Finding files in Finder

[gjbalzano]

My question is, I think, a simple one.

How come, when I'm on the web using a search engine, I can find specific web pages by using quoted strings, but I can't do something like this in the Finder? Why can't I search for file-names or for file-contents that consist of a particular sequence of words? Why is web search, in this sense at least, so much more sophisticated than file search in an operating system that's been around much longer than any web search engine?

 

[MisterMe]

The Finder is a file system navigation and application-launching application. You want a search engine. It is called Spotlight and can be accessed using the little blue magnifying glass at the far right of your Finder menu bar or next to the little gray magnifying glass at the top of every Finder window.

 

[gjbalzano]

Dear MisterMe,

I do know that the Finder uses Spotlight when it searches. But my question was about using multiple words as search strings and having them be treated like strings. That's all.

Thanks, though, for your reply.

The Finder is a file system navigation and application-launching application. You want a search engine. It is called Spotlight and can be accessed using the little blue magnifying glass at the far right of your Finder menu bar or next to the little gray magnifying glass at the top of every Finder window.

 

[DeltaMac]

...my question was about using multiple words as search strings and having them be treated like strings. That's all.
...

Sounds like you think that Spotlight doesn't do multiple word string searches....

Your assumption is not correct.

 

[borky]

use smart folders. i think you can also put "" around phrases.

 

[Doctor X]

You can get the free program EasyFind. Much more adaptable--you can direct it to look for strings you wish, search particular areas, et cetera.

--J.D.