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Re: Search string convention [message #1384 is a reply to message #1380] Sat, 19 March 2022 09:02 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 385
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
FoxTrot always searches for whole words only (except if you explicitly use a * wildcard at the beginning and/or ending of a word), so I am not sure what you mean by "get a load of ng fragments".
Well, there is an exception for filenames, when the have mixed lowercase and uppercase letters; for example, a file named [FilenameWithNoSpace.pdf] can be found when you search [filenamewithnospace], or [filename with no space]. It won't be found however if you search for [file name] in two words, as there is a lowercase [n], so Filename is only indexed as a whole word.

That being said, if you use either [includes all of the words], [includes consecutive words] or [matches the FoxTrot query], then FoxTrot will delimit the whole words contained in the search string, and search for these whole words. So it does not matter if you add extra spaces or punctuation before the first word, or after the last one, or between the words.

You can however use [includes the exact string] if you want to find a word preceded or followed by some specific punctuation characters, or if you care about accents or case. Note that this still searches for whole words only (and wildcards can't be used here as FoxTrot will search the * character instead). If you want to search for a partial word preceded or followed by some specific punctuation characters (for example, words starting with [@name] or with [#tag]), then you can use [then apply advanced filter] [contents] [contains the string]. For performance reasons, such query should be formulated like this: [contents] [includes all of the words] [name*], [then apply advanced filter] [contents] [contains the string] [@name].
EDIT: @name and #tag are bad examples, as since FoxTrot 7, @ and # are indexed as whole words, instead of being ignored… So you can search [contents] [includes consecutive words] [@name*]. The previous example still applies for other characters that are still not indexed, like punctuation characters.


Jérôme - FoxTrot Engineering

[Updated on: Sat, 19 March 2022 09:23]

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