Searching through multiple annotation files
Elan offers an option to search for an expression through multiple files. To access
it, go to Search > Search multiple eaf… This will open the
following dialog box:
Figure 7.13. Searching through multiple annotation files
In order to perform a multiple file search, go through the following steps:
- Click on
Define search domain
and do one of the following:
- Select an existing domain from the list and click
Load. (Click Delete if you
want to delete the domain.)
- Create a new domain:
- Click New Domain...
- Click in the new dialog on the Look in pull
down box and browse to the directory that contains the annotation
files.
- Double-click an annotation file (
*.eaf
) to
select it. It now appears in the rightmost box. Alternatively, you can
click on the annotation file name and click the
>> button.
Repeat this for every annotation file you want to include.
It is also possible to select a complete directory. All
.eaf
files in a selected directory will be
included.
- Click OK to continue the exporting
process; otherwise click Cancel to exit the
dialog window without exporting.
- If you clicked OK you can save this domain:
enter a name and click OK. If you do not want to
save the domain click Cancel.
- Create a new domain from an IMDI search:
- Click New Domain from IMDI Search...
- Browse to and select an IMDI file that has been exported from a
metadata search in the standalone IMDI Browser.
- Click Open.
- You can save this domain: enter a name and click
OK. If you do not want to save the domain click
Cancel.
- Enter a search expression and optionally enable a regular expression and/or case
sensitive search.
- Click on Search. The result screen will appear:
Figure 7.14. Searching through multiple annotation files: result
The result window contains the following fields for every found annotation:
- Nr: the order in which the results appear
- File: the file that contains the result
- Tier: the tier that contains the result
- Before / After: the annotation as found before and after the annotation that
matches the search expression
- Annotation: the search result itself
- Begin time, end time, duration: of the annotation unit that was found
Note
It is not possible to restrict the search results to a certain tier or to specify
extra structural or temporal constraints.
The displayed search results can be exported to a tab-separated text file as well.
The
exported files are very similar to that described in Exporting the search results.
- Just click on Export next to the
Search button.
- Enter a filename.
- Select the Save button.
If you click on one of the listed annotations, a new Elan window will be
opened, and that annotation unit will be selected. When clicking on another result,
the
newly opened window is reused.
If you right click somewhere in the list ELAN shows a context menu with the following
options:
- File, Tier,
Before, After,
Begin Time, End Time,
Duration: uncheck a columns if you do not want it to be
in the result table
- Font Size > :change the font size of the result
table
- Toggle Time Format: change time format to
milliseconds or back to hh:mm:ss.ms.
- Export Table as Tab-Delimited Text...: export the
table as tab-delimited text without the hidden columns