Thanks David
I can see perfectly well how to do it with the command line version of everything, but the thing is to do it from the GUI window.
From the command line I am able to process each of the results that everything gives me, but from the GUI window I am not able to send the list of files to an external command and return the result of the command to the same window.
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One of the drawbacks of using %errorlevel% is that you have to process that output variable for each file in the list. It seems more practical to send the filtered listing, via the "search command" (which could be called "run:"), to the standard input of the external program; and process the standard output of that program once it has processed that listing, to do everything in one step. I'd suggest to impose a strict output format to the external program (e.g. JSON): it would create a dictionary where each key should match entries in the standard input (search results), and would be paired to a value provided by the program.
So, putting in Everything search bar
*.xlsx run:my_script>2 musicworkbooks path:whatever
The my_script script would receive the listing for the result of searching "*.xlsx musicworkbooks path:whatever", would process it, and return the JSON dictionary. Everything would compare the results with the condition ">2" stated in the command to determine the final result in the graphical window.
Doing it with ERRORLEVEL would be MUCH slower. And with that feature Everything would become a really powerful search system.
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I know you can do something similar from the GUI by following these steps:
- do the search "*.xlsx musicworkbooks path:whatever"
- export the search result to an EFU (or CSV or TXT) file [this part has to be done manually].
- process from my_script that EFU file, and generate ANOTHER EFU file [which means leaving the Everything interface],
- the EFU file could be displayed in a new window, using Everything.exe -f file.EFU.
That workflow can be modified by using other Everything features, such as:
- Everything CLI (as indicated), IPC o ETP. This implies working from outside Everything GUI
- "Custom values for properties" mentioned in Tagging without modifying files and Index Properties. This way of implementing access to properties / tags imposes many restrictions, such as fixed file paths.
my proposal involves automating those processes, controlling them from the search bar, and adding flexibility (by pairing values to search result items).
This proposal adds the feature of exposing Everything search results to other processes through standard input / output, which complements the mechanisms of CLI, IPC, ETP, file lists, or exporting results to files from the GUI.
There are many other proposals / suggestions related to mine, either using the alternate paths mentined above (CLI, IPC, ETP, Properties), or some like Indirect search with external Program/Script(simple plugin/makro). I think everyone of us would be pleased to find such a feature implemented from the search bar.
I can see perfectly well how to do it with the command line version of everything, but the thing is to do it from the GUI window.
From the command line I am able to process each of the results that everything gives me, but from the GUI window I am not able to send the list of files to an external command and return the result of the command to the same window.
------
One of the drawbacks of using %errorlevel% is that you have to process that output variable for each file in the list. It seems more practical to send the filtered listing, via the "search command" (which could be called "run:"), to the standard input of the external program; and process the standard output of that program once it has processed that listing, to do everything in one step. I'd suggest to impose a strict output format to the external program (e.g. JSON): it would create a dictionary where each key should match entries in the standard input (search results), and would be paired to a value provided by the program.
So, putting in Everything search bar
*.xlsx run:my_script>2 musicworkbooks path:whatever
The my_script script would receive the listing for the result of searching "*.xlsx musicworkbooks path:whatever", would process it, and return the JSON dictionary. Everything would compare the results with the condition ">2" stated in the command to determine the final result in the graphical window.
Doing it with ERRORLEVEL would be MUCH slower. And with that feature Everything would become a really powerful search system.
------
I know you can do something similar from the GUI by following these steps:
- do the search "*.xlsx musicworkbooks path:whatever"
- export the search result to an EFU (or CSV or TXT) file [this part has to be done manually].
- process from my_script that EFU file, and generate ANOTHER EFU file [which means leaving the Everything interface],
- the EFU file could be displayed in a new window, using Everything.exe -f file.EFU.
That workflow can be modified by using other Everything features, such as:
- Everything CLI (as indicated), IPC o ETP. This implies working from outside Everything GUI
- "Custom values for properties" mentioned in Tagging without modifying files and Index Properties. This way of implementing access to properties / tags imposes many restrictions, such as fixed file paths.
my proposal involves automating those processes, controlling them from the search bar, and adding flexibility (by pairing values to search result items).
This proposal adds the feature of exposing Everything search results to other processes through standard input / output, which complements the mechanisms of CLI, IPC, ETP, file lists, or exporting results to files from the GUI.
There are many other proposals / suggestions related to mine, either using the alternate paths mentined above (CLI, IPC, ETP, Properties), or some like Indirect search with external Program/Script(simple plugin/makro). I think everyone of us would be pleased to find such a feature implemented from the search bar.
Statistics: Posted by gautxori — Sun Aug 24, 2025 8:47 am
