? Selector / Search

[kwanbis]

Hello. In a folder I have 3 files (it is actually more but just as an example):

1 - 017 - Gefährliche Fracht (Teil 01).mp3
10 - 017 - Gefährliche Fracht (Teil 10).mp3
2 - 017 - Gefährliche Fracht (Teil 02).mp3

I want to do Mark > Select group and select files that start with 1 and 2, not 10.

I try:
# *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.
# - ### - *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.
? *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.
? - ??? - *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.

If I do alt-f7, search, the same happens.

What am I missing here? Thanks.

[nsp]

Using the Num [+] key you can just expeand selection to:

Code: Select all

1*.mp3 2*.mp3|10*.mp3

This should do the trick, note that "|" is the except/not marker.

[white]

? *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.
? - ??? - *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.

These work if you put quotes around them.

[kwanbis]

Using the Num [+] key you can just expeand selection to:

Code: Select all

1*.mp3 2*.mp3|10*.mp3

This should do the trick, note that "|" is the except/not marker.

Thanks, but I have many files. I have 1 to 9 which I want to select so that I can ad a 0 in front of them (make 1xxxx 01xxxx), and I also have from 10 to 99 which don't need the additional 0. So speficying what not to select is not an option.

What is weird is that ? is being interpreted as * basically, unless I am missing something.

[kwanbis]

? *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.
? - ??? - *.mp3 but all get selected insead of only 1 and 2 and not 10.

These work if you put quotes around them.

Thanks, I tried: "? *.mp3" and it worked.

Now the question is why? Since DOS 30 years ago, ? will mean one character and only one, and * will mean any number of characters. TC for some reason is interpreting ? as *.

[white]

Now the question is why? Since DOS 30 years ago, ? will mean one character and only one, and * will mean any number of characters. TC for some reason is interpreting ? as *.

No, it still means 1 character. But since DOS 30 years ago, we got longer filenames with possible spaces in them. And spaces were separators, so you needed to put quotes around it when specifying a space as part of the filename. For a long explanation on how search works, see the wiki page: https://www.ghisler.ch/wiki/index.php?title=Search

[nsp]

Thanks, but I have many files. I have 1 to 9 which I want to select so that I can ad a 0 in front of them (make 1xxxx 01xxxx), and I also have from 10 to 99 which don't need the additional 0. So speficying what not to select is not an option.

In fact, what you want to achieve is not what you asked for.
I assume, you have numbered track you want to normalize with 2 digits.
You should use MRT and a a regular expression.

Code: Select all

Search for: ^(\d\D)
Replace with: 0$1

Check RegEx ☑
This will search any file Starting ^ with a digit \d and then a non digit char \D keeping the 2 first char as group 1 (\d\D).
The matching string will be replaced by a 0 and the 2 first chars → 2 digit numbers.
This should replace all your numbered file starting with one digit only.
Just select All mp3/flac/wav/... files and use MRT [ctrl]+m.

--- Edited
If you use Quick Search Extended https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=22592
You can set regex filtering and use ^\d\D to filter all file starting with a single digit.

[kwanbis]

No, it still means 1 character. But since DOS 30 years ago, we got longer filenames with possible spaces in them. And spaces were separators, so you needed to put quotes around it when specifying a space as part of the filename. For a long explanation on how search works, see the wiki page: https://www.ghisler.ch/wiki/index.php?title=Search

right, but the quotes make sense in a place where you can write many things, like in the command line. In the dialog box of TC it shouldn't be needed IMHO.

[white]

right, but the quotes make sense in a place where you can write many things, like in the command line. In the dialog box of TC it shouldn't be needed IMHO.

Whether it is in a dialog is not relevant. What matters is wat the input field is for. In this case the user can enter a search line, where he can write many things. Similar to the MS-DOS dir command accepting many things, for example: dir /s readme.txt "Total Commander" *.pdg *.png J:\

[kwanbis]

Whether it is in a dialog is not relevant. What matters is wat the input field is for. In this case the user can enter a search line, where he can write many things. Similar to the MS-DOS dir command accepting many things, for example: dir /s readme.txt "Total Commander" *.pdg *.png J:\

You are right. What matters most is the most used "use case". You have to make that simpler. The other more complicated. If you ask me, by default it should take the string as a single searchstring, without requiring quotes, and require quotes if I want more than one search string.

[Dalai]

Well, spaces are used to separate search terms. So you need some kind of marker for search term start and end - and that's usually quotes.