How to search for files in Xubuntu / XFCE with just Thunar and a Bash script

[LKRaider]

it would require another dialog, which i think would be one too many.

however.. if: slocate is faster than find and can return the same information as find -printf allows... then slocate should replace find

also, if you want to post the translation I will try to incorporate it using localisation: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/localization.html

Sounds like great idea, the translation


Meanwhile, I did a gtkdialog version for me including the slocate option. Check the screenshot below.
While you can do more complex window layouts with gtkdialog, it isn't very good to work with it. I am thinking a python version would be much better then...

About slocate: the problem with it is that it relies on a database of your files that is updated only daily, so newly created files won't show up. But it is very useful for doing searches on the whole disk, for instance.
Also, it looks for the search keyword on the whole path, not only on the filename. But I guess it could be filtered somehow.

Attached are the translated version of your script, and also my gtkdialog version if you want to take a look (maybe specially on the slocate function?)

[Emanuel Felipe]

Nice work.. ty

[jordoex]

This should automatically be in Xubuntu, instead of having to config a script.

[harryc]

I just set this script up and it works great as user. Is there any reason why this would not work while running Thunar as root? What would change in the howto? It would be very convenient to search for a root owned file then once found you could immediately edit it with mousepad as root(for example.

[kalikiana]

Wow, the new script looks better than the first one - although I'd like to have it in one file. Is that possible?

OR is the by any chance somebody with Gtk/C-knowledge who'd like to make this a thunar plugin? I would do it myself, but I have until now no idea how Gtk works.

[wo.anderer]

Thanks for that lapsey and DirtDawg. Works nicely. Now we just need the search box built into thunar

[kalikiana]

I just got a chat with an xfce developer and he said that currently Thunar won't allow a real search plugin. So we'll have to wait until the plugin interface is more complex.

[Comendante]

I followed the inscrutions but It doen't work. When I open "Search for Files" in contest menu, it's any reactions. I have Xfce 4.4 Rc1.

[lapsey]

Bump for new version!!

Attached are the translated version of your script, and also my gtkdialog version if you want to take a look (maybe specially on the slocate function?)

Thanks. I really would prefer a better interface than Zenity but the GTKDialog version doesn't seem to work with edgy. Python is probably a good idea but I have little time these days.

slocate is cool but it is both too inaccurate and only adds complexity to the current interface. I would use it otherwise.

I have included your translation with the script so that you can use it, translated, straight away. Thanks a lot for that!

I just set this script up and it works great as user. Is there any reason why this would not work while running Thunar as root? What would change in the howto? It would be very convenient to search for a root owned file then once found you could immediately edit it with mousepad as root(for example.

No reason why not. As root is considered a different user, you will need to make the custom action again, except with the full path to the script. Maybe the command could have 'gksudo' in front of it. If the script is run with root privs (sudo search-for-files), the find command should also have root privs.
But, as it is a simple script I am aiming installation at the typical user. Something like this doesn't have to be in /bin.
The way I see it, if you need to search for root-owned files, you will most likely know how to do all of this yourself.

I just got a chat with an xfce developer and he said that currently Thunar won't allow a real search plugin. So we'll have to wait until the plugin interface is more complex.

I look forward to that day. There is a lot of promise in Thunar , as long as it is lightweight.

I followed the inscrutions but It doen't work. When I open "Search for Files" in contest menu, it's any reactions. I have Xfce 4.4 Rc1.

Try the instructions again. I hope I have made things clearer.

[kalikiana]

As the new version is out, I translated it to German and Spanish. I hope that somebody will like them.

Sadly the script is not ideal, in fact you might need to remove the '@euro' from the end of the filename.

EDIT: Please use the file in the newer post of mine instead.