Finding Folders that do not contain music files ?

[Flourgrader]

Hi All,
This question applies to Everything 1.5 1296a(x64)
I am cleaning up 1000 music folders,
There will be nested folders to some depth on this project.
And I need to find folders that do not contain music.
I want to get them in a list so I can batch file delete them.
This is what I tried!
It did not work!
I tried it with filter audio and everything.. not sure if that would have made a difference?

F:\DATA\MUSIC\ !child:*.mp3 !child:*.flac !child:*.ape !child:*.m4a

Does anyone know what the string command is to achieve this
Thank You.

[raccoon]

I think what you want is the following negated or-group syntax.

folder: !<child:*.mp3|child:*.flac|child:*.ape|child:*.m4a>

If you want to make sure the results are folders that contain at least one file in them, not just other folders, add this too.

childfilecount:>0

[NotNull]

I think what you want is the following negated or-group syntax.

folder: !<child:*.mp3|child:*.flac|child:*.ape|child:*.m4a>

If you want to make sure the results are folders that contain at least one file in them, not just other folders, add this too.

childfilecount:>0

Be careful with that!
It will also report folders that have deeper subfolders.
For example:
"c:\Band\Year - Album\" contains your music files and c:\band\ only contains folders. Now C:\Band will be reported too, which would delete all your music !!

Add childfoldercount:0 to your search

[void]

F:\DATA\MUSIC\ !descendant-file:<*.mp3|*.flac|*.ape|*.m4a>



descendant:

[Flourgrader]

Thank You, David,
your suggestion worked
perfectly, it was nice, simple and uncomplicated to execute.
raccoon & NotNull
Thank you, for your suggestions.
they where much appreciated.

[denmalley]

Sorry to reawaken this old thread - I searched up this thread trying to find this solution and when I tried using the search parameter that void gave on my music folder I'm actually getting the opposite result - only showing files that ARE music files. When I remove the ! (not) I get nothing at all.

Did this functionality change sometime in the past two years?

[NotNull]

First of all: what Everything version?

The query provided --- F:\DATA\MUSIC\ !descendant-file:<*.mp3|*.flac|*.ape|*.m4a> -- will also show files.

Does the following one show all folders that do not contain music files below them?

Code: Select all

folder:   "F:\DATA\MUSIC\"   !descendant-file:<*.mp3|*.flac|*.ape|*.m4a>

[denmalley]

Thanks for quick reply!

I'm running the latest version posted at the website - 1.4.1.1024

I think I figured out what I needed to do, although I went a little less technical and just searched for anything in my "music" folder that didn't have a music file extension, sorted by extension and visually scanned the list for what I wanted to delete. I think I got tripped up by the semantics of the original request - find FOLDERS that do not contain music files. I just wanted to find anything that was not a music file among my music folders. So I think that original query did what it should have done, and did not display files that were in folders that also contained music files.

Thanks for the help! Still working my way through this tremendously powerful program!

[NotNull]

The descendant: search function is available in Everything 1.5, not in version 1.4.
(You posted in the "Everything 1.5 Alpha" forum )



Although version 1.5 is still labelled as an alpha version, it is very mature. You can run it side-by-side with version 1.4, but most regulars here are using 1.5 as their main version.
I would like to suggest to install 1.5 as it has many, many new features that you will probably like.
The descendant: function is only a minor one ...

[denmalley]

The descendant: search function is available in Everything 1.5, not in version 1.4.
(You posted in the "Everything 1.5 Alpha" forum )



Although version 1.5 is still labelled as an alpha version, it is very mature. You can run it side-by-side with version 1.4, but most regulars here are using 1.5 as their main version.
I would like to suggest to install 1.5 as it has many, many new features that you will probably like.
The descendant: function is only a minor one ...

Doh! I'm really letting my noob flag fly here. Well I ought to have a better look around these forums and learn my way. I'll give 1.5 a try, thanks for the tip!

[NotNull]

Overlooked your question:

I just wanted to find anything that was not a music file among my music folders.

For that you don't need version 1.5:

Code: Select all

file:   "C:\your music\folder\"  !audio:

file: = show only files
! = NOT
audio: = a filter macro that expands to ext:aac;ac3;aif;aifc;aiff;au;cda;dts;fla;flac;it;m1a;m2a;m3u;m4a;mid;midi;mka;mod;mp2;mp3;mpa;ogg;ra;rmi;spc;rmi;snd;umx;voc;wav;wma;xm


Or, if you only have a couple of music file extensions:

Code: Select all

file:   "C:\your music\folder\"  !ext:mp3;flac;ape 

[NotNull]

Doh! I'm really letting my noob flag fly here. Well I ought to have a better look around these forums and learn my way. I'll give 1.5 a try, thanks for the tip!

You're not alone. The number of times I gave an "1.5 answer" in the "1.4 forum" ....


See also my post above that actually should answer your question.