Wildcard search in Find?

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I'm trying to do a wildcard search in 10.3.9's Find, but it seems like using * as a wildcard isn't working.

So how do you do a wildcard search in Find?

m19
 
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No one knows how to insert a wildcard character in a search? Maybe I'm just not being clear. Say for example I have a file called cover123.psd, but when I search I want to try cover*.psd so it would find everything starting with the word "cover". The * symbol is apparently not a wildcard on Macs like it is for PCs, so I'm curious as to what symbol is the wildcard placeholder.

m19
 

rman


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Normally, when I do a search and i am not sure of the name. I enter only the part I know. In your case I would enter only cover. It should give you every file name that has the letters "cover". You may get more that you want. That is just how I do it. Hopefully there a better way. So we both can learn something. :)
 

rman


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Also I know how to locate the file using terminal, if you like.

Using the terminal application window, enter the fololowing:

find / -name "cover*.psd" -print

or

find / -name "cover*.psd" -exec ls -l {} \;
 
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forbin

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No need for find .. Mac OSX has locate .. must faster since it searches a database (built every week .. I think)
 
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Eh?

When I'm in the Finder or desktop and need to search for a file, I hit apple+F to do a search and Find pops up.

What's this locate thing you speak of?

m19
 
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Morgan19 said:
Eh?

When I'm in the Finder or desktop and need to search for a file, I hit apple+F to do a search and Find pops up.

What's this locate thing you speak of?

m19
Its in the Terminal app. If you are not familiar with using Terminal, then you really don't need to.
If you are in 10.3.9 all you will need to do to search is type in the search box in the Finder window. If you click on the magnifying glass, you can pick a different location to search from. I don't think you can use a wildcard like *, but if you type in part of the file name or at least a couple of letters, it will find everything with those letters in it.

Hope this helps
:black:
 

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forbin said:
No need for find .. Mac OSX has locate .. must faster since it searches a database (built every week .. I think)
The problem with locate, whereis and whence is that they only search your paths. So if the item you are looking for is not in your path statement. Those comments wouldn't find it.
 

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