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Windows Forum / Windows Vista / File Management / October 2009find file containing text inside the file
Please tell me how can I find a file, such as a text file, that contains a specific string within the file. For example I create (AutoCAD) Autolisp programs with an extention of *.lsp which is just a basic text file that contains my code. In XP (I got rid of the dog and set it up to the advanced appearance) I just clicked on the search button and entered *.lsp (in the first box that says "All or part of the file name:") and in the box below that says "A word or phrase in the file:" I could enter a particular word that I was sure was in one of my files such as: slope or distance or drain. In XP this worked very well and I still do it dozens a time a day. Now as I transition to Vista I need to have this ability, it's a must have. Please let me know how i can do this. Thanks Richard Richard, The reason that you can't currently do full text searches is becuase the index is conservative about what file types it crawls to improve your computer's performance. What you need to do is to add the .lsp file extension to the index so it looks for these files. To do that, open Indexing Options in the Control Panel and click Advanced, then click the File Types tab. Add the .lsp file type and be sure to click the option to "index properties and file contents." After the index has had a chance to update, you can type a word or phrase in the search box to find the file with that text in the contents. Depending upon where you store these files, you might also need to add the location to the index. If you keep these files somewhere in your user folder (Documents, Pictures, Music, etc) you're fine. Otherwise, in the Indexing Options, click Modify and add the folder to the list of Indexed Locations. Hope this helps.  SignatureDave Johnson Windows User Assistance team Microsoft Corporation Dave Thanks for the reply. I already had the lsp extension indexed but have redone the indexing and letting it build index right now. But I am still not clear on what to type in the search pane to find a .lsp file that contains a word in the file. Do I need to follow some sort of format or syntax for the search? please tell me exactly what I need to type to find the following: a .lsp file that contains the word "defun" (no quotes in the file...just shown here for clarity) in the files contents. By the way I can't really believe that this type of search option (the ability to search for a word or phrase in the file) has been removed from vista interface. Is there some reason for this? Thanks Richard > Richard, > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Hope this helps. Richard, to find all the files with the string "defun" in the body of the document, just type "defun" in the search box. That's really all you need to do. The ability to do a full text search hasn't been removed from Windows, it's been made easier to do so you don't have to dig deep in advanced search options to turn it on. Believe it or not, many casual users didn't even know it was possible to do a full text search in Windows XP. Now you just type a word or phrase and search finds it automatically, without the need to find additional settings. If you definitely want to only include a specific file type, then you could type this in the search box instead: defun type:lsp That filters the results to only show files with the indicated file type. You can learn more about how search works by reading this help topic: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/73106209-6df0-432a-8cb7-df5d 8ce02ec61033.mspx SignatureDave Johnson Windows User Assistance team Microsoft Corporation Dave Thanks for the reply. It finally makes sense and I can now find what I'm looking for because of your reply as well as Dave Woods comments (in the next reply) this makes it clear >defun type:lsp This is from the help file you referenced (which i had read previous to posting my question) >A more specific indication of the file's content. The last three letters of the file name, called the file >name extension, identify the file type. Common types include DOC (Microsoft Word document), XLS >(Microsoft Excel spreadsheet), JPG (JPEG image), and MP3 (a standard digital audio format). However in no part of the help file does it mention the use of the word "ext" to deliniate extention as shown in the next reply to my post by Dave Wood where he spells it out as shown below: >So you could type: defun *.lsp >Or something like: defun ext:lsp The above makes it really clear. and you write in your reply: >If you definitely want to only include a specific file type, then you could >type this in the search box instead: >defun type:lsp again this does not appear in the referenced help article. There is mention of file types but if you made clear examples of uses of the word "type" as well as "ext" and how to use it when searching more obvious in your (MS) help article I think it would help more people to understand how to search with greater effectiveness. In other words I searched the web and help files for this information and finally had to resort to this forum in order to find this critical information. Please consider updating the help to illustrate this feature. Thanks again to both of you for providing me with help Richard > Richard, to find all the files with the string "defun" in the body of the > document, just type "defun" in the search box. That's really all you need to [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/73106209-6df0-432a-8cb7-df5d 8ce02ec61033.mspx Well that doc isn't meant to be absolutely exhaustive {hence the title}. It does mention you can use *.<ext> which would get similar results. There's a more complete syntax guide here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/addresources/advanced3.mspx You are right we should try and make the complete syntax more easily accessible. > Dave > Thanks for the reply. It finally makes sense and I can now find what I'm [quoted text clipped - 71 lines] >> >> http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/73106209-6df0-432a-8cb7-df5d 8ce02ec61033.mspx I have the same problem as Richard, the only difference is that the files I'm looking for are on the network. wich doen't allow me to find the files. Vista search returns nothing, where Xp was returning all I needed. I'm getting really frustrated as I go through different search programs because vista is unable to help me there. I select search, tick the "search non indexed files" type the string I'm looking for and nothing.. Jonathan PS: I've added the file extention in the list of files to search. Signaturesteedj http://forums.techarena.in You just type into the search box. By default file contents, filenames, e-mail bodies etc. are all searched automatically. So you could type: defun *.lsp Or something like: defun ext:lsp > Dave > Thanks for the reply. I already had the lsp extension indexed but have [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] >> >> Hope this helps. Dave I replied with my comments to both of you in the post from Dave Johnsons reply to me. Thanks for spelling it out and please consider my reply to Dave Johnson about updating your help files to clarify the use of the words "type" and "ext" thanks Richard > You just type into the search box. By default file contents, filenames, > e-mail bodies etc. are all searched automatically. [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > >> > >> Hope this helps. I also have the same problem as Richard. I have a folder full of .aspx files and want to search for those containing a particular word or phrase. In XP you would set the filetype to .aspx and set "Containing text:" to the phrase you are interested in, hit "Search" and get a result. I've tried everything I can think of in Vista with no luck. (tried setting "Always search file names and contents" and various other settings. Read Windows Search Advanced Query Syntax at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresou rces/advquery.mspx Perhaps Dave Johnson's solution works, but on my system indexing is not running, and I don't want to start running it either, so setting indexing options isn't an option for everyone. I just want Search to plod through and give a result without having to worry if the index is up to date etc. The solution for me ended up being to download free, no adware AgentRansack 'Agent Ransack - home' (http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/) which simply installed and worked. But I'd prefer a Windows solution if there is one. As Dave pointed out, apparently Windows filters out certain file extensions, making their Search function unreliable. You never know whether a file actually doesn't exist or whether they simply decided to overlook it - a feature similar to hiding file extensions and system files in folder options. SignatureZeerover I've been following this thread since I found it via Google. Very informative. I was wondering if there was any way to index a network location or would I have to index on the server? I tried to use the indexing service via Control Panel, but it doesn't seem to pick up any of my mapped network drives. Is there a way I can index a network location on my local Vista machine? To add to the problem, I'm running Home Premium x64. Am I limited because of the Vista package I'm using? Can Business accomplish this task? Thanks! Signaturehybridmoments82 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918996 Signature. -- > > I've been following this thread since I found it via Google. Very [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Thanks! try this +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Filename: Capture.JPG | |Download: http://www.vistax64.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=15278| +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Signaturepacinitaly SpellCherkers aren't worth a shirt ya no If I helped you, please tip my scales. If I have not, curse me out like a drunken sailor Imagine the folowing situation: I downloaded .zip-archive with thouzands of .php-files. I unpacked the file to the folder at my Desktop (which is indexed by default). I want to find all files containing string «Test». So, I added «Plain text filter» to the .php files extension in the indexing settings. Should I wait hours until the indexing will be done? Or I can just search (more slowly)? I tryed and did not get any results! So, I will wait. It's very annoying! Another case: I want to find files containing Russian word «Привет». The problem is that that word can be encoded by different bytes depending on codepage (most popular are cp1251, UTF-8, KOI8-R). I tested text search and found that if BOM present at the start of the file, file considered UTF-8, otherwise file considered cp1251. But how about UTF-8 files which do not have BOM mark at the beginning? When I program PHP I always remove BOM, because othervise these BOMs are sended to the user-agent by server. Notepad application still detects UTF-8 in such files, but Search is not (see attached files). Also, how about KOI8? I didn't find any way to specify encoding in search options. Third case: how about different word forms in Russian? «One day» = «Один день», «Three days» = «Три дня», «Five days» = «Пять дней», «All these days» = «Все эти дни»,... How I will find «день» («day») with all possible forms? It's a pity that Windows text search is completely useless. :( +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Filename: testUTF8NoBOM.txt | |Download: http://www.vistax64.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16622| +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ SignatureSAnton >Imagine the folowing situation: I downloaded .zip-archive with thouzands >of .php-files. I unpacked the file to the folder at my Desktop (which is [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > >It's a pity that Windows text search is completely useless. :( So, you find a few unusual situations that don't work as you would like and you then conclude that Search is useless? That is laughable. I've been using Windows Search on Vista for over two years, and overall it works extremely well, once I learned how to use it. Incidentally, the Desktop folder is *not* indexed by default. Try moving your files to your Documents folder. This forum is actually on Usenet, not on the "parasitic" Web forum that you posted from. As a result, the HTML character entity references in your examples are not decoded for most readers. It's unlikely that English-speaking users are going to be able to help you anyway, since your problems involve searching for Russian words. I suggest that you look for a support forum for Russian-speaking users of Vista. Doug M. in NJ SAnton;1173259 Wrote: > Imagine the folowing situation: I downloaded .zip-archive with thouzands > of .php-files. I unpacked the file to the folder at my Desktop (which is [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > It's a pity that Windows text search is completely useless. :( love the post!!! try 'Super Finder 1.5.3.0 Free Download' (http://freemedia.realgage.com/super-finder-1530.html) Signaturepacinitaly SpellCherkers aren't worth a shirt ya no If I helped you, please tip my scales. If I have not, curse me out like a drunken sailor pacinitaly;1173379 Wrote: > > SAnton;1173259 Wrote: > > Imagine the folowing situation: I downloaded .zip-archive with thouzands [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > try 'Super Finder 1.5.3.0 Free Download' > (http://freemedia.realgage.com/super-finder-1530.html) I have tryed Super Finder. It fast, perform real content search. That is good. First I tryed it on my folder with 300 PHP-files (don't worry, these files are English-only). It found 3 files compared to the 1 file found by Vista using the same search query. That is very strange: it looks like Vista Search is approximate and unreliable. Imagine that your boss required you to find all files containing "bucks" and replace these by "dollars". Failed to perform this task may result in serious consequences for you. The bad thing is that Russian text was found only in CP1251-encoded text files. UTF-8 files (with and without BOM) are ignored. I tryed to check «unicode» checkbox in the Super Finder, but in that case I got zero results. This is worse than Vista search, which at least can recognise UTF-8 by BOM. SignatureSAnton SAnton;1173442 Wrote: > > pacinitaly;1173379 Wrote: > > > > SAnton;1173259 Wrote: [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > zero results. This is worse than Vista search, which at least can > recognise UTF-8 by BOM. sorry:( Signaturepacinitaly SpellCherkers aren't worth a shirt ya no If I helped you, please tip my scales. If I have not, curse me out like a drunken sailor |
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