Sequence Menu

The Sequence menu lists commands for use with the Sequence panel. See the Sequence reference topic for more information on the Sequence panel itself.

Clear

Removes all steps from the Sequence panel.

Open

Loads a sequence from a PowerGREP Sequence Action file or a sequence with results from a PowerGREP Sequence Results file.

You can quickly reopen a recently opened or saved sequence file by clicking the downward pointing arrow next to the Open button on the Sequence toolbar. Or, you can click the right-pointing arrow next to the Open item in the Sequence menu. A new menu listing the last 16 opened or saved files will appear. Select “Maintain List” to access the last 100 files.

Save

Saves the whole sequence into a PowerGREP Sequence Action file. Any results that may appear on the Sequence panel are not saved. You will be prompted for the file name each time.

Sequence files are appropriate for sequences that you execute repeatedly, in exactly the same way. Sequence files can be executed from the command line. You can even generate them with other applications. Use the Library panel to store boilerplate sequence definitions for later adaptation.

Save Results

This command is only available after you’ve executed the sequence. It saves the whole sequence and the results of all its steps into a PowerGREP Sequence Results file. PowerGREP results files use a special XML-based file format. While you could process the XML file with other applications, the primary purpose of saving results files is to be able to inspect the results in PowerGREP at a later time.

Favorites

If you often open the same files, you should add them to your favorites for quick access. Before you can do so, you need to save the sequence to a file. PowerGREP’s window caption will then indicate the name of the sequence file. Click the downward pointing arrow next to the Favorites button on the Sequence toolbar, or the right-pointing arrow next to the Favorites item in the Sequence menu. Then select “Add Current Sequence” to add the current sequence file to the favorites. Pick a file from the menu to open it.

If you click the Favorites button or menu item directly, a window will pop up where you can organize your sequence favorites. If you have many favorites, you can organize them in folders for easier reference later.

Add to Library

Adds the whole sequence definition as a single item to the PowerGREP Library. Any results that may appear on the Sequence panel are not added to the library.

New Step

Adds a new step to the sequence. The settings on the Action panel are copied to the new step. The settings on the File Selector are not copied to the step. Use the File Selector to Sequence menu item if you want to copy the file selection also.

Delete Step

Removes the selected step from the sequence.

Move Step Up

Moves the selected step one position upwards in the sequence, so it will be executed sooner. Steps are always executed from top to bottom, one after the other.

Move Step Down

Moves the selected step one position downwards in the sequence, so it will be executed later. Steps are always executed from top to bottom, one after the other.

File Selector to Sequence

The File Selector to Sequence item in the Files submenu of the Sequence menu copies the file selection you’ve made in the File Selector to the selected step in the sequence. The selected step will use that file selection next time you execute the sequence.

Open File Selection

The Open File Selection item in the Files submenu of the Sequence menu loads a file selection from a PowerGREP File Selection, Action, or Results file into the selected step in the sequence. The step will use that file selection next time you execute the sequence.

Sequence to File Selector

The Sequence to File Selector item in the Files submenu of the Sequence menu copies the file selection from the selected step in the sequence to the File Selector. If you have already executed the sequence, you will get the file selection that this step actually used, even if you configured the step to use another step’s file selection. If you have not yet executed the sequence, the Sequence to File Selector command is only available for steps that have their own file selection.

Save File Selection

The Save File Selection item in the Files submenu of the Sequence menu saves the the file selection from the selected step in the sequence into a PowerGREP File Selection file. If you have already executed the sequence, this saves the file selection that this step actually used, even if you configured the step to use another step’s file selection. If you have not yet executed the sequence, the Save File Selection command is only available for steps that have their own file selection.

Action to Sequence

The Action to Sequence item in the Action submenu of the Sequence menu copies the settings on the Action panel to the selected step in the sequence. The step will use that action next time you execute the sequence..

Open Action

The Open Action item in the Action submenu of the Sequence menu loads loads an action from a PowerGREP Action or Results file into the selected step in the sequence. The step will use that action next time you execute the sequence.

Sequence to Action

The Sequence to Action item in the Action submenu of the Sequence menu copies the action from the selected step in the sequence to the Action panel.

Save Action

The Save Action item in the Action submenu of the Sequence menu saves the action from the selected step in the sequence into a PowerGREP Action file.

Sequence to Results

The Sequence to Results item in the Results submenu of the Sequence menu copies the results from the selected step in the sequence to the Results panel.

Save Results

The Save Results item in the Results submenu of the Sequence menu saves the file selection, results from the selected step in the sequence into a PowerGREP Results file.

Clear Step Results

The Clear Step Results in the Results submenu of the Sequence menu removes the results for the selected step from the Sequence panel. If a step produced a lot of results that you aren’t interested in, you can clear them to reduce PowerGREP’s memory usage. It’s not necessary to manually clear the results before executing the sequence again.

Clear Sequence Results

The Clear Sequence Results in the Results submenu of the Sequence menu removes the results for the entire sequence from the Sequence panel. If a sequence produced a lot of results that you aren’t interested in, you can clear them to reduce PowerGREP’s memory usage. It’s not necessary to manually clear the results before executing the sequence again.

Preview

Click the Preview button on the Sequence toolbar, or press Alt+F9 on the keyboard, to execute the sequence without creating or modifying any files. Previewing an sequence is always perfectly safe. It will never do anything that you might regret later.

If later steps in the sequence work on files that are modified by earlier steps when executing rather than previewing the sequence, then previewing the sequence does not show the same results. Because the preview did not actually modify the files in the earlier steps, the later steps see the original files rather than the modified files. PowerGREP does not have a feature to preview the effects of modifications made on the same file by multiple steps without actually modifying the file.

Execute

The Execute item in the Sequence menu executes the sequence for real. If the target type of an action in the sequence calls for files to be created or modified, executing the sequence will do so. PowerGREP will show detailed search results on the Results panel.

Quick Execute

The Quick Execute item in the Sequence menu executes the sequence for real, without keeping individual match results. The Results panel will only show how many matches were found in each file. Files will be created or modified according to the target type of each action in the sequence.

Quick Execute is significantly faster than Execute or Preview, and will use far less of your computer’s memory. That’s because it doesn’t have to keep track of each individual match to be able to show you all the details on the Results panel. If you don’t plan to inspect the search results, Quick Execute is the way to go.

When preparing a new sequence that you plan to execute on a large number of files, or some very large files, you should first preview the sequence on just a couple of the files. When you’re confident the sequence works the way it should, expand the file selection to all the files, and use Quick Execute to execute it for real.