Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.sys.mac.system > #87797 > unrolled thread

Finder search oddity in 10.6.8

Back to article view | Back to comp.sys.mac.system

Contents

  Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 patty1@sonic.net (Patty Winter) - 2016-01-26 22:01 +0000
    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-01-26 17:16 -0500
      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-01-27 00:28 +0000
        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-01-26 19:39 -0500
          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-01-27 05:47 +0000
            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-01-27 06:12 -0500
              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-27 23:10 +1100
              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 billy@MIX.COM - 2016-01-27 18:33 +0000
                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2016-01-27 17:17 -0500
        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-27 12:16 +1100
      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-29 18:59 +1100
        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-01-29 06:44 -0500
          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-30 09:11 +1100
            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-01-29 17:29 -0500
              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-01-29 15:09 -0800
                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2016-01-30 17:03 +0000
                  Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-01-31 01:53 -0800
                    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2016-01-31 12:54 +0000
                    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-01-31 17:07 +0000
                      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-02-01 07:53 +1100
                      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-01-31 17:11 -0800
                    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-01-31 20:49 -0500
                      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-01 12:29 -0800
                        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-02 12:05 -0500
                          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-02 11:10 -0800
                            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-03 06:08 -0500
                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-03 10:04 -0800
                                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-03 19:45 -0500
                                  Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-03 16:57 -0800
                                    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-04 21:20 -0500
                                      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-05 00:24 -0800
                                        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2016-02-05 10:28 +0000
                                          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-05 10:52 -0800
                                          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-06 07:22 -0500
                                            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-02-06 17:30 +0000
                                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-06 13:56 -0500
                                                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-02-06 19:13 +0000
                                                  Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-06 19:26 -0500
                                                    Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-06 17:22 -0800
                                                      Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-15 09:51 -0500
                                                        Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-15 11:39 -0800
                                                          Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-21 19:54 -0500
                                                            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Walter Myer <awoolmeyer@gmail.com> - 2016-02-22 04:50 -0800
                                                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Neal Reid <neal@magma.ca> - 2016-02-22 15:22 -0500
                                                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-22 13:24 -0800
                                                            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-22 13:24 -0800
                                            Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-02-06 09:59 -0800
                                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-06 13:56 -0500
                                              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Walter Myer <awoolmeyer@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 18:13 -0800
                                                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Wolffan <AKWolffan@gmail.com> - 2016-02-15 10:01 -0500
              Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-30 10:12 +1100
                Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 billy@MIX.COM - 2016-01-30 01:02 +0000
                  Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2016-01-30 13:45 +1100
                  Re: Finder search oddity in 10.6.8 Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> - 2016-01-31 01:48 -0800

Page 1 of 3  [1] 2 3  Next page →

#87797 — Finder search oddity in 10.6.8

I was just trying to find an IRS W-9 form in the Incoming folder
on my desktop (which is where I put email attachments). I searched
for "File Name" = "w9" with no success. So I scrolled through the
folder and found the files, which were called "fw9.pdf." I then
tried a search with "fw9" and that worked. So did "fw". I then
tried "w9" again, and no luck. Weird!

I found some other files that had two letters and a number before
the extension, and had the same problem. "j3" wouldn't work, but
"tj" or "tj3" would.

Was there maybe some glitch in the Finder search function in Snow
Leopard that only cropped up when you searched for a string that
had one letter followed by one character? If so, I hope this got
fixed in later versions of OS X.


Patty

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#87798

In article <56a7ecc5$0$92818$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
<patty1@sonic.net> wrote:

> I was just trying to find an IRS W-9 form in the Incoming folder
> on my desktop (which is where I put email attachments). I searched
> for "File Name" = "w9" with no success. So I scrolled through the
> folder and found the files, which were called "fw9.pdf." I then
> tried a search with "fw9" and that worked. So did "fw". I then
> tried "w9" again, and no luck. Weird!

spotlight does not work for partial name searches.

> I found some other files that had two letters and a number before
> the extension, and had the same problem. "j3" wouldn't work, but
> "tj" or "tj3" would.

same problem.

> Was there maybe some glitch in the Finder search function in Snow
> Leopard that only cropped up when you searched for a string that
> had one letter followed by one character? If so, I hope this got
> fixed in later versions of OS X.

it hasn't been fixed and is unlikely to ever be fixed. apple knows
about it and does not give a shit.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87826

In article <260120161716577255%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
nospam  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>In article <56a7ecc5$0$92818$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
><patty1@sonic.net> wrote:
>
>> I was just trying to find an IRS W-9 form in the Incoming folder
>> on my desktop (which is where I put email attachments). I searched
>> for "File Name" = "w9" with no success. So I scrolled through the
>> folder and found the files, which were called "fw9.pdf." I then
>> tried a search with "fw9" and that worked. So did "fw". I then
>> tried "w9" again, and no luck. Weird!
>
>spotlight does not work for partial name searches.

Is the Finder search in 10.6.8 called "Spotlight"?

In any event, your comment would imply that "fw" shouldn't have
worked, either, since it was only part of the file name.


Patty

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87827

In article <56a80f43$0$92819$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
<patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:

> >> I was just trying to find an IRS W-9 form in the Incoming folder
> >> on my desktop (which is where I put email attachments). I searched
> >> for "File Name" = "w9" with no success. So I scrolled through the
> >> folder and found the files, which were called "fw9.pdf." I then
> >> tried a search with "fw9" and that worked. So did "fw". I then
> >> tried "w9" again, and no luck. Weird!
> >
> >spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
> 
> Is the Finder search in 10.6.8 called "Spotlight"?

yep.

it debuted with tiger/10.4, over a decade ago:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_(software)>

> In any event, your comment would imply that "fw" shouldn't have
> worked, either, since it was only part of the file name.

that works because it begins on a word boundary. you don't have to
complete the word.

what doesn't work is when the search term begins in the middle of a
word.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87841

In article <260120161939511746%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
nospam  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>In article <56a80f43$0$92819$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
><patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:
>
>> In any event, your comment would imply that "fw" shouldn't have
>> worked, either, since it was only part of the file name.
>
>that works because it begins on a word boundary. you don't have to
>complete the word.
>
>what doesn't work is when the search term begins in the middle of a
>word.

That must be what's happening. Makes a certain amount of sense, but 
not so helpful when, for example, one forgets that the IRS put an "f" 
in front of "w9".


Patty

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87850

In article <56a859d7$0$92851$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
<patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:

> >> In any event, your comment would imply that "fw" shouldn't have
> >> worked, either, since it was only part of the file name.
> >
> >that works because it begins on a word boundary. you don't have to
> >complete the word.
> >
> >what doesn't work is when the search term begins in the middle of a
> >word.
> 
> That must be what's happening. Makes a certain amount of sense, 

it might make sense in that it answers your question but it does not
make any sense whatsoever for a search tool to do that.

> but 
> not so helpful when, for example, one forgets that the IRS put an "f" 
> in front of "w9".

yep, and there are countless other examples. 

someone might search for 'ology' to find documents named biology,
geology, psychology, etc., except that will fail.

a search tool that requires search queries to begin on word boundaries
is fundamentally broken and apple doesn't give a shit about fixing it.

meanwhile, this works properly;
<http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/>

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87854

In article <270120160612477706%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> a search tool that requires search queries to begin on word boundaries
> is fundamentally broken and apple doesn't give a shit about fixing it.

Command-F in Snow Leopard finds those things, it does not require what 
you are supposing it requires.

-- 
dorayme

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87913

nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> writes:

> meanwhile, this works properly;
> <http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/>

Yes, it definitely does.  Highly recommended.

Billy Y..
-- 
        sub     #'9+1   ,r0             ; convert ascii byte
	add     #9.+1   ,r0             ; to an integer
	bcc     20$                     ; not a number

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87963

On 1/27/16 1:33 p, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
> nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> writes:
>
>> meanwhile, this works properly;
>> <http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/>
>
> Yes, it definitely does.  Highly recommended.

EasyFind is also very good. Great for strings within terms. Find Any 
File and EasyFind both have their strengths. I have both in my Dock. I 
use EasyFind the most, but Find Any File can find files based on changed 
or modified within the last x minutes. Great for some troubleshooting.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#87834

In article <56a80f43$0$92819$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
 Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:

> In article <260120161716577255%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
> nospam  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> >In article <56a7ecc5$0$92818$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Patty Winter
> ><patty1@sonic.net> wrote:
> >
> >> I was just trying to find an IRS W-9 form in the Incoming folder
> >> on my desktop (which is where I put email attachments). I searched
> >> for "File Name" = "w9" with no success. So I scrolled through the
> >> folder and found the files, which were called "fw9.pdf." I then
> >> tried a search with "fw9" and that worked. So did "fw". I then
> >> tried "w9" again, and no luck. Weird!
> >
> >spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
> 
> Is the Finder search in 10.6.8 called "Spotlight"?
>

It is the Spotlight engine.
 
> In any event, your comment would imply that "fw" shouldn't have
> worked, either, since it was only part of the file name.
> 

I'm sure not, the example here begins the name, one of the criteria 
for some searches.

In case you are not sure, the Finder search engine interface allows 
you to search for parts of words, numbers that are contained within 
file names and all sorts of things.

Go Command F and take a look carefully, choose say Filename (dropdown 
menu item under the Search: "Desktop" This Mac etc.) Choose a menu 
item in the adjacent dropdown called 'contains' (rather than 'begins 
with' or 'ends with'). Searching for ree got me tons including '11 - 
Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon - It Ain't Me Babe.mp3', 
'allReels.jpg', ...

If w9 is part of a file name, Spotlight will find it. Restart your 
Finder or machine, make sure your indexing is upto date and try it 
again with a fresh Command F.

-- 
dorayme

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88065

In article <260120161716577255%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> spotlight does not work for partial name searches.

Nonsense.

-- 
dorayme

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88067

In article
<do_ray_me-856771.18591129012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
<do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:

> 
> > spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
> 
> Nonsense.

it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88104

In article <290120160644344096%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> In article
> <do_ray_me-856771.18591129012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
> <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > > spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
> > 
> > Nonsense.
> 
> it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.

It may be true for some files but not in general. The way you wrote 
it, it sounded like a general claim. I don't accept context, was never 
trained for that on the planet I came from.

-- 
dorayme

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88109

In article
<do_ray_me-B8F0BE.09112930012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
<do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:

> > > > spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
> > > 
> > > Nonsense.
> > 
> > it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.
> 
> It may be true for some files but not in general. 

it's true for all spotlight searches.

spotlight only works if the search query *begins* on a word boundary,
however, you don't have to type the entire word because it effectively
autocompletes it.

if you search query begins with the second character or later, it will
not find anything.

for example, let's say you want to find items such as psychology,
biology, oncology and physiology, so you search on 'ology' because
that's common to all of them. spotlight will not find anything.

however, if you want to find items such as psychology and psychiatry
and you search on 'psy', spotlight will find both, and possibly also
finding the song gangnam style.

> The way you wrote 
> it, it sounded like a general claim. I don't accept context, was never 
> trained for that on the planet I came from.

perhaps you should go back there.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88112

On 1/29/16 2:29 PM, nospam wrote:
> In article
> <do_ray_me-B8F0BE.09112930012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
> <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>>>>> spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
>>>>
>>>> Nonsense.
>>>
>>> it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.
>>
>> It may be true for some files but not in general.
>
> it's true for all spotlight searches.
>
> spotlight only works if the search query *begins* on a word boundary,
> however, you don't have to type the entire word because it effectively
> autocompletes it.
>
> if you search query begins with the second character or later, it will
> not find anything.
>
> for example, let's say you want to find items such as psychology,
> biology, oncology and physiology, so you search on 'ology' because
> that's common to all of them. spotlight will not find anything.
>
> however, if you want to find items such as psychology and psychiatry
> and you search on 'psy', spotlight will find both, and possibly also
> finding the song gangnam style.
>

Not quite.

Spotlight searches done through the general Spotlight interface 
(initiated by the magnifying glass in the menubar) won't find file name 
text from the middle of a word, but performing a Finder search for 
[name][contains]<sometextfromthemiddle> will work.

>> The way you wrote
>> it, it sounded like a general claim. I don't accept context, was never
>> trained for that on the planet I came from.
>
> perhaps you should go back there.
>

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88170

In message <n8grg3$sge$1@news.datemas.de> 
  Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> wrote:
> On 1/29/16 2:29 PM, nospam wrote:
>> In article
>> <do_ray_me-B8F0BE.09112930012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
>> <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>>> spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
>>>>>
>>>>> Nonsense.
>>>>
>>>> it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.
>>>
>>> It may be true for some files but not in general.
>>
>> it's true for all spotlight searches.
>>
>> spotlight only works if the search query *begins* on a word boundary,
>> however, you don't have to type the entire word because it effectively
>> autocompletes it.
>>
>> if you search query begins with the second character or later, it will
>> not find anything.
>>
>> for example, let's say you want to find items such as psychology,
>> biology, oncology and physiology, so you search on 'ology' because
>> that's common to all of them. spotlight will not find anything.
>>
>> however, if you want to find items such as psychology and psychiatry
>> and you search on 'psy', spotlight will find both, and possibly also
>> finding the song gangnam style.
>>

> Not quite.

> Spotlight searches done through the general Spotlight interface 
> (initiated by the magnifying glass in the menubar) won't find file name 
> text from the middle of a word, but performing a Finder search for 
> [name][contains]<sometextfromthemiddle> will work.

Yes, but that is a search restricted to the NAME of the file. You cannot
find files containing "biology" and "psychology" that way. Restrictive
searches in Spotlight are a bit different. A general Spotlight search
searches the entire database, including file contents and that search
only searches, as nospam said, on start-of-word boundaries.

You would have to do a Spotlight search for

--- Biology psychology oncology physiology

to find documents that contained all four terms or

--- Biology or psychology or oncology or physiology

To find documents that contained any of the words.

And neither search would find sociology.

-- 
Two, Four, Six, Eight! Time to Transubstantiate!

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88292

On 1/30/16 9:03 AM, Lewis wrote:
> In message <n8grg3$sge$1@news.datemas.de>
>    Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> wrote:
>> On 1/29/16 2:29 PM, nospam wrote:
>>> In article
>>> <do_ray_me-B8F0BE.09112930012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
>>> <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>>>> spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nonsense.
>>>>>
>>>>> it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.
>>>>
>>>> It may be true for some files but not in general.
>>>
>>> it's true for all spotlight searches.
>>>
>>> spotlight only works if the search query *begins* on a word boundary,
>>> however, you don't have to type the entire word because it effectively
>>> autocompletes it.
>>>
>>> if you search query begins with the second character or later, it will
>>> not find anything.
>>>
>>> for example, let's say you want to find items such as psychology,
>>> biology, oncology and physiology, so you search on 'ology' because
>>> that's common to all of them. spotlight will not find anything.
>>>
>>> however, if you want to find items such as psychology and psychiatry
>>> and you search on 'psy', spotlight will find both, and possibly also
>>> finding the song gangnam style.
>>>
>
>> Not quite.
>
>> Spotlight searches done through the general Spotlight interface
>> (initiated by the magnifying glass in the menubar) won't find file name
>> text from the middle of a word, but performing a Finder search for
>> [name][contains]<sometextfromthemiddle> will work.
>
> Yes, but that is a search restricted to the NAME of the file. You cannot
> find files containing "biology" and "psychology" that way. Restrictive
> searches in Spotlight are a bit different. A general Spotlight search
> searches the entire database, including file contents and that search
> only searches, as nospam said, on start-of-word boundaries.
>
> You would have to do a Spotlight search for
>
> --- Biology psychology oncology physiology
>
> to find documents that contained all four terms or
>
> --- Biology or psychology or oncology or physiology
>
> To find documents that contained any of the words.
>
> And neither search would find sociology.
>

You can do a finder search to find every file that contains "ology" in 
it without any difficulty.

I just took this reply, saved it to my desktop and was able to use 
Cmd-opt-F to find "ology".

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88297

In message <n8kljc$4il$5@news.datemas.de> 
  Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> wrote:
> On 1/30/16 9:03 AM, Lewis wrote:
>> In message <n8grg3$sge$1@news.datemas.de>
>>    Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> wrote:
>>> On 1/29/16 2:29 PM, nospam wrote:
>>>> In article
>>>> <do_ray_me-B8F0BE.09112930012016@46.sub-75-242-165.myvzw.com>, dorayme
>>>> <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>>>> spotlight does not work for partial name searches.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Nonsense.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> it's not nonsense, as patty found out, and have others.
>>>>>
>>>>> It may be true for some files but not in general.
>>>>
>>>> it's true for all spotlight searches.
>>>>
>>>> spotlight only works if the search query *begins* on a word boundary,
>>>> however, you don't have to type the entire word because it effectively
>>>> autocompletes it.
>>>>
>>>> if you search query begins with the second character or later, it will
>>>> not find anything.
>>>>
>>>> for example, let's say you want to find items such as psychology,
>>>> biology, oncology and physiology, so you search on 'ology' because
>>>> that's common to all of them. spotlight will not find anything.
>>>>
>>>> however, if you want to find items such as psychology and psychiatry
>>>> and you search on 'psy', spotlight will find both, and possibly also
>>>> finding the song gangnam style.
>>>>
>>
>>> Not quite.
>>
>>> Spotlight searches done through the general Spotlight interface
>>> (initiated by the magnifying glass in the menubar) won't find file name
>>> text from the middle of a word, but performing a Finder search for
>>> [name][contains]<sometextfromthemiddle> will work.
>>
>> Yes, but that is a search restricted to the NAME of the file. You cannot
>> find files containing "biology" and "psychology" that way. Restrictive
>> searches in Spotlight are a bit different. A general Spotlight search
>> searches the entire database, including file contents and that search
>> only searches, as nospam said, on start-of-word boundaries.
>>
>> You would have to do a Spotlight search for
>>
>> --- Biology psychology oncology physiology
>>
>> to find documents that contained all four terms or
>>
>> --- Biology or psychology or oncology or physiology
>>
>> To find documents that contained any of the words.
>>
>> And neither search would find sociology.
>>

> You can do a finder search to find every file that contains "ology" in 
> it without any difficulty.

> I just took this reply, saved it to my desktop and was able to use 
> Cmd-opt-F to find "ology".

Yes, because there is a *WORD* ology in the text. You will also find
documents that contain something like something-ology (because - is
treated as a word boundary).

What you cannot do is do a spotlight search for 'ology' and find
documents that contain 'biology', do try to keep up.


-- 
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a
friend.... if you have one." - GB Shaw to Churchill "Cannot possibly
attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston
Churchill, in response.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88326

In article <n8kljc$4il$5@news.datemas.de>,
Alan Baker  <alangbaker@telus.net> wrote:

[whole bunch of uneeded text deleted]

>On 1/30/16 9:03 AM, Lewis wrote:
>> Yes, but that is a search restricted to the NAME of the file. You cannot
>> find files containing "biology" and "psychology" that way. Restrictive
>> searches in Spotlight are a bit different. A general Spotlight search
>> searches the entire database, including file contents and that search
>> only searches, as nospam said, on start-of-word boundaries.
>>
>> You would have to do a Spotlight search for
>>
>> --- Biology psychology oncology physiology
>>
>> to find documents that contained all four terms or
>>
>> --- Biology or psychology or oncology or physiology
>>
>> To find documents that contained any of the words.
>>
>> And neither search would find sociology.
>
>You can do a finder search to find every file that contains "ology" in
>it without any difficulty.
>
>I just took this reply, saved it to my desktop and was able to use
>Cmd-opt-F to find "ology".

Alan, are you talking about searching the *contents* of a file? My
question was about *filenames*. It's fine if the topic of this thread
has drifted; I just want to make sure which situation you're talking
about, because I sure wouldn't be able to get "ology" to work with
filenames on my computer.


Patty

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#88338

In article <56ae3f34$0$32859$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
 Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:

> ... I sure wouldn't be able to get "ology" to work with
> filenames on my computer.

Why are you so sure when you have been shown a demo that it can in 
fact be done. And I did it just now by including ology in the middle 
of a file name. What is going on here?

-- 
dorayme

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

Page 1 of 3  [1] 2 3  Next page →

Back to top | Article view | comp.sys.mac.system

csiph-web