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I would like a PDF viewer that I can search documents with using regular expressions. Is there such a thing? I've tried PowerGrep, but it doesn't have a graphical viewer and its interface is a little heavy for my users.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration Iain

Iain Fraser
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5 Answers5

6

Yes there is. Agent Ransack This software can search through directories of files of most formats and takes REGEX too.

Gutsygibbon
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4

The closest I have ever found for this is a package called the PDF Search Assistant. The website looks dodgy I admit but the software actually works very well and does allow regex across multiple files.

It's not free or cheap however and I haven't needed to do this in some time so I am not aware of anything newer.

BinaryMisfit
  • 20,879
4

Windows

With regex search:

Without regex search:

Other:

  • grepWin, it supports regex, but doesn't support PDF files yet.

Linux

Without regex search:

  • pdfgrep (no GUI, available via apt-get)

    Example regex usage: (e )?Universit[yä])@Claudius

Related question: Is there any pdf reader that supports word searching with regular expression?

kenorb
  • 26,615
2

pdfgrep still exists and is packaged for Debian. However, it doesn’t have a graphical user interface.

Claudius
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1

dngrep - GREP for Windows is said to be able to search PDF documents via plug-in.

harrymc
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