Searching CHILDES with BBEdit Lite
BBEdit Lite is a freeware program created by BareBones
Software, which is designed for text editing and searching on
Macintoshes. It is both simple and powerful, which makes it a good
candidate for use in searching databases like CHILDES,
without needing extensive computing experience. Particularly useful
features for CHILDES database searches are:
- Multiple file search capabilities
- Easy interface for using powerful 'grep' search syntax
- Results windows allow easy access to contexts for all lines
matching search criteria.
The following pages contain step-by-step instructions for
searching CHILDES files using BBEdit Lite. The final page contains a
(growing) list of suggestions for how to use 'grep' to search for
exactly the information that you need. Any additional suggestions are
greatly appreciated -- please email them to colin@udel.edu.
- Searching multiple files for a
simple letter string
- Narrowing your search: using the
results of a previous search
- Narrowing your search: searching
for complex patterns using 'grep'
- More tips on using grep
Technical tip: if you are using 'grep' to search a file using BBEdit
it is a good idea to first run the 'zap gremlins' command on your
file(s) before running your search. The effect of this is to remove
any null characters -- or other strange animals -- from your files.
If these characters are not removed, then you may find that 'grep'
terminates before searching your entire file. [Thanks to Carson
Schutze (UCLA) for contributing this suggestion.]
Last updated by Colin
Phillips, 4/16/99