Looking for Bash script to text search wildcard PDF's

[Semme]

Greetings!

I'd like to have this modified to:

• 1) Open a shell.
  
  2) Ask for a path
  
  3) Ask for a pattern.
  
  4) Results to stdout.

I'm not after a Gtk window as I'd prefer to keep the mouse quiet.

If easy enough and you have the time, I'd love a walk-through.

Thanks.

[SFR]

Hey Semme

You mean something (simple) like this?

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#!/bin/bash
tail -n +5 "$0" > /tmp/pdfgrepcli				# Copy itself, except first 4 lines, to /tmp/pdfgrepcli
exec xterm -hold -e bash /tmp/pdfgrepcli		# open terminal and execute /tmp/pdfgrepcli
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ ! `which pdfgrep` ] && echo "Install 'pdfgrep' first, exiting..." && exit 1

read -p "Path: " PDFPATH
read -p "Pattern: " PATTERN

find "$PDFPATH" -type f -iname "*.pdf" -exec pdfgrep "$PATTERN" {} +

Regading no.1: if I understood correctly - you want to open terminal window when the script is clicked, right?
If not, just comment out or delete 2nd & 3rd line (tail... & exec...).

BTW: From the link you have posted there - Puppy (at least Slacko) has also 'pdftotext' and in combination with 'grep --color=always' it looks quite nice; check it out.

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pdftotext /usr/share/examples/ps-pdf/Acrobat.pdf - | grep --color=always "document"

Greetings!

[Semme]

AWESOME! Works a treat SFR.

Is tail -n +5 "$0" > /tmp/pdfgrepcli setup as a buffer to store input while waiting for further instruction?

OK.. xterm >> retain window, have bash execute (code I have yet to understand):

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[ ! `which pdfgrep` ] && echo "Install 'pdfgrep' first, exiting..." && exit 1 

read -p "Path: " PDFPATH 
read -p "Pattern: " PATTERN 

find "$PDFPATH" -type f -iname "*.pdf" -exec pdfgrep "$PATTERN" {} +

The rest is gonna take me time to study and digest.

A little Bash know-how coupled with regx, right?

[SFR]

Hey Semme

Glad it works.

Is tail -n +5 "$0" > /tmp/pdfgrepcli setup as a buffer to store input while waiting for further instruction?

This is one of the first tricks I have learned.
It's kinda "self-extracting" routine - basically this line copies the script itself (its path is in $0), except first 4 lines, to tempfile and then, in order to open terminal window, redirects execution (let's say - jumps) to this file using 'exec xterm...'

Next line is to ensure that 'pdfgrep' is really available (which pdfgrep), then 'read' to get user's input and finally the line you have delivered, however I never use 'find ... -exec'

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-exec pdfgrep "$PATTERN" {} +

so honestly I don't fully understand that syntax.

Greetings!