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Windows Forum / Windows 98 / General Topics / May 2007How to search for files if there's a space in the filename?
Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in the filename. If there are spaces in the file name and you put that section into the search string, instead of searching for the string the stupid thing looks for BOTH strings?! Example: filename: 1771 N 165th South City Now want to find every file with the string "N 165" in it, so use Windows Explorer search option and type the line N 165 but instead of getting back the right files, I get EVERY file with the letter N and ever file with the numbers 165 How do you search for a filename's string with a space in it? Robert > Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in > the filename. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > How do you search for a filename's string with a space in it? When you are sure of the filetype, the task is easy. If RTF, you search for *165th*.RTF (i.e. with the longest unique part of the string between the wild card indicators *)  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in > the filename. That is incorrect. You're drawing an incorrect conclusion based on your lack of knowledge. Replace each blank with a question mark(?) and try again. > > Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in > > the filename. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Replace each blank with a question mark(?) and try again. I should have said, "Stupid system can't UNIQUELY search for a file name with blanks contained in the filename." And my conclusion for writing that statement was based upon my observation, rather than a "lack of knowledge" So back to my OBSERVATION: Searching for a file name with a space in it worked better using the wildcard character '?', yet still was not very good. For example, a search for n?65 returned 17 file names. One had "...tn 265..." in it, and another had "...kinner 65..." in it. My lack of knowledge had no explanation for that! However, instead of getting 773 files, I did get 17, which is more manageable. So, using a wildcard character helped keep the inclusion of unwanted filenames to a manageable number. Robert >Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in >the filename. [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > >Robert The following method is less convenient, but possibly more accurate than using wildcards in place of spaces: dir c:\ /b /s | find /i "n 165" You can also write the search results to a file: dir c:\ /b /s | find /i "n 165" > %temp%.\results.txt - Franc Zabkar SignaturePlease remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. > >Stupid system can't search for a file name with blanks contained in > >the filename. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > - Show quoted text - Franc, Great suggestion! I understand the dir statement and understand the piping of the result to a file, but... What is that vertical line between the dir and the find do? The find /? says that it finds a string within what is typed at the prompt before the find statement, but does not mention that a vertical line is necessary. Or, is that some kind of delimeter, or how the results are piped to the next, or necessary when it's all one line? Robert >> dir c:\ /b /s | find /i "n 165" >> >> You can also write the search results to a file: >> >> dir c:\ /b /s | find /i "n 165" > %temp%.\results.txt >I understand the dir statement >and understand the piping of the result to a file, but... >What is that vertical line between the dir and the find do? The vertical line is the "pipe" character. On my keyboard it is the character above the backslash. It is sometimes drawn as a broken vertical line. >The find /? says that it finds a string within what is typed at the >prompt before the find statement, but does not mention that a vertical >line is necessary. Or, is that some kind of delimeter, or how the >results are piped to the next, or necessary when it's all one line? > >Robert The "|" character pipes the output of one command into the next *command*. Instead of the results of the "dir" command going to the screen (ie standard out), they are presented as input to the "find" command. The ">" symbol "redirects" the output of a command to a *file* or *device*. - Franc Zabkar SignaturePlease remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. > >> dir c:\ /b /s | find /i "n 165" > [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > -- > Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. Can really string quite a few together then? Thanks for the suggestion. It's just that since " is not allowed as a character in a filename, it seemed that it should be able to be used in the FIND tool to define a string. Oh, well. Thanks again for a definitive way to find the files. Robert > It's just that since " is not allowed as a character in a filename, > it seemed that it should be able to be used in the FIND tool to define > a string. Oh, well. Thanks again for a definitive way to find the > files. It can be used as you thought! String containing space. N 165 ( But it will search for all 'N'- and all '165'-containing filenames. ) Use '"' before and after to define the string. "N 165" ( But it will search for ONLY files named /N 165/ . ) So also use he '*' wildcard-character, at the start and end of the defined string. "*N 165*" ( Then it will search for what you intended. (?) ) SignatureNah-ah. I'm staying out of this. ... Now, here's my opinion. Please followup in the newsgroup. E-mail address is invalid due to spam-control. On May 29, 10:08 am, "... et al." <l...@sig.bcause.this.is.invalid> wrote: > > It's just that since " is not allowed as a character in a filename, > > it seemed that it should be able to be used in the FIND tool to define [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > Please followup in the newsgroup. > E-mail address is invalid due to spam-control. The single search phrase "N 165" yields a ton of garbage, much of which I can't see why they were listed, but... "*N 165*" gets EXACTLY what I want, as though I worked in DOS Thank You! Robert >> It's just that since " is not allowed as a character in a filename, >> it seemed that it should be able to be used in the FIND tool to define [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > "*N 165*" >( Then it will search for what you intended. (?) ) Thanks for that. With your technique in mind, the DOS version simplifies to ... dir C:\"*N 165*" /b /s - Franc Zabkar SignaturePlease remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
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