Searching iPhone- Can it be done

[beav626]

on my Blackberry there is a search tool that will allow you to search all text fields for a certain word.

is there a way to do this on a iPhone? Specifically I need to search the calendar.

[thehotrod]

Look for an application called Search in Cydia. I haven't used it for calendar info, but it .....nevermind...as I opened the app, it only does Mail, SMS, Notes, Contacts, and Web.

And it struggles with html mail and large inboxes...I haven't found a perfect solution for mail searching either.

[Mes]

If you're into MobileTerminal or SSH, you can use the command-line:

Type: find . -type f -exec grep "install" '{}' /dev/null \; -print

Be mindful of the punctuation. It IS important

The above command prints all instances of "install" in all files in the current directory.

Wiki link: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find]find - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[gQstatus05]

Yeah I think he wants like a "I'm on my way to the office and want to check something" way to search not by connecting to a PC. Good suggestion though. I would post in the 3RD party app request section and maybe someone could make it or point you in the right direction there.

[beav626]

Thanks for the suggestions

[thehotrod]

I agree with the original poster. This Search type of function is something that I really really miss on my iPhone coming from a WM phone.

[beav626]

I keep searching but nothing yet

anybody with an idea today?

[thehotrod]

I haven't tried it, but the program Searcher by Zac White says it can search contacts, notes, events, safari bookmarks and history. Its in the bigboss' repository.

[Mes]

I use searcher, but as you've indicated, it's limited to certain files.

To search the entire iPhone file system there are few choices. Use my 'find .....' suggestion above until something better comes along.

[beav626]

If you're into MobileTerminal or SSH, you can use the command-line:

Type: find . -type f -exec grep "install" '{}' /dev/null ; -print

Be mindful of the punctuation. It IS important

The above command prints all instances of "install" in all files in the current directory.

Wiki link: find - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I dont quite understand how this works. Where do I type, and what do i type

[Mes]

I dont quite understand how this works. Where do I type, and what do i type

You must have MobileTerminal installed or OpenSSH (or equivalent) installed, both from Cydia.

MobileTerminal is a local application (run from iPhone). You type the 'find...' command from within MobileTerminal. Depending upon you current permissions (mobile or root) and your starting location, 'find ....' will recursively search files and directories.

OpenSSH (or just SSH) allows a PC to connect to the iPhone and execute tasks. On the PC, I use WinSCP to connect, then within WinSCP I open a command terminal and exectue a 'find ...' command.

All of this requires some knowledge, reading, and more reading to understand. You'll never learn it overnight. But it's not so difficult if you are willing to put some effort into it

What do you type? Well, it depends upon what you're looking for. In my original post, that command searched for 'install' from the current directory. The link at the bottom in the original post provides extensive reading to explore the capabilities and 1,000's of options to 'find...'. It is a very powerful utility/command -- and again, can't be learned overnight.

You might say 'This is way over my head' -- and you might be right But learning just one example, say: "find / -type f -exec grep "search string" '{}' /dev/null ; -print" (no double quotes '"') can go a long way towards your goal. BTW The above command searches EVERYWHERE for 'search string'.

[beav626]

I downloaded a free app called searcher... and it does all that I needed!

[Mes]

Great. I love Searcher. Another one, called Search includes email.