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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

2
  • sounds like there's still a vacuum to fill :-(
    – Jason S
    Nov 21, 2012 at 23:55
  • why is this closed?
    – user313032
    Aug 6, 2021 at 4:24

5 Answers 5

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+50

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

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  • 1
    This has been renamed as FileLocator Lite, there is also a paid Pro version.
    – alimack
    Aug 23, 2017 at 9:21
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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.

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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?

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  • regexp (for example, (e )?Universit[yä]) search works quite well for me in pdfgrep version 1.3.0.
    – Claudius
    Nov 22, 2012 at 16:36
  • Anything for Android?
    – pevik
    Aug 22, 2017 at 10:30
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pdfgrep still exists and is packaged for Debian. However, it doesn’t have a graphical user interface.

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    sudo apt-get install pdfgrep
    – kenorb
    Nov 22, 2012 at 15:53
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dngrep - GREP for Windows is said to be able to search PDF documents via plug-in.

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    It doesn't need a plugin as far as I see.
    – Foad
    Dec 11, 2018 at 11:58

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