You can do that in a few obvious ways outside Stata, depending on your operating system and on whether you use a programmer's text editor. They're all mentioned in the prompt and typically helpful responses this query received. But here's a slick way to build yourself a Stata find command, courtesy of longtime Statalist contributor Austin Nichols:


clear all
prog find
version 10.1
syntax [anything] [, Match(string asis)]
foreach f of local anything {
  tempfile t
  filefilter `"`f'"' `t', from(`"`match'"') to("")
  loc n=r(occurrences)
  if `n'>0 & `n'<. {
    di `"`n' matches found in `f'"'
    *could also display relevant lines of file here
  }
}
end


And now let's try finding the string "version 8" inside all the ado-files in the Stata base package whose names start with a. This is Austin's own example, with some liberties I took so it would work on my computer:


cd "`c(sysdir_base)'a"
local t : dir . file "*.ado"
find `t', match(version 8)


Try it. You'll like it. You might want to add it to your c:/ado/personal stash. 

Regarding Statalist, the usual rules of polite behavior apply, but there's one I especially approve of: nobody likes a mailing list member who sends an "Out of office" auto-reply (or any auto-reply, for that matter). That stuff will get you booted, as it should (but you can always re-join, which is nice; Statalist enforces its rules with a firm, but sensible hand). Now go join.