The CBReader allows for targeted searching in user-delimited groups of texts by means of files with a suffix .slr, which are accessed at this location within the CBReader:

    Text Search/Limited Search/Load

The usual way of creating such files is somewhat clumsy and time-intensive:

    Text Search/Limited Search/Single Search in Group

or

    Text Search/Limited Search/Single Search in Category

At either of these screens, the user selects individual texts for inclusion in a target search group, and then clicks "Save". This creates an .slr file in a directory typically entitled something like this:

    C://.../{username]/App Data/Roaming/CBETA/CBReader/User_Data

The resulting files are then accessible for later use via the "Load" (as described above). 

This functionality of the CBReader can be a powerful tool for more precise searching. The main problem, though, I have found, is that at the "Single search in..." screens, selection of individual texts requires that one expand file trees (which are sometimes labyrinthine), navigate one's way to each individual text, and tick a box with the mouse. If one wants to create groups containing hundreds of texts, this can be unmanageably laborious. 

To get around this problem, I have created a script that compiles .slr files from a simple list of Taishō numbers. I here provide some of the resulting .slr files, which I expect to be generally useful for other users. Save them to the above-mentioned User_Data directory, and you should be able to access them via the "Load" function, and use them to delimit your searches. Further below, I also provide the script for download, for users who wish to use it to custom-make their own .slr files.

If you don't find the grouping you want here, and find the tool too tricky to use directly, email me and I will make it for you. If you create a new .slr file group that you don't find here, and expect it to be useful to others, please email me a copy of the .slr file, and I can upload it.

NOTE: Users must accept that they use these files at their own risk. Some contain hundreds of texts, and like any process entailing human work and such large quantities of finicky information, they are prone to error. Results should always be checked against other searches. If you find any errors in these files, please email me and let me know.

Users should note that the list of texts included in an .slr file appears near the very end of the file. Thus, the composition of each group can be scrutinised by opening the .slr file in a text reader, and examining it directly.

Nattier (2008) = Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica X. Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2008.

Python slr makers

The script below runs from the command line, and allows the quick creation of a new .slr file from a simple list of Taishō numbers. You must have Python 3.4 installed for the script to work. You must also create a directory called "slr holding pen" inside the directory from which you run the slr maker script.

The following additional script allows you to make an .slr file for all texts in the range T1-T1692 (the main translation portion of the canon) that are not on the list of texts you input, i.e. listing the inverse of a given group of texts.