Re: [9fans] searchfs

[erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net>]

On Thu Aug  6 04:50:48 EDT 2009, fusion@storytotell.org wrote:
> I googled around and haven't found anything, but I notice there is a
> file /sys/src/cmd/aux/searchfs.c, and a corresponding binary aux/
> searchfs. The code doesn't seem to explain what it does very well but
> it piqued my curiosity.
>
> What's this do and how is it intended to be used? I don't know exactly
> what it wants for a database; I tried using /lib/words and it didn't
> blow up but I'm not sure that's what it needs. I found the /search
> file will accept strings like 'search=word' but it doesn't seem to
> have an effect in the filesystem, nor does reading from it produce
> anything.
>
> Any pointers on how to use this? Or is it defunct or some kind of dead
> end?

you need to read and write the same file descriptor.  (i'm
not sure why i would use this instead of grep, even for http
queries.)  <>[fd] is rc syntax for opening a file for r/w.
here's an example of opening fd 3 rw, then sending the
query into that fd and reading the results back:

; aux/searchfs -m /n/search /lib/words
; cd /n/search
; <>[3] search {echo -n 'search=eat' >[1=3]; cat <[0=3]}
amphitheater
anteater
[...]

- erik