What is the syntax of Windows 7 file search (wildcards, logical signs...) ?__

Anonymous
2009-11-16T14:40:26+00:00

Hello,

I am looking for it everywhere but I can't find it.

When in Windows search and you are looking for a file, you can type in *.txt to look for a '.txt' file.

But it seems that the syntax of file name to look seems more complex that it looks first.

For instance, the quote character (") and the equal sign (=) seem to have there own significance.

And I think I have heard that it was possible to use 'not' and 'and ' signs.

Please, where can I find the complete syntax of the search paterns?

Thank you a lot

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

55 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-03-19T16:08:30+00:00

    On Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:22:35 +0000, SummerBob wrote:

    What I'm looking for, and haven't been able to find it, is a way to search for ONLY files that have a particular extension, even if other files START WITH that extension.  For example, I want to find all C# files in a folder and search for *.cs.  Windows finds every *.csv file.  Not what I want.  In Unix you can specify $ (for end of string) or ^ (for beginning of string).  You think *.cs$ would give me what I want, but it returns nothing.

    Download and install the freeware program Search Everything at
    http://www.voidtools.com/  Do a search for *.cs. No $ is necessary.

    Search Everything is excellent and very fast.

    http://answers.microsoft.com/message/c5575d32-a8dc-49d2-b1c6-80bb0d121f0b?threadId=62e29931-e427-4658-a018-5ca1aa0acd59

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-07T14:47:53+00:00

    The fact that I'm looking at FOUR (4) pages of a thread (that arguably should never have been spun to begin with) proves the problem.  In a day that the best and brightest are paid the big $ to develop "usability" someone at Microsoft seems to be pining for the days of DOS 2.0.  Do you really think my mother is going to get this?  She calls ME!!!! Please please please escalate this issue to the top -- let me spend time with my children. 

    Regards,

    Bear

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-07T01:32:53+00:00

    The most helpful reply has hit this on the head, the resource link you have given, Hannes3, is now, like Microsoft, defunct and pointing to windows 8 lawl.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-15T13:17:39+00:00

    I can not agree more. It is so frustrating!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments