2.8 Finding Something on Your Computer

Use Find Files in the main menu to locate files on your computer using a variety of search criteria, such as file content, dates, owner, or file size.

Figure 22 Find Files

You can also open Find Files by typing kfind in a terminal window.

2.8.1 Finding Files

Use the Name/Location tab in the Find Files dialog to perform a basic search.

  1. Click NFind Files.

  2. Specify the name of the file you are looking for in the Named field.

    You can use the following wildcards:

    Asterisk: The asterisk (*) stands for any number of missing characters (even zero). For example, searching for marc* will find the files marc, marc.png and marc_must_not_read_this.kwd. Searching for mar*.kwd will find marketplace.kwd and marc_must_not_read_this.kwd.

    Question Mark:The question mark (?) stands for exactly one character. For example, searching for mar? will find marc, but marc? will not find anything if your files are named marc and marc.png. You can put as many question marks in the search term as you want; it will find exactly that number of characters.

    You can combine those two wildcard symbols in any search term.

  3. Specify the folder where you want to search in the Look In field, or clicking Browse to find the folder you want.

    Select Include Subfolders to also search all subfolders starting from your specified folder.

  4. Press Enter or click Find.

2.8.2 Performing an Advanced File Search

Use the Contents and Properties tabs in the Find Files dialog to perform a more advanced file search.

  1. Click NFind Files.

  2. Specify the name of the file you are looking for in the Named field.

  3. Specify the folder where you want to search in the Look In field, or click Browse to find the folder you want.

  4. Click the Contents tab, then choose from the following options:

    Option

    Description

    File Type

    Specify the type of file you are searchingfor (for example, video image, or WAV audio file).

    Containing Text

    Specify a word or phrase the files youare searching for must contain. If you do this in a large folderand you selected Include Subfolders on the Name/Locationtab, this might take a long time.

    This option only works for the following file types:

    • Text files (for example, source codeand README files)
    • KWord >= 1.2
    • KPresenter >= 1.2
    • KSpread >= 1.2
    • OpenOffice.org Writer
    • OpenOffice.org Impress
    • OpenOffice.org Calc

    Case Sensitive

    Finds files with only the exact casematching. For example, MARC only matches MARC, not Marc.

    Include Binary Files

    Includes binary files in the search.A binary file is computer-readable but not human-readable. All executableprograms are stored in binary files, as are most numeric data files.In contrast, text files are stored in a form (usually ASCII) thatis human-readable.

    Selecting this option increases the time it takes to findthe files are you searching for.

    Search Metainfo Sections

    Searches data in non-text files, suchas .jpeg with exif data and .pdf

    Enter the section you want to search (or enter * tosearch all metainfo sections), then enter the text you want to searchfor.

  5. Click the Properties tab, then choose from the following options:

    Option

    Description

    Find All Files Created or Modified

    Use this option to either enter two datesbetween which the files were created or modified, or specify a time period.

    File Size Is

    Specify if the file has to be At Least,At Most, or Equal To the size you enter in the following field.

    Files Owned by User/ Owned byGroup

    Specify user and group names.

  6. Click Find to perform the search.