baffling asterisk

[yaruk]

i'm trying with regex disabled. i'm only trying regex disabled.. for this

I see behaviour I can't explain.. in the case of match path disabled, and in the case of match path enabled.


match path disabled
c:\documents (60,399 objects)
c:\documents an (3835 objects) huh?
c:\documents an* (213 objects) huh?
c:\documents and sett (3 objects) huh?



match path enabled
c:\documents (60,399 objects) fine
c:\documents* (60,399 objects) fine
c:\documents a* (0 objects) huh?

The following is the case whether match path is enabled or not
I have the file
c:\gaga\a.rtf
I noticed..
typing c:\gaga\a.rtf works very nicely.. narrowing it down to a.rtf
but if I type
c:\gag* <-- displays 2 objects, the folder and the file . fine..
c:\gag*a <-- displays just the folder. huh?
c:\gag*a\ <-- now the screen clears huh?
c:\gag*a\a.rt <-- screen is still cleared
c:\gag*a\a.rtf <-- now the file appears listed.

TIA

[therube]

(I kind of got your examples with Match Path backwards, but ...)

Match path will search in both the path & the filename for matches.
It does not necessarily distinguish a "directory".
If you specifically wanted to distinguish a directory, then use it's full path, enclosed in quotes.

I'm going to assume that you do NOT actually have a directory "C:\Documents and Settings\", that you may only have a directory "C:\Documents\"

Match Path Enabled:

> c:\documents (60,399 objects)
Should be everything under "documents".
Even "c:\Documents & settings\" & "c:\Documents that I need to backup\"

> c:\documents an (3835 objects) huh?
The same as above - except the string "an" must also be found.
So "c:\documents\analysis.txt", but not "c:\documents\no EN here".

> c:\documents an* (213 objects) huh?
The same as above - except there must be a "word" found starting with "an".
So "c:\documents\analysis.txt", but not "c:\documents\sampleanalysis.txt"

> c:\documents and sett (3 objects) huh?
The same as above - except the strings "and" & "sett" must be found.
So "c:\documents\and don't forget to change the settings", but not "c:\documents\settings i should remember".

[therube]

When you literally type a path, such as "C:\Documents", then that works as (at least similarly to) if had enabled Match Path.

If Match Path is not enabled, & you did not type a "path", so "Documents" instead of "C:\Documents", then Everything will only find files & directories that contain the string "documents" (but not files within the found directories - unless they happen to also contain the string "documents").
So "AIA documents.txt" & "AIA Documents" (the latter being a directory) & "AIA Documents\document 1", but not "AIA Documents\plans & specs".

Enabling Options | View | Show highlighted search items may help visualizing what is or what is not found for a particular search.

Sometimes that particular string & settings you use will cause an item to act as an "anchor".

[yaruk]

......
I'm going to assume that you do NOT actually have a directory "C:\Documents and Settings\", that you may only have a directory "C:\Documents\"....

I do.. I have windows xp.. Any machine running windows xp, or perhaps NT generally, has a directory "c:\documents and settings"

I will look into what you wrote though..no doubt it still stands!

added-
I do have "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents" another standard thing on windows . From the parent directory viewing from an explorer window, it is displayed as "shared documents" but "documents" is its proper name..

[void]

Please keep in mind "Everything' treats spaces as the default AND operator.

Searching for c:\documents an is actually searching for:
c:\documents AND an

You can escape spaces with double quotes.

To search for c:\documents an, please use double quotes:

"c:\documents an"

[yaruk]

I have just looked into it a bit again..

match path disabled.

a search of c:\documents and settings, gives

C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\File and Settings Transfer Wizard.lnk

a search of documents and settings, gives
C:\documents and settings

why should whether I include c:\ or not, make a difference as to whether that file is included in the results?

it's not that problematic 'cos nobody would look for a file by only typing the name of a folder, (and if they did and no files came up then they could double click the folder).. but i'm still curious as to why the difference?

[void]

c:\documents and settings is interpreted by "Everything" as 3 terms:

• C:\documents must appear in the full path and file name because a backslash (\) was included in the term.
  
  AND
• and must appear in the file name part only.
  
  AND
• settings must appear in the file name part only.

Example results and matches highlighted:
C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\File and Settings Transfer Wizard.lnk



documents and settings is interpreted by "Everything" as the 3 following terms:

• documents must appear in the file name part only.
  
  AND
• and must appear in the file name part only.
  
  AND
• settings must appear in the file name part only.

Example results and matches highlighted:
C:\documents and settings



"c:\documents and settings\" is interpreted by "Everything" as a single term:

• c:\documents and settings\ must appear in the full path and file name.
  The backslash (\) enables full path and file name matching and spaces are preserved when using double quotes.

Including a backslash in a term will force that term to match the full path and file name.
For example, searching for documents will match the file name part only, whereas searching for c:\documents will match the full path and file name.

Here are some alternate searches for finding files in your documents and settings folder:

Code: Select all

\documents
"\documents and settings\"

[yaruk]

ok.. still match path disabled.

if a term with no backslash means filename only.

why does a search of

documents and settings

display the documents and settings folder?

[void]

why does a search of

documents and settings

display the documents and settings folder?

Because documents AND and AND settings all appear in the file name.

Please keep in mind "Everything" and NTFS refer to the name of a folder as a file name.

[yaruk]

and why does \documents give lots from "documents and settings" whereas documents\ only gives some things?

how is it deciding what it does or doesn't show?

e.g. specifically.. I notice..
When I do a search for documents\
every item within "documents and settings" that is listed, has the term "documents" in the path again in addition to the "documents" in "documents and settings".
C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\desktop.ini
C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Music\Desktop.ini
C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Pictures\Desktop.ini
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\Sample Music\New Stories (Highway Blues).wma
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\Sample Playlists\000FB4A1\Plylst1.wpl

outside of "documents and settings", it displays a test dir I created with a file in it , blah.b of c:\documents
so that one doesn't have documents written twice in it.

\documents lists a lot more.
e.g.
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Cookies\user@adfarm1.adition[2].txt
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Cookies\user@adinterax[2].txt
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Cookies\user@adjug[1].txt

which doesn't appear with documents\

what's it doing?

[therube]

\documents matches a directory path beginning with the word 'documents'.

So "\documents for approval" but not "\my documents" (path does not begin with the word 'documents').

documents\ (with a trailing slash) matches a directory path ending with the word 'documents'.

So "my documents\" or "documents\" or "hipa test documents\", but not "documents & settings\" or "documents for approval\" (neither of which end with the word 'documents'.

[yaruk]

still with regex disabled, is it possible to search for a folder containing a term in the middle?
e.g. specifically folders containing the word "and"?

for example, I guess that \documents searches specifically for folders starting with documents, not for files. Similarly documents\ (specifically folders ending with it)?

a search of "and"(no quotes), would search both files or folders. for them with the term in the middle..

so how about specifically folders, with a term in the middle?

[therube]

In Everything (version 1.2.1.451a), set Search, Match Path.
Then in the Filter: box, select Folder.

Search string: " and "

Would find ... "documents and settings", "help and support", ...

Search string: "and"

Would find ... "documents and settings", "help and support", ... additionally, directories named "branding" & "Local\Sandbox", "Altap Salamander", ...

This would find only folders, no files.

[yaruk]

i'm still working with figuring out .371

When I have
C:\testbob <dir>
and it's empty.


testbob shows it
\testbob shows it and a file and folder in it if a they're there.
testbob\ doesn't show it unless there is a file or folder in it. then it just shows that file or folder. so if c:\testbob is empty it displays nothing.

so there seems to be more to it than directory beginning or ending with term.

why is there this empty/non-empty distinction between \testbob and testbob\ ?