Searching for special characters


  1. Posts : 2
    Windows 10
       #1

    Searching for special characters


    Hi all! I just purchased a new Dell with Windows 10. I had a Dell with Windows XP SP3 for ages, and when I made the mistake of updating one of my drivers... Well, it was getting to be time to update... I've a few more grey hairs now.

    Anyway, in my old machine, when I modified a file, I would just append a "-2" or "-3" to the file name, ie. File005-02.html. This made searches very easy, as I could just search for -2 and it would list all the files I'd changed. I have my old drive slaved into my new pc, but I can't seem to figure out what Win10 wants to search for just "-2". Win10 gives me all the files with a 2 in the name or inside the file, completely ignoring the dash, which returns a huge number of files.

    Is there a quick way to do a simple search for files with a dash, underscore, or other special character in the filename?

    Can I turn off the "search inside the file" function, so that it just searches filenames?

    Thanks!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    To find any file containing -2 search for filename:*-2:

    Searching for special characters-image.png
    (Click to enlarge.)

    Search parameter filename:* followed by any special character searches for that character in file names. For example searching for filename:*& finds all files with an ampersand (&) in filename, search filename:*_ finds all files with an underscore in file name, search filename:*, finds all files with a comma in file name.

    Kari
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Kari said:
    To find any file containing -2 search for filename:*-2:

    Searching for special characters-image.png
    (Click to enlarge.)

    Search parameter filename:* followed by any special character searches for that character in file names. For example searching for filename:*& finds all files with an ampersand (&) in filename, search filename:*_ finds all files with an underscore in file name, search filename:*, finds all files with a comma in file name.

    Kari
    Terrific, that works. I thought the * was just a wildcard; that's what all the help faqs said. If you leave off the filename: it pulls everything with a 2 in it. It's a bit odd that MS would make a simple search that cumbersome.

    Thank you so much!
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
       #4

    You are welcome :)
      My Computer


 

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