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Questions tagged [search]

The act of searching for data by providing keywords which are either checked directly against contents, or against a search index in order to provide relevant results.

The act of searching for data by providing keywords which are either checked directly against contents, or against a search index in order to provide relevant results.

For questions regarding OS X's or iOS's Spotlight, use .

521 questions
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8 answers

How Can I Search A Specific Type of File in Mac?

Is there any way to search a specific type of file using Spotlight? I remember there was a special command or something that I had to put in front of the search phrase but I cannot remember it now. For example, if I want to search only PDFs for a…
JFW
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56
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5 answers

Search not working in Preview.app

Viewing a pdf with Preview, I do cmdF to bring up a search box and then enter a word and hit enter. Basically nothing happens even if it's a word that's obviously present. Sometimes if I smash my hands all over the keyboard and spin around in my…
zkurtz
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45
votes
1 answer

Set the default search to current folder?

The Finder's search bar is an integral part of my workflow. I am constantly using it to search the contents of files within various folders. However, typing into this bar always searches the entire machine by default. In order to make it search just…
Synesthetic Symphony
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44
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4 answers

Xcode doesn't show up in spotlight results, neither search results

I haven't noticed exactly when it happened but previously I was always using spotlight to run Xcode. Now if i'm typing "Xcode" in it, only folders containing this name show up, or some xcode projects, not all though. I've tried search in finder and…
peetonn
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43
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3 answers

Permanently enable to show hidden/system files when searching in Finder

I've been searching for a lot of hidden/system files through the Finder recently and it's really annoying to activate the display of those system files manually each time (Tutorial for this here). So my question is: How can I permanently enable to…
hlzl
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40
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2 answers

How to make 'grep' work like in Ubuntu?

I tried to use grep to match one pattern on the terminal, but n o any result comes out. $ grep -R 'networks' grep: warning: recursive search of stdin I knew grep on macOS is based on BSD while grep on Ubuntu is based on GNU. How to make 'grep' work…
SparkAndShine
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40
votes
5 answers

Does Apple provide a web site with content of `man` pages for the command-line commands bundled with Mac OS X?

I want to provide URL links to man page content at apple.com as an authoritative source of information. Describing and quoting the local man page is awkward. Does Apple provide man pages on the web?
Basil Bourque
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35
votes
6 answers

Searching by file name (as opposed to name and contents) in Lion

In earlier versions of OSX, when you search in a Finder window, it gave you the choice of searching by contents or file name. In Lion this choice seems to have disappeared, I can only search by content now. Is there any way to search by name in…
Ross Smith
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35
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2 answers

How to search a phrase in Preview of OS X?

When I search for a term like "formation water", preview returns everything starting with formation and not the term "formation water". How can I search for a phrase in Preview?
hhh
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29
votes
8 answers

How can I create a Saved Search that excludes a specific folder from the results?

I'm trying to set up a Saved Search of my Mac that will exclude files in a folder called 'XYZ' from the search results. The reason is because I'm getting a ton of false positives from that folder that are difficult to sort through. Just to be clear,…
user1457323
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27
votes
2 answers

"Search in Google" always open Safari instead of default browser

I want to make the Search in Google context menu to open my default browser instead of Safari.
sorin
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24
votes
6 answers

Why is iOS unable to find my apps?

Since updating to iOS 11, search is unable to find my apps. Is this a new feature of iOS 11; a bug; or something that will eventually resolve itself over time? I have so many apps that the only practical way to find them is to search for them, and…
orome
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24
votes
3 answers

How do I get a lone missing app to appear in Spotlight searches?

When I enter a string that matches part of the name of an application on Mac, the OS X Spotlight search feature will suggest apps for me to launch. This works for every app except one: Mathematica: While the string is recognized (presumably from my…
orome
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19
votes
3 answers

Weird problems with Safari: search bar and tabs

Suddenly Safari is having weird problems: The search bar is no more searching: I can type URLs but the suggestions are not appearing and queries are not sent to Google (or any other search engine I choose in the preferences) If I open a new tab,…
Matteo
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18
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1 answer

Use find in Terminal to remove directories and files of same search parameter

If I type the following into Terminal, it will remove all files that meet the search parameter: sudo find . -type f -name "*Xilisoft*" -exec rm -rf {} \; Then if I start again and type it with d instead of f it will remove all the directories sudo…
Danijel-James W
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