Search Engine

This project is a simple file-based search engine implemented in C++. It allows you to search for text within files located in a specified folder and outputs the results to a text file. You can perform searches either manually or by reading from a query file.

Features

• Manual Search: Enter queries directly in the console.
• File-based Search: Reads queries from a specified file (query.txt).
• Results Output: Outputs the results of each query into answer.txt.

Workflow

Setup Instructions

1. Clone or Download the Repository: Place all project files in a single folder.

2. Modify the Database Folder:

   • Place the files you want the search engine to search through inside this Database folder. Each file should contain text content you want to search within.

Compilation

1. Open a terminal (or command prompt) and navigate to the project folder.

2. Compile the C++ files using the following command:

   g++ search.cpp helperFunction.cpp trie.cpp -o search_engine.exe

3. This will create an executable file named search_engine.exe.

Usage

1. Run the executable by entering:

   search_engine.exe

2. You will be prompted with options:

• Manual Search: Type queries directly in the console.
• File-based Search: The program will read queries from query.txt and search for each query in the files within the Database folder.

3. After the search is complete, check answer.txt for the search results. The file will include each query followed by the filenames and content matches, or a "Not found" message if there are no results.

Output

• answer.txt: This file contains the results of each search query, generated automatically after the program runs.