Query your Google Drive with a Go command-line tool
Programming Snapshot – Google Drive Search Tool

© Lead Image © Alphaspirit, 123RF.com
To help him check his Google Drive files with three different pattern matchers, Mike builds a command-line tool in Go to maintain a meta cache.
My digital library of scanned paper books is stashed away as PDF files in an account on Google Drive. So far, Google has done an exemplary job of keeping my data available, but I just can't make friends with their search interface. In typical Google style, the browser shows you a search field that can be used to quickly browse the indexed full text of all the files in all the folders. However, getting a simple answer to the question of whether I already have a certain book in my archive is more difficult. To do this, I have to select the file names only and restrict the search to specific folders.
Fortunately, though, Google provides an intuitive API [1] to access user data in the Google Drive cloud. For quick checks, a command-line tool comes in handy. While we're at it, it's worth taking a trip into the world of pattern matchers, of which there are, as we all know, a wide variety. For example, the shell relies on a glob mechanism for matching, while programming languages typically rely on regular expressions (regexes). And sometimes, a simple string matcher like the grep
command is the most practical solution.
Parallel Regex Worlds
If you type ls *.jpg
on the command line, you expect the shell's match mechanism to find all files with a .jpg
extension. This pattern matching is fundamentally different from Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) [2] used in programming languages. Funnily enough, they originated with the Perl scripting language many years ago, but all modern languages from Python to Java and C++ to Go support them as well.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
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
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.
-
System76 Refreshes Meerkat Mini PC
If you're looking for a small form factor PC powered by Linux, System76 has exactly what you need in the Meerkat mini PC.
-
Gnome 48 Alpha Ready for Testing
The latest Gnome desktop alpha is now available with plenty of new features and improvements.
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.
-
Linux Kernel 6.13 Offers Improvements for AMD/Apple Users
The latest Linux kernel is now available, and it includes plenty of improvements, especially for those who use AMD or Apple-based systems.
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.