User Guide

Chapter 10 Searching
195
Searching with file name patterns
You can type a text pattern into the Search pane's Search for files and folders named field to search for
file names. You can search simple patterns such as portions of file names, or more advanced patterns
that include wild cards.
File name pattern wild cards
Wild card Result Example
? Matches any single character in the file
name.
ca?.jpg results in cat.jpg, cap.jpg, and
car.jpg, but not cats.jpg
* Matches zero or more characters in the
file name.
cat* results in cat.jpg, cats.jpg, and
cathy.jpg
[…] Matches any of the enclosed characters. ca[tr] results in cat.jpg or car.jpg, but
not cap.jpg
[!…] Matches any character not enclosed. cat[!0] results in cata.jpg and catb.jpg,
but not cat0.jpg
[…-…] Matches any character in the specified
range.
cat[a-f0-9] results in cata.jpg, catb.jpg,
catf.jpg and cat0.jpg, cat1.jpg, …,
cat9.jpg
\ Blocks the use of other wild card
characters that are also characters
permitted in a file name, such as square
brackets: [ ]. The * and ? characters are
not permitted in file names so this
function does not work with them.
Because square brackets are wild cards,
if you wanted to search for a file name
that contains a bracket, you can precede
the bracket with a backslash:
ACD\[123\] results in ACD[123].gif
Patterns are not case-sensitive. To use multiple patterns, separate the names with
spaces or semicolons. To match a pattern containing a space or semicolon, enclose
the pattern in double quotation marks. If you do not include the * wild card in your
pattern, the pattern is matched as a sub-string. For example, cat would match cat,
cathy and bobcat, and is equivalent to the pattern *cat*.