Simple Find

The simple mode of the Find tool lets you search for files using one or more of the following parameters:

• Name matching: Specify the name of the file to search for. You can use standard pattern matching in this field to search for names using wildcards.
  
• Containing text: If a string is specified here then each file (that matches the other criteria defined) will also be searched to see if it contains the specified text. Searching for containing text can make a search much slower.
  
  The Use wildcards option lets you use standard pattern matching when defining the text string to search for - if you leave this off, the string must match exactly. The Case sensitive option lets you specify that the case (upper/lowercase) of the supplied string must match exactly as well - if this is turned off, then upper and lower case letters are considered the same.
  
• Type: You can use this drop-down to search for files or folders of a certain type. The drop-down list lets you pick from a list of all registered file types. So instead of specifying *.bmp for the Name matching field, you can select Bitmap Image from this drop-down to find bitmap files. This list also contains the following special types:                                   
  • Files only: Matches all files, but not folders
  • Folders only: Matches all folders, but not files.
  • Junctions/Links/Shortcuts: Matches shortcuts, folder junctions and hard or soft links.
    
• Date: This lets you match on a file's date. You can choose which datestamp is compared (created, last modified or last accessed). Only the date is considered, not the time. The following options are available for the Date drop-down:
  • Ignore: The date is not considered.
  • On: Search for files whose datestamp falls exactly on the specified date.
  • Before: The datestamp must be before the specified date.
  • After: The datestamp must be after the specified date.
  • Between: The datestamp must be between the two specified dates.
  • Not Between: The datestamp must not be between the two dates (it must be either earlier than the first date or later than the second).
  • Within: Lets you specify a date relative to the current date. For example, Within 7 days to search for files modified within the past week.
    
• Time: This lets you match on a file's time. You can choose which datestamp is compared (created, last modified or last accessed). Only the time is considered, not the date. Seconds are ignored by this - you only need to specify the hours and minutes of the time to search for. The following options are available:
  • Ignore: The time is not considered.
  • At: Search for files whose timestamp is exactly the specified time.
  • Before: The timestamp must be before the specified time.
  • After: The timestamp must be after the specified time.
  • Between: The timestamp must fall between the two specified times.
  • Not Between: The timestamp must not fall between the two times.
  • +/- One Hour: The timestamp must be within one hour (plus or minus) of the specified time.
  • +/- Six Hours: The timestamp must be within six hours of the specified time.
  • Within: Lets you specify a time relative to the current time. For example, Within 30 minutes to search for files modified in the past half-hour.
    
• Size: This lets you search for a file by size. The size value must be given in KB (kilobytes). When the size is compared, it is rounded to the nearest kilobyte, so a search for Size Equals 1 (kb) would find a file that was 1400 bytes. The options available are:
  • Ignore: The size is not considered.
  • Equals: The size must match exactly (after rounding).
  • Smaller Than: The file must be smaller than the specified size.
  • Greater Than: The file must be larger than the specified size.
  • Between: The file size must be between the two specified values.
  • Not Between: The file size must not be between the two specified values.
  • +/- 25%: The file size must be within 25% (plus or minus) of the specified value.
  • +/- 50%: The file size must be within 50% (plus or minus) of the specified value.

In this example we are searching for all files that end with a .txt extension, that have been modified within the past seven days, and that contain the text string "individuality". Time, size and type are all being ignored.