Searching Through Multiple Epub files at once

Giantcrab · 09-24-2012, 02:30 PM

Hello,

I wasn't really quite sure where to put this, but I had a question about searching.

I have a large collection of cookbooks, and would like to be able to search within each of them simultaneously for an ingredient. For example, if I'd like to cook chicken, I'd like to be able to search through my collection for each mention of the word chicken in each of the cookbooks without opening each one individually.

Is this possible? So far as I can tell, Calibre only searches through the metadata. If it's not possible, what would be the easiest method in which to accomplish this?

Thanks!

Adoby · 09-24-2012, 02:48 PM

An ePub is essentially a zip file. To search inside it you have to unzip it one way or another first. As far as I know Calibre doesn't handle this. There might be a plugin?

One possible trick could be to convert each cookbook to plain text an then grep for "chicken" inside the text files. Not very elegant, but it should work.

You could keep the text files in Calibre along with the original ePubs and use for instance wingrep (if you are a windows user) to search. The results should tell you which cookbooks to look in.

kiwidude · 09-24-2012, 02:52 PM

@GiantCrab - welcome to MobileRead.

Use the Quality Check plugin, it has a "Search ePubs" feature.

Giantcrab · 09-24-2012, 03:15 PM

Cool, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

ownedbycats · 04-19-2023, 07:20 PM

Also, the Everything I know of doesn't search file contents.

jmurphy · 04-19-2023, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Also, the Everything I know of doesn't search file contents.

um....

https://www.voidtools.com/support/ev...tent_searching

ownedbycats · 04-19-2023, 07:37 PM

I... did not know that feature existed. That will be helpful for future.

09-24-2012, 02:30 PM	#1
Giantcrab Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: HP Touchpad	Searching Through Multiple Epub files at once Hello, I wasn't really quite sure where to put this, but I had a question about searching. I have a large collection of cookbooks, and would like to be able to search within each of them simultaneously for an ingredient. For example, if I'd like to cook chicken, I'd like to be able to search through my collection for each mention of the word chicken in each of the cookbooks without opening each one individually. Is this possible? So far as I can tell, Calibre only searches through the metadata. If it's not possible, what would be the easiest method in which to accomplish this? Thanks!

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09-24-2012, 02:48 PM	#2
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,736 Karma: 26785668 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Thinkpad E595, Ubuntu Mate, Huawei Mediapad 5, Bouye Likebook Plus	An ePub is essentially a zip file. To search inside it you have to unzip it one way or another first. As far as I know Calibre doesn't handle this. There might be a plugin? One possible trick could be to convert each cookbook to plain text an then grep for "chicken" inside the text files. Not very elegant, but it should work. You could keep the text files in Calibre along with the original ePubs and use for instance wingrep (if you are a windows user) to search. The results should tell you which cookbooks to look in.

09-24-2012, 02:52 PM	#3
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,637 Karma: 2162064 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	@GiantCrab - welcome to MobileRead. Use the Quality Check plugin, it has a "Search ePubs" feature.

09-24-2012, 03:15 PM	#4
Giantcrab Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: HP Touchpad	Cool, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

04-19-2023, 07:20 PM	#5
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 8,618 Karma: 61176603 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Also, the Everything I know of doesn't search file contents.

04-19-2023, 07:37 PM	#7
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 8,618 Karma: 61176603 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	I... did not know that feature existed. That will be helpful for future.