Failed Simple search and/or senility

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ChrisGreaves
Posts: 729
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 9:29 pm

Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I have some 288 Word2003 documents "WhatFAQ.doc" on my hard drive, one to-do list for each project.
The sensible thing to find the WhatFaq.doc for my Under-the-hood project would be to type in the search box "whatfaq.doc" (288 results) and then type a space and then type "under" to identify the one file I should edit.
FailedSearch02.png
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whatfaq.doc under
This search string produces zero results.
FailedSearch01.png
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Of course I am lazy, and i know where the document resides, so when I use

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whatfaq.doc T:\Greaves\Products\USER\UnderW
I see what I wanted to see in the first place!

Obviously the file exists, and the folder name is "underW" rather than "under", but I am puzzled. I have been thinking that a series of strings in the search box is matched along the entire path-name, and that "under" should satisfy "underW".

Am I growing too old to use Everything? Or what?
Thanks for any clues/suggestions.
Cheers, Chris
w64bit
Posts: 275
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:06 am

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by w64bit »

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whatfaq.doc \under
ChrisGreaves
Posts: 729
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 9:29 pm

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by ChrisGreaves »

LATER: "You have Picture enabled." as pointed out by Rube (below). Leaving "Picture" as a filter was indeed an error on my part, but in a reply to TheRube i have clarified my initial puzzlement. I hope. Chris
w64bit wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 2:51 pm

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whatfaq.doc \under
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W64bit, thanks for the suggestion. I had already tried a few variants on a theme, and I would have expected "\Under" to work if the folder was indeed a variant of "Under*"
But more importantly, I expected the standalone string "under" to narrow down the search to, maybe, a half-dozen entries.

The full path of the document folder is

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T:\Greaves\Products\USER\UnderW
The full path of the document is

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T:\Greaves\Products\USER\UnderW\WhatFAQ.DOC
I fully expected a search for

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UnderW WhatFAQ.DOC
, the search string being formed by deleting elements of the folder path one by one, to locate the document.

Clearly I have mis-understood how Everything works, but I can't work out WHY it doesn't work.
Cheers, Chris
Last edited by ChrisGreaves on Fri Feb 21, 2025 7:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
horst.epp
Posts: 1493
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 3:24 pm

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by horst.epp »

I guess you same option ticked under the Search menu.
Make the as the default is and try again.
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therube
Posts: 5188
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by therube »

It's the latter ;-).

You have Picture enabled.
So unless you have .doc association to a Picture, you're not going to find it.


You can also include path: in your search (or enable Match Path in Options [which seems to be overly broad, for some]).
whatfaq.doc path:under
ChrisGreaves
Posts: 729
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 9:29 pm

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by ChrisGreaves »

therube wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2025 4:42 pmIt's the latter ;-).
I just KNEW it :lol: :lol:
You have Picture enabled.
I had been searching for Pictures in between essays and indeed had forgotten to clear the filter :doh:
You can also include path: in your search (or enable Match Path in Options [which seems to be overly broad, for some]).
whatfaq.doc path:under
Now this works. And perhaps I have misunderstood a basic search all along?!!???
FailedSearch03.png
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W64bit's suggestion now returns two results, as he intended and as I now am happy to see.
The string "under" prefaced by a slash forces the string "under" to be taken as the leading part of a folder name.
That makes sense to me, and I have used that trick in the past.
FailedSearch04.png
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But when I strip away that slash character, the string "under" is NOT used in searching the path to the folder; the string "under" will only be applied to the name of the file. And since "under" is not a part of the name of the file, no results are found. That makes sense to me.
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Use of the prefix "path:" now forces the string "under" to be matched against the Fullpath, that is, the folder names AND the filename.

I think my mistake lay in thinking that a search for <string1> <string2> <string3> was effected as looking for each of the strings anywhere in the Fullpath; but <string1> <string2> <string3> without a path separator or without the "Path:" qualifier will look ONLY in the file's name.

From my early days I have believed that a simple search string examines the Full path, But that is not so; only if "path:" is stated explicitly or implicitly (by a preface "\") will a simple string be applied to a file or a path.

And now ...
FailedSearch06.png
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... here I think lies the source of my confusion.
I use the string "under" and Everything finds 397 entries.
(a) some entries are the explicit folder in which is stored my application "Under the hood"
(b) some entries are folders that contain "under" somewhere in the name of a folder of a file
(c) some entries are files that contain "under" somewhere in the name of the file.

But then, but then, if that statement is true, how do I account for both files and folders being returned in the image (FailedSearch06.png) above?
FailedSearch07.png
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Above I have searched for the simple string "tfa", which logically, is no different from searching for the string "under"; now I see results for "tfa" being matched in both folder names and file names.
Worse:
(d) "tfa" is matched in folder names and is not matched in the corresponding file names and
(e) "tfa" is not matched in folder names and is matched in the corresponding file names

I am now senile, ignorant, and confused more than ever.
Such is my progress!
Cheers, Chris
therube
Posts: 5188
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Failed Simple search and/or senility

Post by therube »

From my early days I have believed that a simple search string examines the Full path, But that is not so; only if "path:" is stated explicitly or implicitly (by a preface "\") will a simple string be applied to a file or a path.
Or, if
Search | Match Path
, is enabled.
(On my end, I almost always have that enabled. Works for me.)

Search:
jethro tull brick

c:/music/jethro tull - thick as a brick.mp3
c:/think as a brick/jethro tull.mp3

Depending on Match Path, I'll see 1 or 2 results.

I use the string "under" and Everything finds 397 entries.
(a) some entries are the explicit folder in which is stored my application "Under the hood"
(b) some entries are folders that contain "under" somewhere in the name of a folder of a file
(c) some entries are files that contain "under" somewhere in the name of the file.
In all cases, be it a folder or a file, the "item" (folder | file) is in the Name column.
So you can have a file name of "under" & you can have a folder name of "under".
The Name, being different from the Path (as far as the search is concerned).
If you want Path, being different from Name, you need to say so (in some manner).

Likewise, if you only want to see files, you can specify, file:, so file:under.
If you only want to see folders, you can specify, folder:, so folder:under.

Note too that folder: is different from path:.
A folder is an "item", where path is a "location".
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