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+* Lisp Metadata Importer, a Spotlight Plugin.

+  

+fiddlerwoaroof's note: I took this code from

+http://lemonodor.com/archives/001232.html and cleaned it up to work

+with modern OS X/macOS: I removed AGRegex and just use

+NSRegularExpression and made other minor tweaks to get it to build and

+run on High Sierrra

+

+This importer plugin indexes files with .lisp, .lsp and .cl extensions

+using the Spotlight search engine that was introduced by Apple in OS X

+10.4.  You might notice that even before you install this plugin that

+some of your Lisp files have already been indexed by Spotlight. It is

+possible that something on your system set the type of some files as

+“TEXT”, in which case the default Spotlight text indexer will process

+the files. This only happens on a file-by-file basis, though, whereas

+the Lisp Metadata Importer instructs the system to index all files

+with the extensions listed above, regardless of whether or not the

+system already thinks they’re text files. The Lisp importer also does

+some Lisp-specific indexing that you might find more useful than the

+default text indexing.

+

+* How do I install it?

+

+Copy the Lisp Metadata Importer.mdimporter file into the

+/Library/Spotlight folder.

+

+* How do I uninstall it?

+

+Remove the Lisp Metadata Importer.mdimporter file from the

+/Library/Spotlight folder.

+

+* How do I test it once it is installed?

+

+Try indexing a single Lisp file using the mdimport command. When you

+run mdimport with the –d1 flag it will tell you which plugin it’s

+using, if any, to index the file. You should see a reference to the

+Lisp Metadata Importer.mdimporter file.  Once you’ve run mdimport, use

+the mdls command to look at the metadata associated with the file. The

+important things to look for are that the kMDItemContentType is

+“com.lemonodor.lisp-source”, and that there are some attributes with

+names that begin with “org_lisp”, like “org_lisp_defmacros” or

+“org_lisp_defuns”.

+

+#+BEGIN_SRC sh

+  lem:~ $ mdimport -d1 variables.lisp

+  2005-09-15 12:05:55.493 mdimport[6962] Import '/Users/wiseman/variables.lisp' type

+  'com.lemonodor.lisp-source' using

+  'file://localhost/Library/Spotlight/Lisp%20Metadata%20Importer.mdimporter/'

+                 lem:~ $ mdls variables.lisp

+  variables.lisp -------------

+  kMDItemAttributeChangeDate     = 2005-09-08 11:30:18 -0700

+  kMDItemContentCreationDate     = 2005-09-02 17:41:07 -0700

+  kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2005-09-02 17:41:08 -0700

+  kMDItemContentType             = "com.lemonodor.lisp-source"

+  kMDItemContentTypeTree         = (

+      "com.lemonodor.lisp-source",

+      "public.source-code",

+      "public.plain-text",

+      "public.text",

+      "public.data",

+      "public.item",

+                                       "public.content"

+  )

+  kMDItemDisplayName             = "variables.lisp"

+  # and on and on, until finally...

+              org_lisp_defclasses

+  org_lisp_defgenerics

+  org_lisp_definitions

+      foo,

+      "(setf foo)",

+      "oh-noe",

+      "*oh-no*",

+      "*hee-ho*",

+      "+thing+",

+      "i-dont-think-so",

+      "BRAIN-CELL",

+      "(RAT-BRAIN-CELL",

+      attack,

+      attack,

+      "(setf mood)",

+      "(setf mood)"

+  )

+  org_lisp_defmacros

+  org_lisp_defmethods

+  org_lisp_defstructs

+  org_lisp_defuns

+  org_lisp_defvars

+  = ("i-dont-think-so")

+  = (attack, "(setf mood)", "(setf mood)")

+  = (

+                                    = ("oh-noe")

+  = (attack, "(setf mood)")

+  = ("BRAIN-CELL", "RAT-BRAIN-CELL")

+  = (foo, "(setf foo)")

+  = ("*oh-no*", "*hee-ho*", "+thing+")

+#+END_SRC

+

+If you see those attributes then the importer is working correctly.

+If the importer doesn’t seem to be working and you’ve double checked

+to make sure you copied it to the correct folder, try the mdimport –r

+trick in the next question & answer; it’s the equivalent of kicking a

+malfunctioning jukebox.

+

+* How do I index all my Lisp files?

+

+Use mdimport again, this time with the –r flag, and passing it the

+path to the Lisp plugin.

+

+#+BEGIN_SRC sh

+  lem:~ $ mdimport -r /Library/Spotlight/Lisp\ Metadata\ Importer.mdimporter/

+  2005-09-15 12:41:38.650 mdimport[7169] Asking server to reimport files with UTIs: (

+      "dyn.ah62d4rv4ge8024pxsa",

+      "com.lemonodor.lisp-source",

+      "dyn.ah62d4rv4gq81k3p2su11uppqrf31appxr741e25f",

+      "dyn.ah62d4rv4ge80265u",

+      "dyn.ah62d4rv4ge80g5a"

+  )

+#+END_SRC

+

+* What exactly is being indexed?

+The Lisp metadata importer indexes the definitions contained in a

+file. This includes functions, macros, classes, methods, generic

+functions, structures, defvars, defparameters and defconstants. It

+also includes any object FOO defined by a form that looks like

+(“defsomething FOO ...)”. In addition to definitions, the entire

+contents of the file are indexed for full text queries.

+

+* How do I search for something?

+The GUI way is to hit Command-F in the finder to bring up a Find

+window. Click on one one of the attributes and select “Other...”. to

+see a list of other attributes: Choose one of the Lisp importer’s

+attributes from the list that comes up (you can type “lisp” into the

+search field on the upper right to filter out the non-Lisp

+attributes):

+Now enter the text you’d like to search for and watch the matching

+files appear:

+Some people have reported that the Lisp-specific attributes weren’t

+available in the Find dialog until they re-launched the Finder (to

+re-launch the finder, hit Command-Option-Esc and then select the

+Finder in the “Force Quit Applications” dialog that pops up).  The

+non-GUI way to do Spotlight searches is to use the mdfind command. I

+did this the other day when someone on IRC asked how to do

+search-and-replace on a string. I knew I had written a function to do

+that, but I couldn’t remember which project the code was in.  (It

+turned out I had a couple implementations lying around.)

+The Spotlight query language used by mdfind is documented online by

+Apple.

+

+* What are the attributes I can search on and where do they come from in the Lisp file?

+

+The following metadata attributes are defined by the Lisp Metadata Importer:

+

+           | Metadata Attribute   | Defining Forms                          |

+           |----------------------+-----------------------------------------|

+           | org_lisp_defuns      | defun                                   |

+           | org_lisp_defmacros   | defmacro                                |

+           | org_lisp_defclasses  | defclass                                |

+           | org_lisp_defgeneric  | defgeneric                              |

+           | org_lisp_defmethod   | defmethod                               |

+           | org_lisp_defstructs  | defstruct                               |

+           | org_lisp_defvars     | defvar, defparameter, defconstant       |

+           | org_lisp_definitions | Anything defined with a “(def...” form. |

+           |----------------------+-----------------------------------------|

+

+In addition, the importer sets the kMDItemTextContent attribute to be

+the entire contents of the file, so you can do full text searches.

+

+* What shortcuts did you take?

+

+Here are a few I can think of:

+- The importer only indexes definition forms that are at the beginning of a line.

+- It has a very simple, limited concept of symbol names and Lisp reader syntax, so it can easily become confused.

+- I shouldn’t really use the org_lisp prefix for attribute names.

+- I should try to coordinate with the people writing plugins for Ruby, Python and other languages so we can come up with a common set of source code metadata attributes.

+

+* Who should you thank?

+Justin Wight, Pierre Mai, Ralph Richard Cook and Bryan O’Connor all helped me to some extent. Thanks, guys!