Search Syntax

An Everything search consists of one or more search terms joined by search operators.


Syntax
Operators
Wildcards
Macros
Character Entities
Filename Parts
See also



Syntax

A search term specifies what to search.
The basic structure of a single search term is:

[!][search-modifier:][search-function:]<text>

[!]

Optional NOT operator to exclude the search term.

[search-modifier:]

Optional search modifiers.
Multiple search modifiers may be specified to change how the search term is matched.
Search modifiers override default settings in the Search menu, allowing you to temporarily enable or disable matching options.

[search-function:]

Optional search function to search a specific property, such as a date or size.

<text>

Search text or a value interpreted by the search function.

Literal text without a search function matches file and folder names.
If Match Path is enabled in the Search menu, literal text matches against the full path instead.

For example:
abc = matches filenames containing abc
path:abc = matches full paths containing abc
date-modified:today = matches files and folders modified today
case:extension:JPG = matches files with an extension containing uppercase JPG
!abc = excludes filenames containing abc



Search terms can be combined with search operators to create more complex search expressions.

<search-term> <operator> <search-term> ...

For example:
abc 123 = matches filenames containing both abc AND 123
*.jpg | *.png = matches files with a jpg OR png extension




Operators

Operators combine search terms and control how they are evaluated.

space

AND search terms together.

For example:
abc 123 = matches abc AND 123

|

OR search terms together.

Spaces immediately before or after | are ignored.

For example:
abc|123 = matches abc OR 123
abc | 123 = matches abc OR 123

!

NOT a search term.
The search term that follows is excluded.

For example:
!abc = matches NOT abc

< >

Group search terms together to change the evaluation order.

For example:
!<abc 123> = matches NOT (abc AND 123)

" "

Quote search text.
Treats everything inside the quotes as plain text.
Operators inside quotes are ignored.

For example:
"C:\Program Files" = matches the text: C:\Program Files

By default, OR is evaluated before AND.

For example:
apple banana | orange = matches apple AND (banana OR orange)

Use grouping < > to change the evaluation order.

For example:
<apple banana> | orange = matches (apple AND banana) OR orange

Operator precedence can be changed in the Search Options.



Wildcards

*	Matches zero or more characters (except \)
**	Matches zero or more characters
?	Matches one character (except \)

The whole filename is matched when using wildcards.

For example:
*.mp3 = matches mp3 files
foo* = matches filenames starting with foo
*foo* = matches filenames containing foo
stem:*bar = matches filenames ending with bar (ignoring extension)



Macros

audio:	Matches audio files.
zip:	Matches compressed files.
doc:	Matches document files.
exe:	Matches executable files.
image:	Matches image files.
video:	Matches video files.

For example:
audio: = matches audio files
audio:|video: = matches audio or video files




Character Entities

&sp:	Literal space ( )
&vert:	Literal vertical line (|)
&excl:	Literal exclamation mark (!)
&lt:	Literal less than (<)
&gt:	Literal greater than (>)
&quot:	Literal double quote (")
&#<n>:	Literal Unicode character <n> in decimal.
&#x<n>:	Literal Unicode character <n> in hexadecimal.

For example:
C:\Program&sp:Files = match files/folders in C:\Program files
&excl:readme.txt = match filenames containing !readme.txt
content:&quot:foo&quot: = match file content containing "foo"
diacritics:&#xad: = match filenames containing a soft hyphen (-)

Character Entities



Filename parts

Full Path	C:\folder\file.txt
Name	file.txt
Path	C:\folder
Stem	file
Extension	txt

See also

Search Modifiers
Search Functions
operator_precedence