -NoTypeInformation

                                              

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Now for truly usefulness, make it look INSIDE each file for string :)

Select-String would do that if you were feeling inclined :)

Chris

Can I be a bother and ask for

$string found in file $filename on line $line
?

Thanks

Select-Object will do that, although it would take a bit more to make it a sentence. Might want to substitute FileName for Path here, more appropriate for searches.

...
Select-String -Pattern "string to search for" -path $_.fullname | Select-Object FileName, Pattern, LineNumber
...

Drifting away from the original question though...

Chris

Not sure we are :)

Chris-Dent and activephoto:

Thank you for the code .That helps.But  the file with the extension .xyz is not expected to be in some folders so i need to exclude this folders like windir, programfiles ,appdata. etc. to increase the the speed of search.
thanks

By the way
which one is more fast  the .Net namaespaces  or WMI if we have the previlage of using one of them
in our code.

Thank you very much!!!

Vee Mod. I read your suggested 'alternative' version of my reply.... You have a natural way with words.... I've taken your comments on-board should there be a similar occurance.
   

Thank you for the comment regarding my explanation of the DIR command. Funnily enough, I re-read it (since receiving your comment) and I must admit (with a bit of spit and polish) it does sound quite beginner-friendly.... something I suppose we more experienced DOS user forget how to relate.

Thank you anyway.

By the way, I'm not used to being treated nicely by moderators so this is a first.
 

PS. I posted these in the wrong place, haven't I?......

Yes, but don't worry too much about it :)

Chris

Hi Chris-Dent

I was using your function and i was trying to restrict the from searching  C:\FOO\Bar
but i want it to search in C:\FOO.But still i should be able to search C:\Users\userA\Desktop or Documents.
I don't want to go more than two stages in any arbitrary folders