Search box

The Search box is displayed at the bottom of the Fragmented files tab and allows you to find a specific fragmented file or set of fragmented files. The display of the Search box can be toggled in the settings of WinContig.

The most basic way to search is to type in a word. So, for example, if you type install into the Search box, WinContig will only list fragmented files that contain install, Install, Installation, and uninstall in their names or in their paths.

The count of the found files is displayed next to the tab label. The display of the count of the found files can be toggled in the settings of WinContig.


Wildcard characters

In addition to searching for different words, you can use wildcards to get more control over your search results. Wildcard characters are special characters that are used to represent one or more other characters.

Below is the list of the supported wildcards.

Syntax Expression Description
? Any single character. Matches any single character.
* One or more characters. Matches any one or more characters.

For example:

  • data* will match any word starting with data, as data, database, datable, and so on, but not metadata.
  • win? will only match four-letter words starting with win, as wine, wind, wing, and so on.

You can use more than one wildcard in a search word, and both wildcard characters can be used in combination. For example, prog?* will match any word starting with prog with one or more characters.

Spaces are used to break up the search string into words and keywords. Search terms that contain a space character must be enclosed in double quotation marks (" "). For example, if you type program data into the Search box, WinContig will list all fragmented files that contain program anywhere in their names or paths and that contain data anywhere in their names or paths. If you type "program data", WinContig will list all fragmented files that contain program data anywhere in their names or paths.

Keywords and search conditions

You can use various keywords to narrow your search results. Keyword searches are not case sensitive and use the following syntax:

keyword:value

Values are not case sensitive, and they can't have a space after the operator. For example, size:> 100 (notice the space after the operator) searches for 100 as a word, rather than fragmented files whose size is larger than 100 KB.

The following table lists the available keywords.

Keyword Example Function
name name:text Searches for fragmented files containing text in their names.
path path:"program files" Searches for fragmented files containing program files in their paths. Notice the use of double quotation marks so that the search results match the phrase within the quotes.
frag frag:>10 Searches for fragmented files having more than 10 fragments.
frag:<10 Searches for fragmented files having less than 10 fragments.
frag:=10 Searches for fragmented files having exactly 10 fragments.
frag:10..30 Searches for fragmented files whose number of fragments is greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 30.
size size:>100 Searches for fragmented files whose size is larger than 100 KB. Notice that the value must be in KB.
size:<100 Searches for fragmented files whose size is less than 100 KB. Notice that the value must be in KB.
size:=100 Searches for fragmented files having size 100 KB. Notice that the value must be in KB.
size:100..200 Searches for fragmented files whose size is greater than or equal to 100 and less than or equal to 200. Notice that the values must be in KB.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with the Search box.

Key Action
Esc or Tab Clears a search and exit from the Search box.
CTRL+N Clears a search and starts a new search.
CTRL+K Shows a popup menu from which you can insert a keyword into the Search box.

See also