I have never used Perl, but I am really impressed by the ack, which I would like to use for source code searching, etc.
Can anyone guide me of how to make use of this excellent library on Windows?
I have never used Perl, but I am really impressed by the ack, which I would like to use for source code searching, etc.
Can anyone guide me of how to make use of this excellent library on Windows?
Start by installing perl http://strawberryperl.com/
Install App::Ack by typing (in a windows command shell)
C:\>cpan App::Ack
And undoubtedly this will prove useful http://learn.perl.org/
If you already have msysgit installed, then you don't need to install Perl, because you already have a version. You just need to download the standalone version of ack and put it somewhere in your bash path1. You can then run ack from your msysgit bash prompt.
If you also want to be able to run ack from the Windows command prompt, then you will need to create a batch script somewhere in your Windows path2 with the contents:
@"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\perl" C:\path\to\ack-standalone.pl %*
(You'll obviously need to edit the paths above to match your msysgit installation and where you placed the ack script.)
1: I just stuck mine in the mysysgit bin directory: C:\Program Files\Git\bin\ack. This isn't the most sensible location for it, but it works.
2: Again, I just created the file ack.bat in the msysgit bin directory C:\Program File\Git\bin.
You should also run the following command to enable color highlights: cpan Win32::Console::ANSI
Nothing worked for me, until I went to the ack website and saw this.
And I ran the following command in cmd prompt:
choco install ack