An 'ID database' is a binary file containing a list of file names, a list of tokens, and a sparse matrix indicating which tokens appear in which files.
With this database and some tools to query it, many text-searching tasks
become simpler and faster.
For example, you can list all files that
reference a particular `#include' file throughout a huge source hierarchy,
search for all the memos containing references to a project, or
automatically invoke an editor on all files containing references to some
function or variable.
Anyone with a large software project to maintain, or
a large set of text files to organize, can benefit from the ID utilities.
Although the name `ID' is short for `identifier', the ID utilities handle more than just identifiers; they also treat other kinds of tokens, most notably numeric constants, and the contents of certain character strings.
You can obtain the GNU idutils using one of the following methods:
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/idutils/ [via HTTP]
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/idutils/ [via FTP]
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.gnu.org:/sources/idutils co idutils [via anonymous CVS]
A recent CVS build is also available on GNU sites and mirrors.
The official GNU idutils manual is available here: http://www.gnu.org/software/idutils/manual/
Return to GNU's home page.
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. There are also other ways to contact the FSF.
Please send comments on these web pages to webmasters@www.gnu.org, send other questions to gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright (C) 1998, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated: $Date: 2006/08/05 08:20:36 $ $Author: sick_soul $