Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine
Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine searches and inspects indexed source code using language structure, helping users find constructs and complex stat…
What Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine is
Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine searches and inspects indexed source code using language structure, helping users find constructs and complex statements beyond plain string matching. Queries can also use regular expressions and numeric values or ranges, and can ignore whitespace, line breaks, and comments. The maker says it can search millions of lines across tens of thousands of source files. Results show nearby code and highlighted matches; users can open the source text or launch an editor on the file. The engine calculates Cyclomatic and Halstead complexity metrics, along with source, code, comment, and blank line counts for indexed files. Listed scanners cover languages including ABAP, C, C++, COBOL, Java, JavaScript, Python, PHP, SQL dialects, and XML, with beta scanners and custom scanner options also available. Source files are collected, scanned, and indexed periodically, such as daily or weekly. Results can be produced in XML for other graphical interfaces. The free Evaluation version is limited to 10,000 lines and lists Java, COBOL, C++, and pseudo-code. Registration is required, and the evaluation license ends 90 days after download. Production licensing is available with pricing on request.
Good
- Searches code constructs, regular expressions, and numeric ranges.
- Results include context and highlighted matches.
- Calculates Cyclomatic and Halstead complexity metrics.
- Supports custom scanners and XML results.
Watch out
- Evaluation is limited to 10,000 lines.
- Registration is required for the evaluation download.
- The evaluation license ends 90 days after download.
- Production pricing is available only on request.
Who it suits
This tool suits developers who need structure-aware searches and code metrics across indexed source repositories. Its evaluation may help teams assess a limited codebase before discussing production licensing.
Verdict
Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine combines language-aware search, navigation, and code metrics for indexed repositories. The free evaluation has a defined line limit and term, while production pricing requires an inquiry.
Plans and prices
From Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine's own pricing page, checked 14 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation version | Free | 10,000 lines of code · Java, COBOL, C++ and pseudo-code · registration required · license ends 90 days after download |
| Production license | Priced on request | full-capability engine · production licensing required |
The facts
Each one read from Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Character sets
- Supported character encodings include ASCII, ISO-8859-1, Unicode, Shift-JIS, EBCDIC and Microsoft code pages.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Cross-language search
- Generic identifiers and literals can be searched across multiple programming languages in one session.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Custom scanners
- Semantic Designs offers configurable scanners for unusual languages, dialects and structured text.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Developer API
- Semantic Designs front ends expose procedural APIs to visit, query, update, construct and print syntax trees, with support for custom attribute-grammar analyses.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Evaluation limitations
- The evaluation is limited to 10,000 lines; the maker says a production license can enable full capability but does not state its price on the page.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Evaluation restrictions
- The evaluation agreement prohibits copying, modification, decompilation, reverse engineering and redistribution, and supplies the software without warranties.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Evaluation terms
- The evaluation requires completing a registration form; the maker emails a download link, and the evaluation agreement says the license ends 90 days after download.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Extensibility
- Front-end source code is available for customization, and the Source Code Search Engine is shown as a sample tool using the front-end technology.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Federal contract history
- The U.S. SBIR profile records Semantic Designs Inc. as receiving nine Phase I and one Phase II awards totaling about $1.8 million.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent legal record
- Justia lists Semantic Designs, Inc. as the corporation owning the registered SEMANTIC DESIGNS mark for computer consulting and custom software design services.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent research reference
- A PLDI 2020 paper describes Semantic Designs' Sequoia tool as using graph-pattern matching and having helped migrate control software for dozens of chemical plants.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Indexing workflow
- Source files are collected, scanned and indexed periodically, with daily or weekly indexing suggested by the product page.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Integration
- Search results can be produced in XML for communication with other graphical user interfaces; the page illustrates an interface developed for IBM Rational Development for System Z.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Integration output
- Search results can be emitted as XML for use by other graphical interfaces, including an interface shown for IBM Rational Development for System Z.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Language-aware queries
- Queries can target identifiers, literals, operators, strings, comments and statements through language-specific scanners.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Language coverage
- The maker lists scanners for languages including ABAP, C, C++, COBOL, Java, JavaScript, Python, PHP, SQL dialects, and XML, with additional beta scanners and custom scanner options.checked 8 Oct 2026
- License type
- The software is proprietary object-code software distributed under a revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable and nonsublicensable license.checked 14 Oct 2026
- LinkedIn specialties
- LinkedIn describes the company as providing source-code analysis, software migration, source-to-source transformation, test coverage and profiling tools across languages including C/C++, Java, C#, SQL, COBOL, JavaScript and PHP.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Metrics
- The engine calculates Cyclomatic and Halstead complexity and counts source, code, comment and blank lines per indexed file.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Money-back policy
- The downloads page advertises a 60-day full-refund guarantee for tools that users buy and then decide not to keep.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Normalization
- Search processing can ignore whitespace, line breaks and comments and normalize escaped characters.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Notable news
- Semantic Designs announced in October 2020 that two COBOL migration projects achieved fully automated C# conversion including embedded SQL.checked 14 Oct 2026
The company
- Company profile on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn identifies Semantic Designs as a privately held Austin software-development company founded in 1995 with 11–50 employees.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- Austin, Texas, USAchecked 28 Sep 2026
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