Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
that
either
contain the word “book”
or
were modified with the last week, which
would match a much larger number of files. This is known as an Any search,
because matching any one of the conditions is enough for a positive result.
•
Nested conditions:
Most rule-based search environments (sadly, not Mail's
rules) have a hidden capability to simulate Boolean (AND/OR/NOT) logic by
grouping conditions inAny,All,andNonecategories. Forexample, Icansearch
for files that contain Any of Jack or Jill, or All (i.e., both) of Cindy and Sandy,
but None of Thomas. In other words, written in Boolean notation it would look
like (Jack OR Jill) OR (Cindy AND Sandy) AND NOT Thomas. You can use this
technique to devise highly detailed and specific searches.
I'll use the Finder to illustrate how to set up a rule-based search; remember, you follow the
same steps wherever you use this technique.
To perform a rule-based search in the Finder:
1. Open any Finder window and press Command-F (for Find). The insertion point
jumps to the Search field in the upper-right corner.
2. Type some text in that field, such as
topic
. The window begins filling with all
the files on your Mac containing that text. Press Return to search for the text
you've entered in the contents of any file, or select a narrower category (such as
“Name matches: book”) from the pop-up menu that appears.
Your search now has its first condition, such as “must contain the text
book
,”
but you can change that later.
3. Optionally change the search scope by clicking a folder name, This Mac, All, or
another term on the left side of the search bar.
4. Click the round plus button next to the Save button (below the Search field).
A new row appears (
Figure 9
).
Figure 9:
When you click the plus button, a new condition row
appears.
5. From the leftmost pop-up menu in this new row, choose an attribute to search
for, such as Kind, Name, or Contents.
Depending on what attribute you choose, the rest of the row may change. For
example, if the attribute is Kind, then the only thing left in the row is a single
pop-up menu you can use to pick a kind. But if you choose
[Created Date]
,
