Windows 10: How do I do a Windows file search by file contents with an asterisk wildcard in the first...

Hello,I am struggling to use wildcards for searching for files in Windows by content, in the specific case where the wildcard replaces the first character. So, for example, if I am searching for files with the word foobar in them then:Searching for foobar will find them.Searching for foob*r will find them.Searching for fooba* will find them.Searching for *foobar will find them.Searching for *oobar with not find them.Wrapping the word is quotation marks, or using the prefix content: does not appear to change this behaviour.Can anyone explain to me why this is? How would I then search for all do

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Wildcard File Search Broken

There is
another thread on this subject, but it is locked.

Some of the information in the above thread is correct, but some is not and the bottom line is that file search is both broken and sorely undocumented.

The most notable problem is that in some circumstances, wildcard searches for filenames will not show any results when the last letter of the extension is typed... for example;

*.pd finds all files where the extension _begins_ with "pd" such as "myfile.pdf"

but

*.pdf returns zero results even if there are hundreds of files with the extension ".pdf"

The problem get's serious when searching for something like python scripts... i.e. "myfile.py" since searching for "myfile.p" using "*.p" will find every file who's extension begins with ".p" but using "*.py" will not find any files that have the extension
".py"

The scenario gets complicated and confusing using qualifiers such as "name:" in order to return only filename and not file content results.

Other options suggested options such as adding ~" to a wildcard string return mixed results and, as far as I can determine these qualifiers are totally undocumented.

Discussion and options requested.

Thanks in advance,

Beverly Howard

 

Using Wildcard to search in windows Explorer

Hi Jerry,

To isolate your concern regarding Wildcard search on
Windows File Explorer, we suggest that you run an SFC
(System File Checker) tool to check for system file corruptions and fix it. Once done, restart your computer and check if the issue persists.

In addition, you can manage the search options to give you the most thorough search by following these steps:

• Click File tab on Windows File Explorer, click
  Change folder and search options.
  
  
• Click Search tab and select Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files (search might take longer).
  
• You can also select Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes).
  

Let us know if the solution above works for you.

 

Windows 10 File Explorer Search Wildcard Characters Not Working

Dear Boulder_Man,

Thanks for your input, but as I posted, I managed to solve the problem in (unique to Windows 10?),
by turning the indexing option off, even though I'm not searching for system files. That forces it to search through the actual file directories, rather than some out of date index list.

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to mark my own answer as "Mark as Answer" or even "Helpful."

I'm not sure which version of Windows you are using, but there definitely is a field specifier,
"name:" I use it quite often. It searches the filename field, which appears to have been renamed 'Name' in Windows 10 (possibly an earlier version). See the first field in the image above.

BTW, I tested your tilde suggestion, but it didn't work. From earlier Windows Search releases, the tilde (undocumented) seems to ensure that wildcard characters, such as asterisks, are treated as wildcards and not actual characters. But that actually isn't
my problem, as the index list is incomplete, hence the files are not found.

If you do 'upgrade' to Windows 10, do note that a number of things are still a bit wonky. And I would recommend staying away from Windows 10
Home, unless you want Microsoft to periodically seize your laptop and force a re-boot when it sees fit!

Kind regards,