Chapter 2. Finding Files

The Name/Location Tab

When starting KFind, you will see a quite simple window. Type in the name of the file you are searching for in the text box labeled Named:. You can use wildcard matching and a semicolon (;) for separating multiple names.

Choose a folder where you want to search by typing it in the field Look in: or by clicking Browse... (you can toggle the display of the hidden files and folder in the dialog using the shortcuts Alt+. or F8) and press Enter or click the Find button. Use the Stop button to cancel a search. A search result can be saved in HTML format or as plain text with the Save As... button.

If Include subfolders is checked all subfolders starting from your chosen folder will be searched too. If you enable Case sensitive search, KFind will only find files with the exact case matching names. Enable the option Show hidden files to include them in your search. Selecting Use files index lets you use the files' index created by the locate package to speed-up the search.

You can use the following wildcards for file or folder names:

The Asterisk *

The asterisk stands for any number of missing characters (even zero), that means e.g. searching for marc* may find the files marc, marc.png and marc_must_not_read_this.kwd. mar*.kwd may find marketplace.kwd and marc_must_not_read_this.kwd.

The Question Mark ?

In contrast to the asterisk, the question mark stands for exactly one character, so mar? will find marc, but marc? will not find anything, as our files are called marc and marc.png. You can put as many question marks in the term as you want, it will find exactly that number of characters.

The Character Set [...]

This matches any of the characters between the braces.

Of course you can combine two or more wildcard symbols in a search term.

The results of your search will be displayed in the box below. A click with the right mouse button on a selection in this box opens a context menu with a list of actions for the selected files or folders.