File search application for mac os x with wildcard support - macos

Is there any program available for searching files in Mac OS X with wildcard(GLOB) support? I am looking something similar to SearchEverything in Windows??
quicksilver/spotlight/google quick searchbox/alfred app doesn't solve my problem :(
thanks

You can use mdfind for files that have been indexed by Spotlight. To do wildcards you need use the following format:
mdfind "kMDItemDisplayName=='*back*'c"
You can use this approach as "Raw Queries" in the Finder GUI as well. Example pic below, and see my answer at https://superuser.com/a/491119/66255 for more info.

When you open the finder, instead of searching in the little box, hit Command+F. This will bring up more options to choose from:
There are also more options that are hidden by default. Under the "name/kind" list is the option for "other". This will present you with even more stuff to choose from:
Almost kind of overwhelming at how many hidden options there are, and I believe it changes depending on which programs you have installed. BUT, better than the (GUI) alternative I suppose...
Hop that helps...

use the unix find command!
http://www.athabascau.ca/html/depts/compserv/webunit/HOWTO/find.htm

Besides find, depending on what you are trying to do you might find the OS X mdfind command useful. It's a command line interface to the metadata-store used by Spotlight.

Related

Forth editor/customizable editor

I'm looking for an OS X editor (preferably a dedicated Forth editor, but I doubt it exists) that has/can be customized to change the font color of Forth variables, programs, etc. If not, is there any sort of workaround?
I know it's an old question, but: atom with the forth-language package. See http://atom.io/
Longer answer:
I have tried both emacs and atom on Mac OS X and both are more than adequate for editing Forth. Atom is lighter and easier to learn while maintaining many emacs-ish capabilities (cmd-shift-p in place of meta-x).
I don't have automatic indenting working in atom yet, the syntax package I found needs a little work, but this hasn't been a real problem as yet.
atom also plays well with git.
I'm using the following packages: emacs-plus, language-forth, clipboard-plus, disable-arrow-keys. The key and clipboard are for a more emacs like experience. There are more themes and color schemes than I need available, I'm using the 4-color-dark and minimal-syntax themes.
UltraEdit has a Forth syntax highlight mode. MicroProcessor Engineering have an up to date copy in there downloads page.
Look no further !!
I'm currently programming in FORTH using the 'Visual Studio Code; editor.
Has (installable) syntax-highlighting for many languages, including FORTH.
Have a try:
https://code.visualstudio.com/download
It has even automatic indenting, AND code folding!!
...and let me know if you like it like I do.
Robbert / PA3BKL
I would suggest Gedit and if you change the forth.lang in the app you can change the syntax highlighting

Finding unofficial command line switches

How can I go about finding out command line arguments for a given application? I know you can use /? and, if the app supports it, it'll display the switches, but is there a way to find 'unofficial' ones in a program?
Obviously google is the easiest answer... barring that... I don't think there is any special alternative to /? that will give you additional options. You might try running "strings" against the executable in question. That may spit out some hidden options. "strings" comes with most(all?) unix distributions, for windows: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897439
If your not familiar with strings... it just spits out every string it can find inside an executable... it's often useful for finding hidden things.
For finding silent install switches, I found Universal Silent Switch Finder 1.5.0.0 to be helpful. Because the original version is very old, I cannot find it on the original website, but softpedia has a download up: http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Universal-Silent-Switch-Finder-Download-180984.html

is there a scripting solution for determining the default application path for a file on the Mac?

For a given extension, for example ".psd", I'd like to be able to determine the default application path for opening this file, for example "/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS4.app".
I've looked into the Launch Services API, and there are clearly programmatic ways to get this information. Unfortunately for my particular scenario, only a scripting solution (Applescript or shell script) will do.
I've also looked at "lsregister -dump". It seems to be unwise to rely on parsing this information, since there are no guarantees as to the stability of the output format.
I've been solving this problem in the past with Creator Codes, but since Apple seems to be phasing them out since Snow Leopard I'm trying to eliminate dependence on Creator Codes.
thanks
Launch Services is the one and only place to get that information. You can write a scripting addition that will expose its functionality to AppleScript, but then you have to install that on whatever machine you plan to run on.
System Events does give you this in Leopard
alt text http://img.skitch.com/20091222-eessetxeqbai2mnwduygtm1cd5.png

Is PackageMaker considered the standard for Mac OS X software installation? Or is there something else out there?

I've put together my very first package with PackageMaker (for a system service), but I am not happy about several faults:
Frequent crashes while applying target permissions to my source files
Package source files are not automatically or easily refreshed
File filter does not work
Is there something else out there more capable of this task? Free is not a requirement.
Yes it is, and yes it's buggy. Apple uses the command line version pretty much exclusively so the GUI tends to have the feeling that it's been slapped together by a summer intern and never tested.
PackageMaker is the standard, for things that need an installer (many regular applications just use a DMG, often with a background image telling the user to copy the bundle to /Applications - eg Firefox does this)
MindVision VISE is a commercial solution you can look at, used by some people, but personally I think the look & feel of the resulting installers is subtly wrong (and slightly retro) - that's a subjective viewpoint of course.
Package Maker works pretty well for many people - though documentation is rather scant; are you sure the problems you're experiencing aren't fixable?
There (now) is a great free alternative to PackageMaker with the simple name "Packages":
http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Packages/about.html
It's really easy to use, very stable and mature and even open source (in case you need to hack anything). Plus: it has a well written documentation!
I had the same problem until I added #!/bin/sh at the top of the script. Apparently PackageMaker needs it; I wish the log was a bit more clear about it.
IHIH, Oren
Since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard it is recommended to use pkgbuild and productbuild instead of PackageMaker.

Ruby and linux, preferred setup?

Mac's have TextMate as there preferred application for ruby development, but what would be the preferred application for linux? I need something where it's easy to work with multiple files, project structure and setup commands to run my ruby app or if it is one my merb app.Syntax highlighting is also a must.
Now I typically use Vim, but it's not the best for working with multiple files or with a project structure, even with VTreeView plug-in or multiple VIM windows.
So what would you guys suggest?
If you have better plugins to use for VIM feel free to mention them, I'm not ruling out VIM here.
I use Vim on both Windows and Linux for development in Rails (we have to use Windows in work, and I only use Linux at home). The environment is almost exactly the same for both platforms. Especially important for me is easy navigation between the various Rails components - from Controllers to views, partials and models, and quick navigation to test files.
Here are the plugins I use:
Vim Rails by Tim Pope. The :R, :A and gf commands are the ones I use mostly for navigation.
NERDTree for a project/explorer view.
NERDCommenter for easy multi-line commenting.
FuzzyFinder and "FuzzyFinder - Textmate" - allows you to quickly find files based on portins of a file name.
Ctags
Bufexplorer
dbext for executing SQL commands and getting the results in a Vim buffer.
Ack and the ack plugin for a better grepping experience from within Vim.
VividChalk colour scheme.
RubyMine from JetBrains.com works well for Mac/Linux/Windows, the price is 99$ but it's probably the most productive IDE for Ruby and Rails I have tested so far.
Setup Gedit to be almost like Textmate
Aptana with the Rails plugin is pretty good.
If you are on Ubuntu/Debian, plain old emacs with ruby-elisp package isn't bad. It's no TextMate, but it's not bad.
I prefer Netbeans on both linux and Mac
+1 for Netbeans for Rails. Each release gets better and better and with 6.7 beta it's better yet. Using it on Windows and Mac -- under Linux it's what I'd use as well.
Since you are a vimmer, have you looked at this? I have no experience with it, but looks quite good in the screencast.
Why don't you just use Sublime Text 2 Text Editor, it is free and cross platform and lighter than any IDE, and then you can install the SublimeCodeIntel which will provide you with autocomplete features , you can do that through installing Package Control , then
⌘+shift+p → “install” → ENTER → “codeintel” → ENTER → Restart ST2
It is working perfectly with me and I'm totally in love with this smart editor .
You can find this helpful somehow if you wanna give it a try , http://www.rockettheme.com/magazine/1319-using-sublime-text-2-for-development
I'm using it with zsh Terminal http://stevelosh.com/blog/2010/02/my-extravagant-zsh-prompt/
Anyways if you are looking for a full IDE give netbeans a try http://netbeans.org/projects/ruby/
I prefer Aptana/RadRails on both Mac and Linux. It gives a consistent experience for me no matter what OS I'm on.
I still don't get the excitement over Textmate...
Given that you use vim, this post might be interesting.
Her is the Fuzzyfinder Textmate vim plugin that the post refers to.
Aptana Studio is indeed very nice. Also Gedit does the job if you don't want a full IDE environment and are more inclined to do stuff by hand :).
The other answers are about ruby editors, so I thought I will add an answer on my linux setup.
I use Ubuntu with VM player (free) on top of windows 7. I dedicate 2 core and 2 GB to the vm. Benefit of using the VM on top of windows is that I can use linux just for development and windows for everything else. Skype, webex, and team viewer works in windows, but i find them to be flaky in linux. Also I use office once in a while, very easy on windows.
I have been using GMATE for a while and I can say that I only need gnome-terminal to complete my ruby/groovy/python setup. It have themes imported from textmate and do some method/property code completion (not much ok? but it comes handy).
Edit: forgot to say that GMATE is a set of plugins for Gedit (default text editor on gnome)
With Linux there are 3 really good IDEs and all are free. You have Eclipse, Netbeans, and Aptana... They are all very good and each have some benfits over the other, its more a matter of preference. I would suggest downloading all 3 and giving them a try to see which you prefer.

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