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dUnKle

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2020
174
54
Ok, I have not long moved to Mac from Windows and am struggling with what I suspect is something very very simple

On Windows I could do a *.* search to find all files and that would work within sub directories etc.
I want to do something similar on my Mac Mini

I want to be able to search a specific folder (that itself has folders in it) and have the OS show all the files in that path

So I have something like this

Photos
> Folder A
> Folder B
> Folder C
> Folder 1
> Folder 2
> Folder D

Id like to be able to go to folder D, find ALL files in that folder and folder 1 and 2 and then copy then and paste them back into say, Folder A

I have found by going into list view and pressing option on the down error, I get similar, but everything just freezes up
Also, being able to select all files doing that is difficult as it also shows sub folders etc.


I tried going into Folder C and just looking for jpeg images, but the search goes off and searches eveyrwhere and not just the file path I want

Any help appreciated

Thank You
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,183
13,230
Why can't you do this:

Be in the finder.

Open folder A.

Open a new folder window, and navigate to the inside of folder D (folder A window is still open)

Click ONE TIME in the folder D window, then type comand-A (select all).
All the files in folder D should now be selected.

Grab a the selected files and drag-and-drop them into folder A (this moves them).

Folder D should now be empty and you can delete the empty folder.

Does this work?

Note:
Sometimes, if there are many, many files, and you're having problems trying to copy/move them all at once, it's easier to try "a smaller chunk". If that works, move some more, etc.
 

SuperMatt

Suspended
Mar 28, 2002
1,569
8,281
I would concur with the above poster - just open multiple finder windows. The alternative is, if you prefer the command line, to learn the equivalent commands in Mac OS. Just open the terminal and go to town.

Here’s a conversion guide for Windows commands to Linux commands, which work on Mac too.

 
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dUnKle

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2020
174
54
Cheers.
is there an equivalent in find for *.* when using windows ? All files within the path you are in ?
 

mikzn

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2013
3,005
2,293
North Vancouver
Cheers.
is there an equivalent in find for *.* when using windows ? All files within the path you are in ?

Have you tried using "Spotlight" ?- you can access it by clicking the small "magnifying glass icon" at the top right and it will do a search of all files and folders and display them - no need for any special operators

Also once the search is displayed - go to the bottom of the spotlight list and click "show in finder" to keep the list open and work with it in a "finder window" - from this finder list you can drag the files to your desktop or move them to another folder directly


spotlight.png
 
Last edited:

bernuli

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2011
713
404
Ok, I have not long moved to Mac from Windows and am struggling with what I suspect is something very very simple

On Windows I could do a *.* search to find all files and that would work within sub directories etc.
I want to do something similar on my Mac Mini

I want to be able to search a specific folder (that itself has folders in it) and have the OS show all the files in that path

So I have something like this

Photos
> Folder A
> Folder B
> Folder C
> Folder 1
> Folder 2
> Folder D

Id like to be able to go to folder D, find ALL files in that folder and folder 1 and 2 and then copy then and paste them back into say, Folder A

I have found by going into list view and pressing option on the down error, I get similar, but everything just freezes up
Also, being able to select all files doing that is difficult as it also shows sub folders etc.


I tried going into Folder C and just looking for jpeg images, but the search goes off and searches eveyrwhere and not just the file path I want

Any help appreciated

Thank You

The only wild card functionality that applies here is matching "" which I think translates in to any item that does not have a null name. So that not supper helpful.

However consider these other 3 options.

1) In the Finder navigate to Folder D or Folder 1 or Folder 2. Type "Command F". Set search to be "Kind Document" (see attached screenshot).

NOTE: "Document" does not mean all FILES (for example, .zip not included) but it may do what you want.


2) Same as 1 except do raw queries for kMDItemDisplayName=='*' and kMDItemKind !=Folder

This is more complete.

3) Use unix find command. For example:

mark@marks-Mac Folder D % pwd
/Users/mark/Folder With Pictures/Folder D
mark@marks-Mac Folder D % find . -type f ! -name .DS_Store -exec cp -pir {} /Users/mark/anotherFolder \;
 

Attachments

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dUnKle

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2020
174
54
Cheers guys. All of you. Helpful
It’s just the acclimatising to Mac OS is just taking little time.
manage to get it sorted now. Thank you
 
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