Spotlight wildcards?

>What is the wildcard convention for Spotlight in Tiger?
>
>If I have a file abcde.doc, Spotlight will find it if I type in
>"abc" but not if I type in *de.doc, or ???de.doc (Windows syntax for
>any number of characters, *, or any one character, ?).

It assumes wildcards. Just type de.doc. It works for me with any
substring, leading, trailing or middle.

--
Andrew Laurence
atlaurenuci.edu

> What is the wildcard convention for Spotlight in Tiger?

I've not heard that Spotlight can do this on the beginning of a string.

There are some lesser documented features like:

(-…) = NOT
| = OR
space =
() for grouping

<http://hiram.nl/ipsedixit/artikel/801/the-boolean-not-in-spotlight>

> If I have a file abcde.doc, Spotlight will find it if I type in
> "abc" but not if I type in *de.doc, or ???de.doc (Windows syntax
> for any number of characters, *, or any one character, ?).

You can use the Find command in the Finder for this:

   Find where Name Ends With de.doc

Or drop down to the command line:

   find . -name "*de.doc"
   find . -name "???de.doc"

Cheers

Tom Robinson wrote:

>> What is the wildcard convention for Spotlight in Tiger?
>
> I've not heard that Spotlight can do this on the beginning of a string.
>
> There are some lesser documented features like:
>
> (-…) = NOT
> | = OR
> space =
> () for grouping
>
> <http://hiram.nl/ipsedixit/artikel/801/the-boolean-not-in-spotlight>

Thanks for pointer & info

>> If I have a file abcde.doc, Spotlight will find it if I type in
>> "abc" but not if I type in *de.doc, or ???de.doc (Windows syntax
>> for any number of characters, *, or any one character, ?).
>
> You can use the Find command in the Finder for this:
>
> Find where Name Ends With de.doc

Don't understand how to command Finder "Name Ends With"

> Or drop down to the command line:
>
> find . -name "*de.doc"
> find . -name "???de.doc"

I'd prefer to use Spotlight, but Finder doesn't work either.

I have 9 files and one folder beginning "JMWresume..." found by Finder,
but it finds none of them, or any filename containing "resume", if I
type in just "resume".

Something seems to be wrong -- a bug, or my defaults are somehow set
wrong? I have been using wildcards since the mid-'60s on mainframes,
UNIX -- the underlying OS X engine, CP/M, DOS, all the years of Windows ...

Are wildcards really absent? Hard to swallow ...

JMW

> Don't understand how to command Finder "Name Ends With"

It's only kind of true that there's no wildcards in the Finder.
There is, the user just doesn't see them.

Anyway, the steps are:

1. In the Finder...
2. File -> Find (or command-F)
3. On the drop-down menu which says 'Kind' change it to 'Name'
4. On the next drop-down menu across, either leave as 'Contains' or
change to 'Ends With'
5. Type in 'resume' in the next box across.
6. Wait

It found both a file and folder called 'JMWresume' for me.

This isn't using Spotlight, the Finder's scanning the volume itself*

Cheers

*Actually I don't know this for sure, but it's a well-educated guess.

Here is how one can create and save searches in Spotlight of arbitrary boolean complexity, with or without wild cards---just use Raw Queries:

http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/how_to_execute_raw_spotlight_queries_in_the_finder

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/SpotlightQuery/Concepts/QueryFormat.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001849

Of course, this is mainly useful for creating Smart Folders, not so convenient for quick random "find as you type" searches.

On or about 12/4/07 6:19 AM, thus spake "Kaban" <alexey_muranovmail.ru>:

> Here is how one can create and save searches in Spotlight of arbitrary boolean
> complexity

Not simply "of arbitrary boolean complexity" - that, actually, is now
possible using the GUI. But there are still Spotlight options that you can
use with a raw query that you simply cannot access thru the Finder GUI
query-construction interface. For example, a raw query lets you specify
case-sensitivity, diacritic-sensitivity, and word-basedness for each search
term; and it lets you specify multiple folders to look in simultaneously. My
NotLight app gives you access to these features thru a GUI, but Apple's
interface does not.

> with or without wild cards---just use Raw Queries:
>
> <http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/how_to_execute_raw_spotlight_queries_in_the_fi
> nder>

Correct. This is a very nice option. It would be better, however, if the
Finder would let you form a search with its GUI, then switch to Raw Query
mode and see *that* *same* search in raw form, so you can edit it *further*.
(That, of course, is exactly what NotLight lets you do.) You can do this by
saving to a smart folder and then editing the smart folder with a text
editor, but that's very roundabout.

> Of course, this is mainly useful for creating Smart Folders

I don't agree. The way I wrote NotLight makes it so easy to access my search
in raw form, after I've formed some of it with the GUI, that I switch to raw
form and edit from there, quite a lot. Apple could have done the same. I'm
sorry to keep harping on this, but it's just one more example of Apple's
ill-informed attempt to keep the power features out of the hands of ordinary
users.

m.

On Dec 6, 2007, at 1:30 PM, Matt Neuburg wrote:

> I'm
> sorry to keep harping on this, but it's just one more example of
> Apple's
> ill-informed attempt to keep the power features out of the hands of
> ordinary
> users.


Which points up an interesting problem for Apple: they have perhaps
98% ordinary or beginning users and 2% power users. Yet the power
users bring more than their "share" of new customers to the Mac.

(I place myself in the ordinary user category although I do more in
Terminal Mac things in Terminal than most through having non-Mac
experience. If I moved myself into "power user" that would move the
ordinary plus beginner user percentage to perhaps 90 or 95%.)

   --John

>> I'm
>> sorry to keep harping on this, but it's just one more example of
>> Apple's ill-informed attempt to keep the power features out of the
>> hands of ordinary users.
>
> Which points up an interesting problem for Apple: they have perhaps
> 98% ordinary or beginning users and 2% power users....

If Power User status were to be made easily available: it would need
to be through a gateway that did an automatic Save of some
substantial kind; before allowing the adventurer to take the next
step in nuking his system or data.

That might be an enlightened approach to the education of ordinary
users...? Visit Bikini Atoll for an H-bomb test with all the
thrills, but no risk beyond restoring your computer.

George