Desktop search in Perl

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Article from Issue 59/2005
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On a big, busy Linux desktop, it is too easy for files to get lost. We’ll show you a Perl script that creates a MySQL database to find files in next to no time.

Now where did I store that script I put together yesterday? Which are the newest files, which take up the most disk space, or which files have not been touched for at least three years? And where was that text file that I wrote last week containing the words “Michael” and “raise?” Of course, there is nothing to stop you navigating the disk level by level and retrieving the information you need. Cheap but enormous hard disks have led to users no longer bothering to tidy up their home directories in recent years; find and other utilities often need to navigate tens or even hundreds of thousands of irrelevant entries before they come up with the goods. That takes time, and time is a luxury that many people don’t have.

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