File Search - misleading results?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry Pinnell
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T

Terry Pinnell

Am I missing something here, or is the standard Search (Ctrl+f) flawed
in away I've only just noticed after using it for years?

I just did a search using Date, looking for all files in a large
folder which have been modified in the last 6 months. Under Advanced
Options I have 'Search Subfolders' enabled. The results appear like
this
2From1.CKT
2From1a.CKT
2From1b.CKT
---CM Netlists
---CMOS4000
DarkDetectorEtc-1.CKT
---Diodes
Fan1.ERR
---Filters
MainsController1.CKT
MainsController2.CKT
MainsController3.CKT
etc

All of the individual files are correct, i.e. they meet the
specification.

But if I open up any of the Subfolders (those I've shown above
prefixed with ---), I see *all* of their files, and I see *none* which
match the date specified.

Is this a bug, or some misunderstanding of mine please?
 
Terry Pinnell said:
Am I missing something here, or is the standard Search (Ctrl+f) flawed
in away I've only just noticed after using it for years?

I just did a search using Date, looking for all files in a large
folder which have been modified in the last 6 months. Under Advanced
Options I have 'Search Subfolders' enabled. The results appear like
this
2From1.CKT
2From1a.CKT
2From1b.CKT
---CM Netlists
---CMOS4000
DarkDetectorEtc-1.CKT
---Diodes
Fan1.ERR
---Filters
MainsController1.CKT
MainsController2.CKT
MainsController3.CKT
etc

All of the individual files are correct, i.e. they meet the
specification.

But if I open up any of the Subfolders (those I've shown above
prefixed with ---), I see *all* of their files, and I see *none* which
match the date specified.

Is this a bug, or some misunderstanding of mine please?
Click to expand...

I have just had a look at this - doing a search on the last month.

It becomes apparent that the date on the folder might be much more recent
than the date when any of the existing files in that folder were last
modified.

I thought that maybe opening that particular folder would update the date on
the folder to the current date.

I have only had this current computer just over a year. Presumably whilst
the letters that I created in a folder will still retain the date they were
created or last modified, the date on the folder will be the date when the
folder was transferred to my current computer's hard-drive - or, indeed,
when I recreated a folder from a back-up copy.

So a folder can have a recent date, although none of the files might be
recent. No different to a physical filing cabinet.

Nick
 
Nick said:
I have just had a look at this - doing a search on the last month.

It becomes apparent that the date on the folder might be much more recent
than the date when any of the existing files in that folder were last
modified.

I thought that maybe opening that particular folder would update the date on
the folder to the current date.

I have only had this current computer just over a year. Presumably whilst
the letters that I created in a folder will still retain the date they were
created or last modified, the date on the folder will be the date when the
folder was transferred to my current computer's hard-drive - or, indeed,
when I recreated a folder from a back-up copy.

So a folder can have a recent date, although none of the files might be
recent. No different to a physical filing cabinet.
Click to expand...
Thanks Nick, that rather odd behaviour would explain it. Very
misleading really. It means you don't know whether a sub-folder is
included in the 'hits' because it has itself been given a recent date
(for some reason best known to Explorer), or because it does contain
one of the recent files you are indeed searching for.
 
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