Indexing and searching text with Lucene
Smart Search
Even state-of-the-art computers need to use clever methods to process ever-increasing amounts of document data. The open source Lucene framework uses inverted indexing for fast searches of document collections.
Nowadays, almost any commercially available hard drive can store more text than a whole library. In the digital world, a traditional system such as a card catalog or a knowledgeable librarian is no longer adequate to help find the right shelf. Even software equivalents such as find or zgrep are not always fast enough to track a particular piece of information amongst giga- or terabytes of data.
The science that deals with this type of search problem is called information retrieval. Computer scientists have developed sophisticated methods for tracking down files that users don’t even know exist. The free Java library Lucene implements some of these methods. Doug Cutting published an early version of Lucene in 1999. Two years later, the project, which carries the middle name of Cutting’s wife, came under the auspices of the Apache Foundation when it joined the Apache Jakarta Project. Lucene has been available in Version 4.0 since October 2012. The index file structures are backward compatible, so the transition from 3.6 to 4.0 does not cause any problems. Over the years, Lucene has become one of the most widely used solutions for indexing and searching text. (See the box titled “Lucene In All Its Facets.”)
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Gnome Fans Everywhere Rejoice for the Latest Release
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.