Why does search for spaces '* *' not work as expected

[Sheepdog]

When I search for '* *' I get as result all files. When I search for ' ' I get all files with spaces in the name.

Where does my brain refuse to think like TC???



sheepdog


[edit] I expected that'* *' would find all names with spaces in like the ' ' does.
As I see now a human thinking error. [/edit]

[nevidimka]

When I search for '* *' I get as result all files.

Yep, that's right. An asterisk means all characters, the space is the separator for next search string. Therefore you are looking for all files (1st asterisk) and all files (2nd asterisk).

Solution for your task is a simple space (without asterisk).

[Clo]

2Sheepdog
Hi Stefan !

- What about typing :
* .* (asterisk|space|dot|asterisk) ?
- I tested, I find dirs and files having a space in the name.

Does it the trick ?

 V G
Claude
Clo

[nevidimka]

2Clo

- What about typing :
* .* (asterisk|space|dot|asterisk) ?
- I tested, I find dirs and files having a space in the name.

Does it the trick ?

Obvious not! Did you read/understood the posting before yours?

2Sheepdog
Which behavior do you expect?

[Sheepdog]

Ahh, space is the separator.

Thx.

sheepdog

[nevidimka]

I expected that'* *' would find all names with spaces in like the ' ' does.

If you're looking for names with spaces you have to use quotation marks e.g.
"* *"

We love M$ for introducing spaces in file names, don't we?

[SanskritFritz]

We love M$ for introducing spaces in file names, don't we?

INTRODUCING??? M$ was lightyears behind the competition when they finally caught up with the times!

[nevidimka]

INTRODUCING???

Ermmm, which non M$-OS uses spaces in file names? AFAIK X-systems don't allow spaces as a valid character in file names. Therefore we have much trouble if we want to share such M$-standard files via internet.

[SanskritFritz]

AFAIK X-systems don't allow spaces

They definitely allow it the same way as you see it in XP. For about at least 20 years now... and it causes just as much trouble

[Sheepdog]

They definitely allow it the same way as you see it in XP. For about at least 20 years now... and it causes just as much trouble

Moreover the X-systems distinguish between lower/uppercase what causes just more troubles.

sheepdog

[SanskritFritz]

Right, that is even more annoying, because on unix everybody just dont use spaces in the file names as a policy, so that mostly dont cause as much problem as this.

[Black Dog]

[face=courier]On 30-09-2004 14:14:27 +0000 nevidimka wrote:

n> Solution for your task is a simple space (without asterisk).
[^Y]
n> If you're looking for names with spaces you have to use
n> quotation marks e.g.
n> "* *"

Actually the thing is Commander uses not exactly the same logic with different search approaches.

You can quick search directory for names with spaces by '* ' (with one asterisk), but '"* "' (one asterisk with quotation marks) won't work in filters ("Expand selection") or search ("Find Files") - you have to use '"* *"' (two asterisks with quotation marks) for the same purpose.
Well, I understand that one have to use quotation marks in such a strings 'cause "the space is the separator for next search string" but as you can see ' ' (space w/o any quotation marks) works perfectly in "Find Files" dialog, (though you can't save it as filter 'cause "Expand selection" and "Find Files" share saved entries and actually should have the same syntax). But in "Expand selection" ' ' (space w/o any quotation marks) works like a wildcard (and BTW "Expand selection\Specify file type" history dropdown disables after ' ' execution 8\).

BTW, in previous Commander versions one have to use double quotation marks ('""* *""') to search for file names with spaces, so that strange old behavior was fixed but I can't remember Christian announced this fix somewhere 8\.[/face]