[Info-vax] Indexed file read question

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2020-11-19 20:14:57 +0000, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply said:

> I've been using VMS MAIL for almost 30 years.  I have experience with  
> Outlook, Lotus Notes, elm, pine, various web-based email stuff, unix  
> mail, and so on.  VMS MAIL makes stuff I do often easy, some of which 
> might not even be possible with other programs, for example
> 
>    MAIL> 
> DIR/SINCE=<date1>/FROM=<address>/SUB=<subject>/BEF=<date2>/TO=<address2>

For those times when this is required more than once, macOS Mail allows 
"folders" to be established which show only the required combination. 
These "folders" are effectively saved search criteria, a concept which 
doesn't exist in the OpenVMS MAIL tooling. There are other places where 
searches can be saved, including in Finder, the macOS analog to the 
OpenVMS DECwindows FileView app. And when you're live-entering the 
equivalent of your search (subject:subj to:to at example.com 
from:from at example.com, etc) you're offered the opportunity to further 
tailor and to save that search for future use. This syntax isn't used 
very often within macOS Mail, but it does exist.

In addition to macOS Mail and its saved searches, here's how to 
configure  saved searches on Microsoft Office on Mac and on Windows:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/save-a-search-by-using-a-smart-folder-in-outlook-for-mac-fd86c4dc-8fc3-495e-8a28-5f670ebfa393 

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/set-windows-smart-folders-saving-searches/

macOS Spotlight search is far more flexible than are SEARCH-based and 
DIRECTORY-based searches, and Spotlight is available both in the 
graphical interface and at the command line. And can be scripted.

mdfind is part of the command-line interface for Spotlight: 
https://ss64.com/osx/mdfind.html

Spotlight and searching capabilities are among the features that I miss 
the most when working with OpenVMS. The SEARCH-related commands and 
DIRECTORY-based search commands are just... so... slow...

As for your preferences here? You do not need to justify what works for 
you. Or what music you happen to prefer. Not at all. That's entirely 
your call.

-- 
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