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search-helpers

README.md

Search Helpers

Nemo's file and content search utilizes a plugin-type system to allow content search for additional file types.

The only requirements for a helper is the ability to extract text from a given file type and print it to stdout. A definition file provides details necessary to use the helper.

Example definition file (note: text/plain support is built-in to nemo, this is only to illustrate):
[Nemo Search Helper]
TryExec=cat
Exec=cat %s
MimeType=text/plain;
Priority=100

The Nemo Search Helper group name is mandatory.

  • The filename must end in .nemo_search_helper.
  • TryExec should be a list executables required. When the helpers are loaded, Nemo will check that the program(s) a) exist and b) are executable. If these checks fail, the helper will be skipped. If only a program name is provided, it must exist in the user's path. This can also be an absolute path.
  • Exec should provide the full command line necessary to extract the text from the file. The %s argument will be replaced by the file name being processed during content search. Note, uris are not supported, only paths (local files).
  • MimeTypeis a semicolon (;)-separated list of mimetypes that this search helper should be used with. It should be semicolon-terminated (even if there's only a single item).
  • Priority is a value used to break a tie when multiple helpers support the same mimetype. The higher value wins. In the event of a tie, the last helper processed is used (the order of files processed is undefined). If the Priority entry is missing, the value is assumed to be 100.
  • The TryExec, Exec and MimeType keys are mandatory.

These definition files can be placed in <datadir>/nemo/search-helpers where <datadir> can be some directory in XDG_DATA_DIRS or under the user's data directory (~/.local/share/namo/search-helpers). The user directory is always processed last.

Debugging:

If something doesn't seem to be working, you can run nemo with debugging enabled:

NEMO_DEBUG=Search nemo --debug

This will print out a bit of extra information related to searches.