Questions related to searching a filesystem, either live searches or indexed file searches.
Questions tagged [file-search]
205 questions
52
votes
5 answers
Can I force full speed to the indexing service of Windows?
On windows 7 there's 'pause' and there's 'indexing speed is reduced due to user activity' but what if one wants full speed during desktop activity?
j riv
- 2,516
- 9
- 38
- 45
42
votes
15 answers
Is there a directory history for bash?
Is there something like bash's reverse-search-history (Ctrl-R), but for only directories?
I have some deep folder hierarchies that I want to jump to, so I'd like to use something like reverse-search-history, but it only looks for folder names and…
idbrii
- 1,129
- 1
- 8
- 20
38
votes
4 answers
Exclude folders from recent files
Windows 10 shows a list of recent files in the explorer. Is there a possibility to exclude certain folders (recursively) from being shown in this list?
principal-ideal-domain
- 1,053
- 2
- 12
- 15
28
votes
3 answers
Why don't file managers use the Master File Table for instant search results?
I've just discovered UltraSearch and was blown away by its file and folder search speed. It's instantaneous. And doesn't use any indexing service. It simply uses the NTFS Master File Table, which already stores all the filenames on the NTFS…
Dan Dascalescu
- 3,769
- 6
- 35
- 53
28
votes
3 answers
How to stop Windows Search from auto excluding repository folders?
Windows search indexer is adding most paths to repository folders (both .git and .svn) to the exclusion list.
I can remove them manually of course, but each time i rebuild the index - they are re-added.
I can add them as indexed locations, but i'd…
klepp0906
- 1,015
- 2
- 13
- 20
23
votes
3 answers
Find file recursively under Windows (dir /s not suitable)
I need find a file in Windows under command line, but receive results as a table. Similar to windowed version of find, where we have last column, displaying location.
dir /s doesn't match this requirement, because it enters each directory and…
Dims
- 12,244
- 78
- 161
- 252
21
votes
9 answers
Free visual similarity image for a local hard drive search?
I'm looking for a desktop search engine for finding images on my local hard drive with high visual similarity. I've only found paid for ones so far. It could be Linux or windows one, either would be helpful.
A Google desktop plug-in would be nice!
barrymac
- 765
- 3
- 9
- 21
16
votes
2 answers
How do I disable indexing in a specific directory across multiple platforms?
I have some files that will be accessed across several platforms (Mac OS X and Windows 7 mainly, but I wouldn't rule out Linux in the future) and I do not want these files indexed by the search services of the platforms (there will be some DB dumps…
CyberSkull
- 1,465
- 4
- 17
- 31
15
votes
5 answers
Windows 7 File Explorer search not working
I can't use the Windows 7 File Explorer search successfully. If I enter a search string, for instance car in the search box, I just get No files found, despite obviously having several files that match the string (blue_cars.jpg, carrot.gif) in the…
Gruber
- 2,231
- 5
- 24
- 32
15
votes
3 answers
Notepad++ excluding find filters
In Notepad++ I want to search in all file types except one.
For instance: I want to search in all files but not .class files.
Can the Notepad++ filter can be configured to work this way?
user29169
14
votes
1 answer
How to find all video type files in windows 8.1
How can I find all my video files in windows 8.1? I go into the windows 8.1 start screen and start typing "*.avi". It finds a small number of videos on my C drive. Search appears to only look on the system drive. It does not bother to search D…
P.Brian.Mackey
- 2,120
- 6
- 28
- 36
14
votes
4 answers
Find files with non-ASCII characters in filenames in Windows XP
Is there any easy way to find all files in a particular directory that have any non-ASCII (ie. Unicode) characters in the filename? I'm running Windows XP x64 SP2, NTFS filesystem.
EMP
- 4,958
- 12
- 45
- 52
13
votes
3 answers
Windows 8 Stuck on Start Screen File Search
I have been searching someone else having the same issue but I couldn't find any. Here is my problem:
I'm using Windows 8 Pro with Media Center. File search screen does not close itself after I make a file search within start screen. It stuck on…
baturayd
- 131
- 1
- 5
12
votes
1 answer
Start Menu search is very slow in Windows 8.1
Not sure what is causing this and was wondering if anyone else had this problem with any way to fix it? It takes about 2-5 seconds after hitting the windows key and starting to type for the search bar on the side to come up. The start menu will…
sprinklestereo
- 235
- 1
- 3
- 15
12
votes
1 answer
Ack/Ag/Pt just list files?
For a Unix/Unix-like OS...
So, I know I can just use find . to list all of the files recursively from the current folder. This includes files I am not interested in.
Using Ack, Ag (silver searcher), or Pt (platinum searcher), is there a way to do…
aikeru
- 243
- 2
- 9