- #WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE HOW TO#
- #WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE MANUAL#
- #WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE WINDOWS 8#
In my favorite XFCE desktop environment, the Thunar file manager allows searching for files by typing the file name directly in the file list.Īlso, there's Catfish, a popular search tool with a search index, which can find your files really quickly. If you want only a number as your result, use this command: type C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\sample.Advertisement If you can use the GUI, searching for files is not a problem. In this case, we will replace the pathname with that of the “sample.txt” file. Remember to add a space between all your switches. If you want to know how many lines there are in a file, you can use the search command below.
![windows find file command line windows find file command line](https://i1.wp.com/www.linuxandubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/find-file-size-in-command-line-in-linux.png)
Scenario 3 – Count the number of lines in a file. find /i "sushi" C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\*.txt Alternatively, you could use this command to check all text files. Note that the text found in each document is actually “potatoes” which means that even if you type a part of a word, you will see any phrases that contain the search string. Your search results should look like the image below. Try this again, but this time, add the third file to the FIND command and search for the word “potato” instead. You will notice that the search terms were found in both documents and the sentences in which they were found, are listed under their corresponding file names and locations. find /i "sushi" C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\exercise.txt C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\sample.txt Remember to change the path to match the location of your files and add the “/i” switch so that your search is not case-sensitive. We will now search two of the text files (exercise and sample) for the term “sushi.” Do this by entering the following string.
#WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE HOW TO#
Now that you know how to do a basic search, let’s try to widen the span of the search. Scenario 2 – Search multiple documents for the same string of words. Let’s try this again, but change the search string to “sushi” if your results look like the image below, you did it right. Now you can see that FIND brought up one line that matches the search string, which means it is working. find /i "martin hendrikx" C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\exercise.txt Let’s try it again, but this time, let’s add the “/i” switch so that FIND ignores the case of your search string. The reason you have no results is because FIND is looking for an exact match to your search string. You will notice that no results showed up. find "martin hendrikx" C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\exercise.txt Remember to put your search string in quotation marks and change the path to match the folder where your documents are saved. Now that you have your three documents downloaded, we will enter a command to search the text file called “exercise” for the words “martin hendrikx.” Use the command shown below. Scenario 1 – Search a single document for a string of words.
![windows find file command line windows find file command line](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qffVUYzBrIA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Search multiple documents for the same string of words.Search a single document for a string of words.Our tutorial today will cover several simple scenarios which will be elaborated on below. Next, right-click on it and then press “Run as administrator.” While you don’t need to open an elevated command prompt window, it will help you to avoid any pesky confirmation dialog boxes.
![windows find file command line windows find file command line](https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/00_different_commands_for_finding_items.png)
#WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE WINDOWS 8#
Open the start menu in Windows 7 and 10 or open the search function in Windows 8 and search for CMD. Now you will need to open up an elevated command prompt window. Like every tool in windows, you will need to know how to enter your commands.
#WINDOWS FIND FILE COMMAND LINE MANUAL#
When you are ready to end the manual text input, you can press “Ctrl + Z.” We will discuss this more later. If you don’t specify a path, FIND will ask you for text input or may accept text piped from another command. This can be as broad as listing a drive or as specific as defining a single or multiple files. Pathname – This parameter is where you will specify the location that you want to search.You must always remember to keep this secrtion surrounded by quotation marks, otherwise your command will return an error. “String” – The string will be the words you are searching for in your documents.In addition to these switches, there are two parameters which you can specify with this tool. /i – This switch tells find to ignore the case of text you are searching for./n – This switch shows the numbers that correspond with the lines./c – This switch tells the find tool to count how many lines contain your search terms./v – This switch will show any lines that don’t contain the string of words you specified.
![windows find file command line windows find file command line](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2eHpq0QO4-Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
As with every command prompt based tool in Windows, there are certain switches and parameters you will need to know in order to use the tools effectively.