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how to search agilent chemstation sequence files

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:51 pm
by FlavorsYum
Is there a utility/macro available to search all sequence files within the chemstation sequence folder for text strings in the sample name? I am no chemstation expert, but I couldn't find this feature in my 2003-version of Chemstation...

Thanks for any help.

Re: how to search agilent chemstation sequence files

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:31 pm
by Steve Reimer
You can search the sequence folder using Windows Explorer (easy in Win7) for the text string in either the file name or in the sequnce files themselves.

Re: how to search agilent chemstation sequence files

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:40 pm
by FlavorsYum
Maybe I am missing something. when I try to open the sequence files with a text editor (say notepad) the files are not just ascii text - they are encoded somehow. I can search using the Windows explorer search function but it doesn't decode the file contents. Works fine for strings in the sequence file names, but not for text embedded in the sample description field within the sequence file.

I am running Windows XP and an older version of chromstation. Not sure it matters.

Re: how to search agilent chemstation sequence files

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:15 pm
by Steve Reimer
It may not work in XP, sorry I don't have an old system to try it on.
In Win7, the .S files can be searched for text strings but since they aren't .txt files the formatting will be screwed up a bit, tabs show up as special characters. It may be necessary to index the folders first. When typing in a text string in the search box (for the .S files) separate the letters with underscores (_).
I haven't searched nontext files in XP so I can't help there.