search using a regex pattern and link the resulting files into a directory

.searchrc

#!/bin/sh

export SEARCH_PATH=${SEARCH_PATH:-../source}
export USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS=${USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS:-true}
export DELETE_FOLDER=${DELETE_FOLDER:-true}

add.sh

#!/bin/sh

alias words=./words.sh
alias search=~/bin/search

echo "search results folder:" $(search $(words -f $@))

if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "command added:" $(echo "search \$(words -f $@)" | tee -a searches.sh)
fi

search.sh

#!/bin/sh

set -o errexit -o pipefail -o noclobber

default_results_directory=${SEARCH_RESULTS_DIRECTORY:-./_search-results}
default_search_path=./

usage() {
  cmd=$(basename $0)
  echo search using a regex pattern and link the resulting files into a directory
  echo
  echo usage:
  echo "    $cmd [-n] regex_pattern" \
    [search_path = \"$default_search_path\"] \
    [results_directory = \"$default_results_directory\"]
  echo
  echo switches:
  echo '  * `-n` - dry run: terminates the program before making changes ' \
                  'to the file system'
  echo
  echo examples:
  echo "  * \`$cmd '(kitty|cat)' ./photos ./cat-pics\`"
  echo '     (searches for files inside ./photos containing "kitty" or "cat"' \
             'and puts them into ./cat-pics)'
  echo "  * \`cd \$($cmd '.mp4$')\`"
  echo '     (searches for files ending with .mp4, puts them in a' \
             'folder and enters it)'
  echo
  echo variables:
  echo '  * `USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS=true`'
  echo '     declares that the pattern can be used as the results' \
            'directory name as a fallback'
  echo '  * `DELETE_FOLDER=true`'
  echo '     declares that the results_directory should be delete and' \
            're-created'
  echo '  * `DEBUG=true`'
  echo '     output more debug info to stderr'
  echo '  * `SEARCH_PATH`'
  echo '     allows the omission of the search_path argument and uses this' \
            'environment variable instead'
  echo
  echo output:
  echo '    relative path to the search results directory.' \
           'outputs the results_directory argument as-is'
  echo
  echo function:
  echo '    `find -E $search_path -type f -regex ".*$regex_pattern.*"' \
              '-exec ln -s ../{} $results_directory \;`'
  exit
}

debug() {
  if [ "$DEBUG" == true ]; then
    echo $@ >&2
  fi
}

if [ $1 == '-n' ]; then
  dry=true
  shift
fi

if [ -f .searchrc ]; then
  . .searchrc
fi

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  usage
fi

debug "[debug] USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS=$USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS"
debug "[debug] DELETE_FOLDER=$DELETE_FOLDER"
debug "[debug] DEBUG=$DEBUG"
debug "[debug] SEARCH_PATH=$SEARCH_PATH"
debug

regex_pattern=$1

if [ -z "$3" ] && [ ! -z "$SEARCH_PATH" ]; then
  debug [warn] detected custom SEARCH_PATH environment variable!
  debug [info] using second argument as results_directory.
  search_path="$SEARCH_PATH"
  results_directory="$2"
else
  search_path="$2"
  results_directory="$3"
fi

if [ -z "$results_directory" ] && [ "$USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS" = true ]; then
  debug [warn] detected environment variable USE_PATTERN_AS_RESULTS!
  debug [info] using pattern \"$regex_pattern\" as search results directory name.
  results_directory=$regex_pattern
fi

# use defaults in case everything else failed
search_path=${search_path:-$default_search_path}
results_directory=${results_directory:-$default_results_directory}

debug
debug "[debug] search_path=$search_path"
debug "[debug] regex_pattern=$regex_pattern"
debug "[debug] results_directory=$results_directory"

if [ "$dry" == true ]; then
  debug [info] dry run is set. exiting
  exit 0
fi

if [ "$DELETE_FOLDER" = true ]; then
  rm -rf $results_directory
fi

mkdir -p $results_directory

find -E $(realpath $search_path) -type f -regex ".*$regex_pattern.*" \
  -exec ln -s {} $results_directory \;

echo $results_directory

searches.sh

#!/bin/sh

alias words=./words.sh
alias search=~/bin/search.sh

search $(words -f cat)

words.sh

#!/bin/sh

if [ $1 == '-f' ]; then
  output_folder_name=true
  shift
fi

word_delimiters='[-]'
word_prefix="(^|$word_delimiters)"
word_suffix="($word_delimiters|$)"

# (^|[-])(oida|foida)([-]|$)
export PATTERN="$word_prefix($(echo $@ | tr ' ' '|'))$word_suffix"
export FOLDER_NAME=$(echo $@ | tr ' ' '-')

if [ "$output_folder_name" = true ]; then
  echo "$PATTERN $FOLDER_NAME"
else
  echo $PATTERN
fi