WinFindr supports regular expression search alongside plain search words and file masks (wildcards). Use regex when you need a more specific pattern than a word or a file extension.
What are regular expressions?
Regex search is a type of search where you can use regular expressions to search for files. Regular expressions are a way to describe a pattern of characters. If you have very specific file searching requirements, regex search can be a powerful option for you.
Regular expression syntax and examples
WinFindr supports Perl-compatible regular expressions. Here is a quick overview of common regex operators:
| Pattern | Meaning | Example Match |
|---|---|---|
| abc | Matches exact "abc" | abc |
| a.c | . matches any single character | a-c, abc, a9c |
| ^abc | Starts with "abc" | abcdef |
| abc$ | Ends with "abc" | 123abc |
| [abc] | Matches any of a, b, or c | a, b, c |
| [^abc] | Any char except a, b, c | d, x, 1 |
| [a-z] | Any lowercase letter | q, m |
| [0-9] | Any digit | 5 |
| \d | Digit (same as [0-9]) | 7 |
| \w | Word character (letters, digits, _) | A, z, 8, _ |
| \s | Whitespace | space, tab |
| a+ | One or more occurrences of a | a, aa, aaaa |
| a* | Zero or more occurrences of a | , a, aaa |
| a? | Zero or one a | , a |
| a{3} | Exactly 3 occurrences of a | aaa |
| a{2,4} | 2 to 4 occurrences of a | aa, aaa, aaaa |
| (ab)+ | Group "ab" one or more times | ab, abab |
| ab|cd | Matches "ab" or "cd" | ab, cd |
How to find files with regular expressions
To use regex search in WinFindr, follow these steps:
- Open WinFindr. Download it now if you haven’t already.
- Enter one or more regular expression search terms, one per line. For example, “^[A-Z]$”.
- Control-Click on the “Files” checkbox to only search for files. (Optional step)
- Click on the “Start” button to start the search.
- WinFindr will now search for all files using the regex search terms you entered.
This is how the regex search looks:
Choose the search mode for your task
For a filename extension or a simple pattern, you can use file masks such as *.pdf.
To search by a broader category, follow the file type search tutorial.
If you only remember an approximate word or spelling, try
natural language search.
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