"Files to find" bug?


Shouldn't a*.jpg only list .jpg files which have an "a" as the first character of the name? It does that with Windows Search.


Using File Finder, a*.jpg lists .jpg files with an "a" anywhere in the name.

As to me, files to find does not do a correct job.

Searching for "a*" should find and list all words with "a" as first character of the words and not anywhere in those words.

"Files to find" bug?


Furthermore, I thought that *z*.jpg would list .jpg files with a "z" anywhere in the name except the first position. It didn't. Windows Search did do it.


Surprisingly, ?z?.jpg did it partially (found 24 files; the Windows Search above found 85 files).


After the bugs are gone, perhaps the actual wild card rules then implemented in PowerTools should be communicated in a future edition of the Handbook …

10 days later

"Files to find" bug?


It seems PT2007 (v1.7.0.422) and PT2008 (all versions) now speak their own dialect of wildcard.


PT2006 speaks a wildcard dialect which is very like that spoken in DOS and windows CMD prompts, and in Windows Search. It works as expected.


The new dialect has two major impacts:

  • 1. It gives unintended (buggy) results; for example, *.temp finds files with .template extensions.

    2. To give reasonably sound advice to other users, one must do considerable trial and error to find out what the unusual wildcard behavior will actually do. An example is here.

tullik wrote
"Files to find" bug?


Shouldn't a*.jpg only list .jpg files which have an "a" as the first character of the name? It does that with Windows Search.


Using File Finder, a*.jpg lists .jpg files with an "a" anywhere in the name.

This is indeed a bug! The problem is now fixed, the next released version with this fix included will be out in this week. Thank you for reporting, what a good catch!

tullik wrote
"Files to find" bug?


Furthermore, I thought that *z*.jpg would list .jpg files with a "z" anywhere in the name except the first position. It didn't. Windows Search did do it.

This is not actually a bug, it's a matter of interpretation. With wildcards, the "*" is usually defined as "any character or characters". Now does this definition also include a case of no characters, that's the question. According to PT's wildcard engine it does.

jv16 wrote
tullik wrote "Files to find" bug?


Shouldn't a*.jpg only list .jpg files which have an "a" as the first character of the name? It does that with Windows Search.


Using File Finder, a*.jpg lists .jpg files with an "a" anywhere in the name.

This is indeed a bug! The problem is now fixed, the next released version with this fix included will be out in this week. Thank you for reporting, what a good catch!

Will the fix also make File Cleaner "Safe mode" not find files with .template and .tmpl extensions?

tullik wrote

Will the fix also make File Cleaner "Safe mode" not find files with .template and .tmpl extensions?

Yes it will.