AmiGrep

A content-search ("grep") tool for AmigaOS 2.04 and newer (tested on 3.1 and 3.2). Recurses a volume, assign, directory or single file, opens every text file, and reports each line that matches a pattern as path:line: text. Ships as a CLI (AmiGrep) and a GadTools GUI (AmiGrepGUI).

Companion to AmiFind: AmiFind finds files by name, AmiGrep finds text inside them — and AmiGrep's optional FILE filter reuses the same AmigaDOS-wildcard name matching, so AmiGrep TODO WORK: FILE #?.c greps only the C sources under WORK:.

Built with amiga-gcc (m68k-amigaos-gcc) under WSL — pure NDK, no MUI/ReAction.

Layout

src/grep.c / grep.h   shared recursive content-search engine + matcher
src/cli.c             command-line front end
src/gui.c             GadTools GUI front end
build.sh              build both with amiga-gcc
tools/uae_test.py     deploy / headless-test helper for the WinUAE 030 box
icons/                the shipped icons: AmiGrepGUI.info, and drawer.info
                      (goes beside the package drawer as AmiGrep.info)
out/                  compiled AmigaOS executables (not in git)

Installing

Unpack the .lha wherever you keep tools (LhA x AmiGrep-1.1.lha Work:), open the AmiGrep drawer and double-click AmiGrepGUI. For the CLI version in any Shell, copy it to C::

Copy AmiGrep/AmiGrep C:

From the .zip instead: a zip can't store AmigaDOS protection bits, so the programs arrive without their e (executable) flag and won't run until you set it:

Protect AmiGrep/AmiGrep +e
Protect AmiGrep/AmiGrepGUI +e

Build

From Windows, inside WSL:

wsl -e bash -lc 'cd /mnt/c/projects/AmiGrep && sh build.sh'

Outputs out/AmiGrep and out/AmiGrepGUI (AmigaOS m68k hunk executables) and copies icons/AmiGrepGUI.info beside the GUI.

The release package is an AmiGrep drawer holding AmiGrep, AmiGrepGUI, AmiGrepGUI.info and README.md, with icons/drawer.info beside the drawer as AmiGrep.info (without it the unpacked drawer is invisible on Workbench). The CLI AmiGrep ships without an icon. icons/AmiGrepGUI.info is made by makeicon_amigrep.py in the shared Amiga tools folder next to this project:

wsl -e bash -lc 'cd /mnt/c/projects/AmiGrep && python3 ../tools/makeicon_amigrep.py icons/AmiGrepGUI.info'

CLI usage

AmiGrep PATTERN [PATH] [FILE <namepat>] [CASE] [NAMES]

• PATTERN — text to find inside files. Plain text is matched as a case-insensitive substring. If it contains AmigaDOS wildcards (#? * ? [ ] ~ |) it is matched across the whole line as #?<pattern>#? (so it still behaves like "contains").
• PATH — volume, assign, directory or single file. Defaults to the current directory.
• FILE — only search files whose name matches this filter (case-insensitive). Plain text is a substring of the name (txt matches notes.txt); add AmigaDOS wildcards for stricter matching (#?.c, ReadMe#?).
• CASE — make the content match case-sensitive.
• NAMES — print only the names of files that contain a match (like grep -l).
• Press Ctrl-C to abort.

Binary files (those containing a NUL byte) are skipped automatically.

Examples

AmiGrep TODO                       ; "TODO" anywhere under the current dir
AmiGrep todo WORK: CASE            ; case-sensitive, under WORK:
AmiGrep #?error LIBS: FILE #?.guide; wildcard line match in .guide files
AmiGrep printf WORK:src NAMES      ; just the files that mention printf

GUI usage

Run AmiGrepGUI (from Workbench or Shell). Enter the text to Find, an In path (default SYS:), optionally a Files wildcard and tick Case, then press Search. Matching lines appear in the listview as path:line: text; the status line shows the totals. Single-click a result to copy its full path:line: text into the scrollable Hit gadget at the bottom (cursor keys scroll it — GadTools lists have no horizontal scroll). Double-click a result to open its containing drawer in Workbench — this needs workbench.library v44 (OS 3.5+); on OS 3.0–3.2 the status line says so instead of opening anything. Stop (or closing the window) aborts a running search. Matching is identical to the CLI. A Project menu (right mouse button) offers Iconify and Quit.

Testing

• CLI — runs on the host under vamos (no emulator):

  wsl -e bash -lc 'cd /mnt/c/projects/AmiGrep && ~/amitools-venv/bin/vamos out/AmiGrep TODO out/td'
  

  out/td is a small fixture tree created by the test runs.

• GUI — deploy to the WinUAE "clean 030" OS 3.2 box and launch it there (see tools/uae_test.py). Layout can be checked from the host by screenshot; clicking/typing needs a real session (RDP into the desktop, drive WinUAE).

Notes

• Matching uses dos.library/ParsePattern[NoCase] + MatchPattern[NoCase], so wildcard mode follows standard AmigaDOS semantics.
• The GUI search is synchronous; the Stop button and close gadget stay responsive because the scan pumps Intuition messages between lines.
• The engine keeps its 8 KB read buffer + path/line buffers in an AllocMem'd context, not on the stack, so deep recursion stays cheap.
• Requires AmigaOS 2.04 or newer: the libraries are opened at v37 (asl/workbench/icon are optional), and the V39+ features are used only when present (ExAllEnd, the GUI's memory pool; opening a result's drawer needs workbench.library v44, as above). Tested on OS 3.1 and 3.2.