Search Engine

Overview

This project includes two main Python scripts: create_index.py and search.py. These scripts handle building and querying an index to support efficient data retrieval from a specified dataset.

File Descriptions

create_index.py

• Description: This script is responsible for building an index by processing the input dataset and storing it in an index file for efficient querying.
• Main Functions:
  • Loads data from a specified file path.
  • Builds an efficient index structure for rapid searching.
  • Saves the generated index to disk for later retrieval.
• Usage:
  1. Ensure the data file path is correctly set.
  2. Run the script from the command line:

     python create_index.py --data_path path/to/data --index_path path/to/save/index

  • Parameters:
    • --data_path: Path to the data file.
    • --index_path: Path to save the generated index.

search.py

• Description: This script allows for querying an existing index to return results that match the user's search query.
• Main Functions:
  • Loads a pre-built index.
  • Takes a user search query as input.
  • Searches the index for matching results and ranks them by relevance.
  • Outputs or saves the search results.
• Usage:
  1. Ensure the index file has been created.
  2. Run the script from the command line:

     python search.py --index_path path/to/index --query "your search query"

  • Parameters:
    • --index_path: Path to the index file.
    • --query: Search query.

Environment Setup

• Python Version: Requires Python 3.7 or higher.
• Dependencies:
  • List any necessary libraries here, such as numpy, scipy, etc.

Install the required Python packages by running:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Quick Start

1. Run create_index.py to generate the index.
2. Run search.py to perform a search.

Examples

Building the Index

python create_index.py --data_path data/sample_data.txt --index_path index/sample_index.idx

Performing a Search

python search.py --index_path index/sample_index.idx --query "example search term"

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.