ral7

Q: how to do a wildcard search in El Capitan

Why hasn't Apple come up with the ability to search and sort files with a wildcard. My Sony videos each contain an .xml file which I do not need. I would like to compile a list of these files by searching and sorting using a wildcard. i.e. *.xml. I am amazed that Apple computers don't have a wildcard search ability.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.1.x)

Posted on Dec 31, 2015 9:23 AM

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Q: how to do a wildcard search in El Capitan

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  • by db24401,Apple recommended

    db24401 db24401 Jan 2, 2016 9:03 AM in response to ral7
    Level 3 (879 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 9:03 AM in response to ral7

    try this link (All My Files listing)

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201732

  • by Barney-15E,Apple recommended

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 31, 2015 12:31 PM in response to ral7
    Level 9 (50,161 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 31, 2015 12:31 PM in response to ral7

    If I search for xml, I can then choose to show XML documents. Or, I can use .xml and Name Matches. Or, I can cmd-f, change the criteria to Kind, and type in XML documents. Or, I can add File Extension to the criteria and use xml...

    There are no wildcards because they are always there. Name Matches finds all files whose name has the search term in it.

  • by pinkstones,

    pinkstones pinkstones Dec 31, 2015 12:55 PM in response to ral7
    Level 5 (4,209 points)
    Safari
    Dec 31, 2015 12:55 PM in response to ral7

    ral7 wrote:

     

    Why hasn't Apple come up with the ability to search and sort files with a wildcard. My Sony videos each contain an .xml file which I do not need. I would like to compile a list of these files by searching and sorting using a wildcard. i.e. *.xml. I am amazed that Apple computers don't have a wildcard search ability.

     

    What you want to do can be easily accomplished if you follow any of one of the options in Barney's post.  As he said, there are no such things as "wildcards," however that doesn't mean you can't perform searches based on certain and/or specific criteria.

  • by ral7,

    ral7 ral7 Dec 31, 2015 4:39 PM in response to ral7
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 31, 2015 4:39 PM in response to ral7

    Thank you all for your response. I will follow Barney's advice.