Windows Syntax & Search

Hi!
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I want to search for strings that occur within the contents of text files.
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I am definitely missing something with respect to Windows' search syntax or Windows in general...sorry!
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To avoid the complexity of my specific issue, I created the following test scenario.
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1) I created a file called test.txt on my Desktop
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2) I entered the string "abc123abc" in test.txt
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3) I double checked that test.txt is indexed...it IS
....a) I deleted and rebuilt my index database
....b) I double checked that test.txt is indexed again...it IS again
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4) I attempted to search, unsuccessfully, for test.txt
....a) My search strings are
........i) not "test"
........ii) "abc"
........iii) "123"
........iv) "*abc*"
........v) "*123*"
........vi) "?abc?"
........vii) "?123?"
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I really do not understand what I am missing.
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Please help!
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Thanks,
Mark
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PS: Those dots everywhere are to counter this forum's automatic white space edit.

Search for a file containing a specific string in file contents:

contents:string

Search for a file with two specific strings in file contents:

contents:string1 AND contents:string2

Search for a file with at least one of three specific strings in file contents:

contents:string1 OR contents:string2 OR contents:string3

Search for a file with one of two specific strings in file contents, excluding files which also have a spefic string:

contents:string1 OR contents:string2 NOT contents:string3

Note that logical operators AND, OR, NOT must be given in all uppercase.

Kari

Thank you for your reply Kari.
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Please help me understand another detail.
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When I enter into the search text box, the following strings,
...."contents:abc"
........I find test.txt
...."contents:123"
........I do not find test.txt
...."contents:*abc*"
........I find test.txt
...."contents:*123*"
........I do not find test.txt
...."contents:?abc?"
........I find test.txt
...."contents:?123?"
........I do not find test.txt
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Why do I not find test.txt when searching for "contents:123", "contents:*123*", and "contents:?123?" while I do find test.txt when searching for "contents:abc", "contents:*abc*", and "contents:?abc?" ?
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Thanks,
Mark

Add double tilde (~~) to search a partial string within a string:

contents:~~123

Without two tildes, the partial string you are searching for must be at the beginning of the string. Double tilde tells it can be located within a longer string.

Kari

Advanced Query Syntax (Windows)

Hi, it seems the difficulty is that you must specify text from the start of the string.

The question is discussed here:
File Explorer how to search content using wildcards


Neither * nor ? are recognised as wild card characters in content search- * seems to be ignored.
(They are valid for filename search though).

What works (for me!)
abc*
abc
abc123

Note that
*abc finds the file, which might suggest
*3abc would, but it doesn't.

What doesn’t work:
*123abc
???123*
???123???
123abc
abc*abc

Advanced Query Syntax gives a lot of information, but is old and not complete.
Even 'How to Geek' only gives a simple example of text content search
Learning Windows Search: Use Boolean, Dates, and Wildcards to Give Your Searches a Boost

3rd party tools are just simpler.. even if they don't index content like this one:

Here I started from 'Everywhere' (both disks), specified txt documents containing 123abc

The result was fairly quick.