Subject: searching multiple folders simultaneously

From: Mike Miller <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 11:51:29 -0500 (CDT)

I like the pine Select feature (using the semi-colon) and wish I could
make even better use of it.  My problem is that I often have to find a
collection of messages that are in different folders.  I end up having to
reapply the same command in one folder after another.  If only PINE could
search across multiple folders simultaneously!

Someone told that Pine 4.00 would implement this feature, and he directed
me this docoment ("Changes from Pine 3.96 to 4.00"):
http://www.washington.edu/pine/changes/3.96-to-4.00.html
Where it says, "Select can search multiple folders."

>From what I see in using pine, this is not a very helpful feature.  It
does allow me to identify folders that contain a certain string.  Of
course, I could do essentially the same thing using "grep -il".  With grep
commands I have more options (e.g., case-sensitivity).

What I want is something different.  I want to be able to do the same kind
of Select (;) searching across folders that I can now do only within
folders.  For example, I want to find every message with "Bob Thomas" in
the "To:" field in the mail folders "199904", "199905", "199906" and
"199907".  Right now I'd do it this way:

cat mail/19990[4567] > mail/findbob

Then I'd go into pine, make findbob my default folder, and do the select
operation:

;ttBob Thomas

It would be fabulous if Pine could give me the same result without having
to create the mail/findbob folder.  Maybe it could show a pseudo-folder
with listings like this:

199904:
      1 Apr 22 Bob Thomas              (1,699) You owe me big for this one

199905:
      2 May 28 Bob Thomas              (2,524) I'll accept only cash

199906:
+     3 Jun  7 Bob Thomas              (2,040) Meet me in the lobby
      4 Jun 29 Bob Thomas                (456) Where's my money?

199907:
+     5 Jul  8 Bob Thomas              (1,616) Pay me or you'll be sorry

If I could then Select, Apply, etc. from there, that would be superb.  If
pine will never do this for me, does anyone know of a program that does
this now?

Regards,

Mike

-- 
Michael B. Miller, M.S., Ph.D., M.P.E.
Department of Psychology
210 McAlester Hall
University of Missouri--Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
 Phone: (573) 882-5671
   Fax: (573) 882-7710
e-mail: [email-masked]
   web: http://taxa.psyc.missouri.edu/~mbmiller/

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From: Bino Gopal <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 13:58:02 -0400 (EDT)

Hi Mike (et al),

YES!  You anticipated my very email!  I was just thinking of the exact
same thing, for the exact same reason! *grin*  Is there any info on
whether Pine will have this feature not only for multiple folders, but for
folder collections?!  If not, info on another program would be aprreciated
too.

							BINO

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From: Bino Gopal <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 14:05:58 -0400 (EDT)

Just to follow-up, the method I use now only works for one only folder
collection:

	agrep -i -n -d "^From_" '<foo>;<bar>' <filename>

if I want to find something from a certain person in whatever files I list
(usually * for that particular subdir).  This also lists the whole
message.

Just fyi.  Any suggestions or improvements?

							BINO

> search across multiple folders simultaneously!

<CHOMP>