JPH067400Y2 - File search device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a file search device of an information processing device having a hierarchical file system.

"Prior Art" In an information processing device such as a computer system, a large amount of information is stored in a magnetic disk device or the like in a file format. Although various methods are known as this file management method, many of them employ a hierarchical file system.

For example, in a system shared by a large number of users, each user sets a file system having a hierarchical structure under the system under its own unique user name. Hereinafter, this unique user name will be referred to as the desktop. Hierarchical files are, for example, desktop (Taro) / accounting / accounts receivable ledger, and a file used for the job under the user name desktop. A file that is associated with a tree, such as a file.

“Problems to be solved by the device” Here, for example, as shown in FIG.
Consider a case where an image 12 stored in another image file is to be inserted into a predetermined area 11 therein while creating an appropriate document using the document file 10.

In this case, the user specifies the image file name and calls it.

In response to the call request, the information processing apparatus side starts the search for the designated image file from the hierarchical file system.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the file system has a folder 14 and a document 1 directly below the desktop 13.
5, images 16, other types of files 17, images 16, folders 14, etc. belong, and 2 of them
It is assumed that the individual holder 14 also has a complicated hierarchical structure in which the image 16, the holder 14, the holder 14, the image 16, the image 16, the holder 14, and the like belong. A file and the like belong to each holder, which corresponds to a directory. Conventionally, when searching for a specific image file from among these, the search is carried out in an appropriate order from the file directly under the desktop 13. However, this also lengthens the search time depending on the position of the searched file in the system, which imposes a heavy load on the system.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a file search device capable of efficiently and quickly searching a specified file in such a file system having a complicated hierarchical structure. That is the purpose.

"Means for Solving Problems" A file search device of the present invention comprises a memory storing a file management program for the file system search,
A directory-specific search completion flag memory for temporarily storing a searched directory name, a directory-specific search completion flag memory for storing a flag for identifying a directory for which a search has been completed and a directory for which a search has not been completed,
The control device controls the execution of the file search process. When the second file to be merged with the first file is designated, the control device sets the directory to which the first file belongs as the searched directory and stores the directory name in the searched directory instruction memory. The file is stored and the file belonging to the searched directory is compared with the second file name according to the file management program to execute the file search. On the other hand, when further searching the files belonging to the directory belonging to the searched directory, the contents of the searched directory instruction memory are rewritten to this directory. When the search is completed for either directory,
Search completion by directory While each file memory is flagged to identify the directory for which the search has been completed, each file in the file system is searched until the second file is found.

"Operation" The file search device described above, for the first file,
If there is a request to merge the second file, first
The search is started using the directory to which the first file belongs as the searched directory. This is because the searched files usually belong to this directory in most cases. For directories belonging to the searched directory, the search is advanced to the files belonging to the directory. In this way, as the search proceeds, one directory is not completely searched and another directory is searched for. Therefore, the searched directory is clarified by the searched directory instruction memory, and a flag is set to identify the directory for which the search is completed. The flag is stored in the search completion file memory for each directory.

In this way, while checking the searched directory indication memory and the directory-specific search completion file memory,
For example, if you search files or directories in alphabetical order, all files can be searched automatically. Also, if you do this, the search speed will be faster,
Moreover, it is possible to shorten the time required to find the target file.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the file search apparatus of the present invention.

This device comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 1, a file management program ROM (read only memory) 2,
The search target directory instruction memory 3, the image processing program ROM 4, the directory-specific search completion flag memory 5, the disk device 6, the keyboard 7, and the display 8 are provided.

The central processing unit 1 is a circuit composed of a microprocessor or the like for controlling the file search operation of the present invention, and this circuit will be hereinafter referred to as the control unit 1.

The file management program ROM2 is a memory element such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores a file management program for the file system search.

The searched directory instruction memory 3 is also a memory element such as a random access memory for temporarily storing the searched directory name.

It should be noted that these memory elements are not necessarily composed of separate elements and may be a part of a memory for storing various parameters of the device.

The image processing program ROM 4 is a memory that stores an image displayed on the display 8, a merged image, and a control program for outputting an image signal to a printer (not shown).

The directory-specific search completion flag memory 5 stores a flag for identifying a directory for which a search has been completed and a directory for which a search has not been completed. Here, the search is completed means that all the files and directories belonging to the directory have been searched. The fact that the directory belonging to that directory, that is, the child directory has completed the search means that the search has also been completed for the files and the like belonging to the child directory.

The disk device 6 is a device that drives a hard disk or the like that stores files processed by this device.

The keyboard 7 is a known device that is operated when the operator gives an instruction to search a file. The display 8 is a CRT display or the like, and is a device that displays the contents of a file processed by an operator and functions as a so-called man-machine interface that displays various messages and the like.

It is assumed that the operator creates the appropriate document by displaying the document file 10 on the display 8 as shown in FIG.

Here, when the operator wants to insert the image 12 stored in another image file into the predetermined area 11 in the document, the operator specifies the image file name and calls it.

Upon receiving this call, the control device 1 reads the file management program from the file management program ROM 2 and starts its execution.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the file system under the desktop used by the operator at this time.

In this file system, three holders ABC belong to the bottom of the desktop, one document file D and two holders E and F belong to one of the holders A, and one of the holders Below E, a holder G, an image file H, and a document file J belong. Under the holder G, two image files L and M belong.

The image file K belongs to the holder F belonging to the holder A, and the image file N belongs to the holder B.
Belongs to. Hereinafter, description of files and the like belonging to the holder C will be omitted.

In the case of this embodiment, the operator uses the document file D
Is displayed on the display 8 and is being processed, and an instruction to merge the image file K with this document file D is given.

The contents of the file management program executed by the control device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the document file is displayed on the display 8 (step). Next, the search target file name is specified, and merge is specified (step).

In response to this, the control device 1 sets the directory (holder A in FIG. 2) to which the document file belongs as the searched directory and stores the name in the searched directory instruction memory 3 (step).

Next, first, it is checked whether or not there is an image file or directory in the searched directory (step). This is because if no files or the like have been created under that directory, the search is moved to another directory.

If there is a file or the like belonging to the searched directory, the searched file is searched according to the following rules.

First, the names of files and directories belonging to the searched directory are arranged in alphabetical order. In this case, if there is a file or directory with the same name, the one with the latest generation date will be the search target. This is because when the file is updated with the same name, the newer one is normally used.

Referring to FIG. 2, since the directory to which the document file D handled by the operator belongs is the holder A, the name of the holder A is stored in the searched directory instruction memory 3. Then, the collation proceeds in the order of the holder E and the holder F.

The holder E is taken out first, but this is
Not a file. Therefore, if this is determined to be a directory (step), the searched directory is rewritten to the directory name, that is, the holder E (step).

In the next step ,,, the holder G under the holder E,
The search for the image file H and the document file J is started.

Again, since the holder G was first taken out, the name of the searched directory is rewritten to the holder G (step,).

An image file L and an image file M belong to this holder D. The step procedure is repeated twice in order to match both with the searched file name. As a result, if the desired file is not found (step), it is confirmed that the search of the current directory is completed (step), and the parent directory in which the search is not completed is returned (step).

For this purpose, the immediately upper directory may be set as the searched directory again. In some cases, the immediately upper directory has already completed the search. This identifies the directory for which the search is completed by setting a flag for displaying it in the directory-specific search completion flag memory 5. When the flag is set, the upper directory is set as the searched directory.

Returning to the example of FIG. 2, after the search of the holder G is completed, the searched directory name is rewritten to the holder E.
Then, the image file H and the document file J are to be collated by the procedure described above. Since the file to be searched is an image file, this document file J is not actually a collation target. Therefore, when the collation with the image file H is completed, the search for the holder E is completed.

Next, the searched directory is rewritten to the holder A (step,). Then, the unsearched holder F is taken out and the searched directory is rewritten to the holder F again (step).

Since the image file K belonging to the folder F matches the searched file, the search is completed (step) after the searched file is found (step), and the found image file is merged with the document file being processed. Execute the process (step).

With this, the search is completed, and the search for the holders B and C is not performed thereafter.

[Advantage of Device] According to the file search device of the present invention described above, since the search is first started from the directory to which the document file being processed belongs, the probability of finding the search target file early is high. This is because a file to be merged or the like usually belongs to the same directory as the file being processed or a directory below it.

In the above embodiment, the files and directories are treated equally and the search is proceeded uniformly in alphabetical order. However, when there are files and directories belonging to the same directory, the files are searched preferentially. However, it has the effect of speeding up the discovery of the searched file.

Further, in the search, the searched directory instruction memory and the directory-specific search completion flag memory are used so that the search is advanced while rewriting these contents, so that the processing can be carried out extremely efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a file search device,
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a file system suitable for implementation of the file search device, FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the file search device, and FIG. 4 is an explanation showing a procedure of a file merge request. 5 and 5 are explanatory views showing an example of a hierarchical file system. 1 ... Control device, 2 ... File management program ROM, 3 ... Search target directory instruction memory, 5 ... Directory-specific search completion flag memory.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A memory having a hierarchical file system, a memory storing a file management program for searching the file system, a searched directory instruction memory for temporarily storing a searched directory name, and a directory for which a search has been completed. And a search completion flag memory for each directory for storing a flag for identifying a directory for which the search has not been completed, and a control device for controlling execution of the file search process. When the second file to be merged is designated, the directory to which the first file belongs is set as the searched directory and its directory name is stored in the searched directory instruction memory. Searched Direct When searching for a file belonging to the searched directory while searching for a file belonging to the searched directory, the file to be searched is searched for the directory to be searched. The contents of the memory are rewritten to this directory, and when the search is completed for any of the directories, the second file is created while setting a flag for identifying the directory for which the search has been completed in the directory-specific search completion file memory. A file search device characterized by executing a search for each file in a file system until it is found.