find a combination of text patterns in all kinds of files including both text and binaries (.doc, .ppt etc.)

- download the free swiss file knife base from sourceforge.
- unpack the tool using winzip or unzip.
- open the Windows Command Line or a Linux shell.

sfk find [opts] singledir pattern [pattern2] [pattern3] ... [-names]
sfk grep [opts] -pat pattern [pattern2] -dir dir1 [-file] [.ext1] ...

 case-insensitive pattern search for text and binary. if multiple
 patterns are given, then only areas containing ALL are listed.
 by default, find tries to autodetect if a file is text or binary.
 with binary files, the distance between patterns found must be <80
 chars to be listed as a hit.

 options
 -text     process only text files, skip all binary files.
           finds patterns also over long lines, avoiding line breaks.
 -bin      do not autodetect file content, process all as binary.
           can also be used for floating text files (one linefeed per
           paragraph, not per line). may produce unwanted line breaks
           with short-lined text.
 -hidden   include hidden and system files.
 -c        case-sensitive search (not default).
 -lnum     list line numbers of hits.
 -nocol    disable color highlighting of output (sfk help colors).
 -names    list only names of files containing at least one hit.
 -count    list no. of matching lines per file. implies -names.
           requires -text option, cannot be used with binary files.
 -quiet    do not show "scan" progress info.
 -pure     do not list filenames, list only text hits without indent.
           default when specifying a single file as first parameter.
 -verbose  tells in detail what find is actually searching for.
 -nocconv  disable umlaut and accent character conversions during
           output to console. "sfk help opt" for details.
 -firsthit show only first matching result per file.
 -justrc   print nothing to terminal, just set return code.

 pattern support:
    no wildcards or slash patterns are supported, with one exception:
    if you need to find patterns starting with "-" or "+", prefix
    them with backslash \ to avoid misinterpretation as options.

 return codes for batch files
    0 = no matches, 1 = matches found, >1 = major error occurred.
    see also "sfk help opt" on how to influence error processing.

 aliases
    "sfk grep"  is the same as "sfk find".
    "sfk ftext" is the same as "sfk find -text".

 see also
    sfk filter  flexible pattern finding, for text files only.
    sfk hexfind an optimized binary file pattern finder.
    sfk view    a high speed GUI text file search tool. searches
                words as you type, or by clicking on them.

 examples
    sfk find . foo bar include
       search all files in current dir for the words foo+bar+include.
       note that the short form syntax supports one directory name,
       and any number of text patterns, but no file name patterns.

    sfk find -pat text1 text2 -dir src1 src2 -file .cpp .hpp
       searches within the specified directories and file masks.

    sfk list src +find -verbose \-pat \\-foo \+list
       find lines containing words "-pat", "\-foo" and "+list"
       in all files of directory src, with verbose search infos.

    sfk find testfiles class +view
       search "class" within "testfiles", and show results
       interactively in Depeche View ("sfk view" for details).

    sfk filter -+-pat -+\-foo -++list -dir src
       alternative search, done with sfk filter, on textfiles.

    sfk hexfind src /-pat/ /-foo/ /+list/
       alternative search with sfk hexfind. patterns are OR combined.
 
example output:

sfk find testfiles bardriver

testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarDriver.hpp :
   class BarDriver
    BarDriver ( );
    ~BarDriver ( );
testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source\BarDriver.cpp :
   BarDriver::BarDriver( )
   BarDriver::~BarDriver( )
   void BarDriver::runDrawThread( )
testfiles\FooBank\DB\source\DBController.cpp :
   #include "FooBank/BarDriver/include/BarDriver.hpp"
testfiles\FooBank\GUI\source\FooGUI.cpp :
   #include "FooBank/BarDriver/include/BarBottle.hpp"
testfiles\Formats\10-dir-list.txt :
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarBottle.hpp
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarDriver.hpp
   C:\sfk\testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarGlass.hpp
testfiles\Formats\12-foo-jam.txt :
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarBottle.hpp
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarDriver.hpp
   class BarDriver
    BarDriver ( );
    ~BarDriver ( );
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarGlass.hpp
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\include\BarMug.hpp
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source\BarBottle.cpp
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source\BarDriver.cpp
   BarDriver::BarDriver( )
   BarDriver::~BarDriver( )
   void BarDriver::runDrawThread( )
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source\BarGlass.cpp
   testfiles\FooBank\BarDriver\source\BarMug.cpp

see also:

finding classfiles using sfk list, find and alias.

read more about all sfk functions here.