Search Indexed File Hierarchy
Indexing and Searching a Single File

Search Indexed File Hierarchy can be a useful tool even for searching a single file. To index a single file first copy that file to a folder containing no other text or text-like files (or exclude any other text files in the folder) and specify that folder as the top folder as explained in the user manual for the index module.

Consider, for example, the file i_ching.txt (contained in the ZIP file i_ching.zip). Download the zip file and extract i_ching.txt into some temporary folder with no other text files. Run Search Indexed File Hierarchy, go to the index module, and set both the top folder and the output folder to this temporary folder (give any project name and title). Click on Create index file the program creates an index file for this 108 KB text file in a few seconds, and tells us that the file contains 1,931 different words.

We can then go to the search module to find all occurrences of the exact phrase superior man, with those occurrences displayed in context. (To get all occurrences leave the 'Maximum number of extracts' textbox blank.) The HTML report begins as follows (slashes indicate line breaks in the text):

Search words: superior man
Search type: Exact phrase  
... The movement of heaven is full of power./ Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring./ The Lines/ Nine ...
... man./ Nine in the third place means:/ All day long the superior man is creatively active./ At nightfall his mind is still ...
... through the perseverance of a mare./ If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,/ He goes ...
... earth's condition is receptive devotion./ Thus the superior man who has breadth of character/ Carries the outer ...
... The image of Difficulty at the Beginning./ Thus the superior man/ Brings order out of confusion./ The Lines/ () Nine ...

The full report, showing all 73 occurrences, is here.


For a second example consider the file metahistory.htm (contained in the ZIP file metahistory.zip), whose subject is Gnosticism. The index module creates an index file for this 272 KB HTML file in about twenty seconds, and tells us that the file contains 6,606 different words.

We can then do a stem search to find occurrences of words which begin with gnos, with those occurrences displayed in context. Since there are likely to be many, we set the maximum number of extracts to 80. Having set the size of the extracts to 4, the report begins thus:

Search words: gnos*
Expanded: gnosis, gnostic, gnosticism, gnostics, gnostikoi
Search type: Any word  
... This text is derived from "Approaching Gnosticism" by John Lash. / ...
... No scholar today regards the actual content of Gnosticism to be worthy of discussion. The message of the ...
... surviving materials. Scholars assume that Gnostic texts are valuable for what they tell us about ...
... origins of Christianity, period. But using Gnostic texts to legitimate Christianity is ...
... is contradictory to its radical message. The Gnostic protest against Judeo-Christian religion is ...
... use what I call the "Lego method" of Gnostic scholarship to select those elements from the ...
... interest in recovering the actual message of Gnosticism. / My intention in reworking the Gnostic ...
... the Pagan, pre-Christian teachings of Gnosis that were preserved in the Mystery Schools. If ...
... on modern spiritual life: / First, we see the Gnostic protest against the ...
... is acceptable where genuine experience of Gnosis is concerned. There is huge responsibility ...
... huge responsibility involved in knowing what Gnostics knew. I am convinced that the way for the human ...

The full report, showing the first 80 occurrences, is here.


With an any-word search you can use several stems to search for variations on a phrase. Here are partial results (with no limit on the number of extracts and with the size of extract set to 4) for searching the metahistory.htm file for the stems myster* school*.

Search words: myster* school*
Expanded: mysteries, mysterious, mystery, school, schools
Search type: Any word  
... teachings of Gnosis that were preserved in the Mystery Schools. If I have not been merely ...
... understanding of the core teaching of the Mysteries. After hundreds of readings of the Nag Hammadi ...
... Gnostic psychology, the noetic science of the Mystery Schools, Archons are an alien force that ...
... I'm doing in this site to recover the original Mystery teachings of the Gnostics is to prepare people ...
... basis. This is one of the great unsolved mysteries of natural science. The Gnostic distinction ...
... of John, the Sun is called by a name from the Mystery Schools: Sabaoth, pronounced SAH-buy-ot. ...
... in our cells. / Encounters with Aliens in a Mystery School Text/ Here and there the Coptic ...
... In a practical sense, Gnostic teachers in the Mystery Schools instructed the neophytes in how to ...
... to the finely nuanced noetic science of the Mysteries. / In the Gnostic view, human beings ...
... peacefully with the Greco-Oriental Mysteries in ancient Palestine, including the cult ...

The full report, showing all occurrences, is here.

An astute observer will recognize that this program can be used to create KWIC reports (KWIC = "Keywords in Context), similar to our more specialized program Search KWIC Concordance.

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