File Buddy can search disks for files and folders matching criteria you specify in the File Buddy Find window. Try it out and read the Balloon Help.
In addition to the usual Find behavior you expect, File Buddy provides some additional options.
There is a Set: popup menu in the Find window that lets you save and reuse settings easily.
You can search for files that match one or more traits of an existing file using the Find Similar窶ｦ command in the Find menu, or the Find Similar option for dropped files.
Searching Inside Files
File Buddy will scan a file for a string of up to 63 characters during a search. The scan mode is set by the popup menu to the right of the field into which you type the desired text. The default scan mode is Normal, which ignores case and diacritical marks. Case Sensitive scans respect case, but ignore diacritical marks. An Exact scan requires an exact match, and should be useful for searches of 2-byte text. To speed searches that look in files, certain kinds of documents are not scanned. The following are not scanned: applications, control panels, extensions, fonts, etc.; HyperCard stacks; TIFF, PICT, and Photoshop graphics files; AIFF sound files; QuickTime movies; THINK Reference database files; StuffIt archives. If you have suggestions for others, let me know.
You can reduce the number of files whose contents are searched by specifying additional criteria as well, such as file type or dates. This can speed things up considerably.
Restoring Last Settings
When opening the Find window, the default behavior is to restore the settings used in the last search. There is a preference in the Preferences dialog to turn that off.
Search Speed
Search times can vary widely based on the criteria used. Certain criteria are fast, such as 'name contains', dates, label, file type and creator. Others are slow, such as file size, ignoring items in certain folders, and restricting the search to certain folders.
When you set a file size criteria to do a Find, the item below it is set to exclude folders. You can change this to include folders, but their sizes are used in the search, and this will slow things down quite a bit.
