Searching for a filename.type in Spotlight?

Cooknn

macrumors 68020

Original poster

• Jul 24, 2005

• #1

This is probably basic, but let's say I know what I am looking for is a PDF and I think I know the first letter starts with d. If I type d*.pdf in spotlight I get a ton of stuff I don't want to see. Do I need to go to terminal and get it done that way?

 

swiftaw

macrumors 603

• Jul 24, 2005

• #2

if you use kind😛DF in spotlight it will restrict your search to pdf files.

 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020

Original poster

• Jul 24, 2005

• #3

swiftaw said:

if you use kind😛DF in spotlight it will restrict your search to pdf files.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, but it doesn't behave like I thought it would, or should. I'm looking for something that will look at all the folders and files specified by my search for a naming convention. Sure that gets me all the PDF's but what about the ones that start with d?

 

iMeowbot

macrumors G3

• Jul 24, 2005

• #4

Finder still has Cmd-F which is powered by Spotlight but gives you the old "name begins with..." "kind is..." etc. interface. there's a button to save the search, which will create a smart folder. If you open that smart folder again later, there is an edit button so you can edit the criteria (so you could have a PDF search folder and so on).

 

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus

• Jul 24, 2005

• #5

...also Spotlight will look for the file (and not the contents) if you use quote-marks and search for "filename.type" instead of filename.type.

 

iMeowbot

macrumors G3

• Jul 24, 2005

• #6

Mitthrawnuruodo said:

...also Spotlight will look for the file (and not the contents) if you use quote-marks and search for "filename.type" instead of filename.type.

Click to expand...

There's a peeve with Spotlight. It has a glob sort of syntax in its query language, but with that menu bar syntax, actually using it to search for filename patterns without other junk mixed in seems to be impenetrable 😡

 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020

Original poster

• Jul 24, 2005

• #7

Mitthrawnuruodo said:

...also Spotlight will look for the file (and not the contents) if you use quote-marks and search for "filename.type" instead of filename.type.

Click to expand...

Doesn't work with wildcards though... Cmd-F works from Finder if you deal with all the dropdowns and select your criteria that way.

Didn't the old Finder just let you search for a filename with wildcards?
[EDIT] Thinking back I believe that wasn't the case. I guess I'll just use Cmd-F in the situations where I need to search for a filename with specific letters contained in the name. Thanks to each of you for your input 😱