# FastRI 0.2.1: faster full-text searching, multiple queries, **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 23, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010 "2006-11-23T12:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/1 "2006-11-23T12:03:32Z")
FastRI is an alternative to the ri command-line tool. It is _much_ faster, and also allows you to offer RI lookup services over DRb. FastRI is smarter than ri, and can find classes anywhere in the hierarchy without specifying the “full path”. FastRI can perform full-text searching. Its RubyGems support is better than ri’s, and it knows which gem a method/class definition came from. # Getting it Additional information, tarballs… at [eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org/hiki.rb?fastri) FastRI can be installed with RubyGems: gem install fastri (if you get an old version/a 404 error, please allow some time after the release until the package propagates to the RubyForge mirrors). Please read below for an important note regarding the RubyGems packages. # User-visible changes since version 0.2.0 - fri will use a pager in full-text search mode, and also when asked to (-P, -T, --[no-]pager, --pager-cmd) - multiple queries supported: fri upcase downcase - fri -S is 100ms faster since it avoids requiring rubygems.rb - list all classes/modules and methods with --classes and --methods, and both with --list-names (-l) # Usage There are two parts to FastRI: - the server: fastri-server - the client: fri FastRI uses a Rinda Ring to allow servers to be discovered automatically without needing to indicate the DRb URIs manually. It can work across machines if you make sure the ring server is bound to the correct interface, and the ACL permissions are correct. # Examples $ fastri-server (creates the index on the first run, blocks) ## Later, (times measured with a cold cache): $ time ruby bin/fri -f plain Array#fetch Array#fetch array.fetch(index) → obj […] real 0m0.287s (real 0m0.127s with a hot cache) user 0m0.048s sys 0m0.008s ## Compare to: $ time ri -T -f plain Array#fetch Array#fetch […] real 0m10.136s (real ~ 1.5s with a hot cache) user 0m1.140s sys 0m0.464s This illustrates FastRI’s ability to locate classes deep in the class hierarchy: $ fri Base ------------------------------------------------------ Multiple choices: ``` ActionMailer::Base, ActionView::Base, ActionWebService::API::Base, ActionWebService::Base, ActionWebService::Client::Base, ActiveRecord::Base, MapReduce::ActiveRecord::Base, RSS::Maker::Base, Scruffy::Components::Base, Scruffy::Formatters::Base, Scruffy::Layers::Base, Scruffy::Renderers::Base, Scruffy::Themes::Base ``` $ fri Themes::Base ------------------------------------------- Class: Scruffy::Themes::Base Scruffy::Themes::Base Author: Brasten S. ``` Date: August 14th, 2006 ``` Compare to $ ri Themes::Base … several seconds later … Nothing known about Themes::Base # A small note about RubyGems + FastRI. RubyGems adds a noticeable overhead to fri, making it run slower than if you installed it directly from the tarball with setup.rb. Compare the execution time when installed with RubyGems: $ time fri -f plain String \> /dev/null real 0m0.385s user 0m0.244s sys 0m0.036s to the time fri actually takes to run, without the overhead introduced by RubyGems: $ time ruby bin/fri -f plain String \> /dev/null real 0m0.088s user 0m0.040s sys 0m0.008s If you care about those extra 300ms (and there are situations where they will matter, e.g. when using fri for method completion), get FastRI from the tarballs. # License FastRI is licensed under the same terms as Ruby. See LICENSE. # Feedback Bug reports, patches, comments… are appreciated. You can contact the author via [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid). Please add “fastri” to the subject in order to bypass the spam filters. ---
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/2 "2006-11-23T16:47:18Z")
On 11/23/06, Mauricio F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > FastRI is an alternative to the ri command-line tool. It is _much_ faster, and > also allows you to offer RI lookup services over DRb. FastRI is smarter than > ri, and can find classes anywhere in the hierarchy without specifying the > “full path”. FastRI can perform full-text searching. Its RubyGems support is > better than ri’s, and it knows which gem a method/class definition came from. Thanks, this looks nice. However, $ fri flatten ------------------------------------------------------ Multiple choices: ``` Array#flatten, Set#flatten ``` $ fri A#flatten nil so I need to fully spell out which one I’m interested in. Could you please add a simple string distance or something like that so that one can use shortcuts, ie fri A#flatten should choose Array#flatten since it is the closest one. If I don’t misremember we discussed and added this functionality to ri way back then. /Robert F. ---
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/3 "2006-11-23T17:53:27Z")
On Fri, Nov 24, 2006 at 12:46:36AM +0900, Robert F. wrote: > $ fri flatten > this functionality to ri way back then. > I have pushed a couple patches to HEAD > ([eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org/repos/fastri/head)) that implement these search > methods: - complete namespace (m) - complete both namespace and method (f) FastRI’s search strategy can be specified with the -O option: ``` -O, --order ORDER Specify lookup order. (default: eEnNpPxX) Uppercase: case-indep. e:exact n:nested p:partial ``` (completion) x:nested and partial m:complete namespace f:complete both class and method a:match method name anywhere See [225037] for an explanation of the basic search modes. You can make fri behave like ri (regarding partial completion of the namespace name) by adding ‘m’ to the lookup order: $ fri -Om A#flatten ---------------------------------------------------------- Array#flatten array.flatten → an\_array Moreover, $ fri -Of A#a ------------------------------------------------------ Multiple choices: ``` ACL#allow_addr?, ACL#allow_socket?, Abbrev#abbrev, Array#abbrev, Array#assoc, Array#at, Autotest#add_sigint_handler, Autotest#all_good ``` However, I’m not sure about the position in the search strategy (currently eEnNpPxX) at which the ‘m’ or ‘f’ modes could be added. Maybe eEnNpPxXmM(fF)a ? Anyway, even if I left the default search strategy unchanged, it could be overridden with --order (-O). ---
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/4 "2006-11-23T18:21:31Z")
On Nov 23, 2006, at 6:03 PM, Robert F. wrote: > Ok, great. If it could check some ENV variable for the search order > people could spec their own default. FASTRI\_LOOKUP\_ORDER? I don’t > think that would add very much to the execution time… Wouldn’t a simple shell alias do? ---
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/5 "2006-11-23T18:23:33Z")
On 11/23/06, Xavier N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Nov 23, 2006, at 6:03 PM, Robert F. wrote: > > > Ok, great. If it could check some ENV variable for the search order > > people could spec their own default. FASTRI\_LOOKUP\_ORDER? I don’t > > think that would add very much to the execution time… > > Wouldn’t a simple shell alias do? Yeah, that’s right. Too late in the day over here… 😉 Regards, /RF ---
**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastri-0-2-1-faster-full-text-searching-multiple-queries/77010/6 "2006-11-23T18:05:30Z")
> ``` > e:exact n:nested p:partial (completion) > > ``` > > ---------------------------------------------------------- Array#flatten > > However, I’m not sure about the position in the search strategy (currently > eEnNpPxX) at which the ‘m’ or ‘f’ modes could be added. > Maybe eEnNpPxXmM(fF)a ? > > Anyway, even if I left the default search strategy unchanged, it could be > overridden with --order (-O). Ok, great. If it could check some ENV variable for the search order people could spec their own default. FASTRI\_LOOKUP\_ORDER? I don’t think that would add very much to the execution time… Regards, Robert