Quick File Search (QFS)

QFS is a multi-threaded command-line utility for searching files by name on your system. It supports case-insensitive search, logical operators (AND/OR), regular expressions, custom thread counts, and saving results to a file.

Features

• Multi-threaded search: Uses all available CPU cores by default
• Case-insensitive search: Finds files regardless of letter case
• Logical operators: Combine multiple patterns with AND (&&) or OR (||) logic
• Regular expression support: Use regex patterns for advanced matching
• Customizable: Set the number of threads, starting directory, and output options
• Interactive and command-line modes: Run with arguments or answer prompts
• Save results: Optionally save found files to a text file

Usage

1. Interactive Mode

Run the program without arguments to enter interactive mode:

./QFS

You will be prompted for:

• File name patterns (simple or regex with logical operators)
• The number of threads to use
• The starting directory (default: current directory)
• Whether to save results to a file
• Whether to print results during the search

2. Command-Line Mode

Run the program with arguments for non-interactive use:

./qfs <pattern> [options]

Pattern Syntax

Simple Patterns (case-insensitive substring search):

• Single pattern: document
• AND logic: hello&&.txt (files must contain BOTH "hello" AND ".txt")
• OR logic: hello||.txt (files must contain EITHER "hello" OR ".txt")

Regular Expression Patterns (wrap in `/...'/):

• Single regex: /.*\.txt/ (all .txt files)
• AND logic: /test.*&&.+\.exe/ (files matching BOTH patterns)
• OR logic: /.*\.txt||.*\.md/ (files matching EITHER pattern)

Important: In regex patterns, escape special characters properly:

• Use \. for literal dot (not any character)
• Use \\ for literal backslash
• Double backslashes may be needed in command line: /.*\.txt/

Options

Option	Description
--threads <num>	Number of threads to use (1 to max cores, default: all available cores)
--dir <path>	Starting directory (default: current directory)
--save <0|1>	Save results to file (1=yes, 0=no, default: 0)
--verbose <0|1>	Print results during search when saving to file (1=yes, 0=no, default: 1)
--help	Show help message

Examples

Simple pattern searches:

# Find files containing "document"
./qfs "document"

# Find files with both "hello" AND ".exe" in name
./qfs "hello&&.exe"

# Find files with either "hello" OR ".exe" in name
./qfs "hello||.exe"

# Search in specific directory with 4 threads
./qfs "myfile.txt" --threads 4 --dir /home/user

Regular expression searches:

# Find all .txt and .md files
./qfs "/.*\.(txt|md)/"

# Find files starting with "XYZ_" and ending with ".bin"
./qfs "/XYZ_.+\.bin/"

# Find files like test1.exe, test42.exe
./qfs "/test[0-9]+\.exe/"

# Find files matching both regex patterns
./qfs "/^[A-Z]&&.*\.log/" --dir /var/log

With options:

# Save results to file without printing during search
./qfs "document" --save 1 --verbose 0

# Use 8 threads, search from C:\Users, save results
./qfs "hello&&world" --threads 8 --dir "C:\Users" --save 1

Build

Requirements

• C++17 or later
• Standard Library with <filesystem> support
• CMake 3.8 or later

Compile

git clone https://github.com/ScavyXYZ/QFS.git
cd QFS
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

Output

• Results are displayed in real-time (unless --verbose 0 is used with --save 1)
• When --save 1 is used, results are saved to founded.txt in the current directory
• Each result shows: Found <filename> at: <absolute_path>
• Results are sorted alphabetically at the end of the search

Notes

• The default starting directory is the current working directory
• The program skips directories with permission errors
• Regex patterns use ECMAScript grammar with case-insensitive matching
• Cannot mix AND (&&) and OR (||) operators in the same pattern
• Pattern matching is always case-insensitive (both simple and regex modes)
• In interactive mode, press Enter to close after viewing results

Pattern Matching Modes

Simple Mode (Default)

• Case-insensitive substring matching
• Example: hello matches "Hello.txt", "HELLO_WORLD.doc", "say_hello.pdf"

Regex Mode (Patterns wrapped in `/...'/ )

• Full regular expression support
• Case-insensitive by default
• Example: /^test[0-9]+\.exe$/ matches "test1.exe", "test123.exe" but not "mytest1.exe"

Logical Operators

AND (&&) - Match ALL patterns

Files must match every pattern in the list.

• Simple: hello&&world matches "hello_world.txt", "world_says_hello.doc"
• Regex: /^test&&.*\.exe/ matches files starting with "test" that end with ".exe"

OR (||) - Match ANY pattern

Files must match at least one pattern in the list.

• Simple: hello||world matches "hello.txt", "world.doc", "hello_world.pdf"
• Regex: /.*\.txt||.*\.md/ matches any .txt or .md file

Author

ScavyXYZ