[X-Unix] Spotlight -- was from tcsh to bash

[William H. Magill]

On 20 May, 2005, at 02:48, Dan Frakes wrote:
>> An implicit boolean AND when parentheses are used, or a command key
>> to initiate search-for-phrase, maybe command-Shift for exact words,
>> etc.
>>
>
> *This* is in my opinion the biggest problem with Spotlight right  
> now -- no
> easy way to do booleans. The code you need to use in the Spotlight  
> bar to do
> a boolean search is insane ;-)s

I thought I had read that Spotlight defaults to "or" for all search  
tokens
and that one needed to use "AND" (in caps) to get the and function, with
Parens ()  or quotes "" for groupings.

But I can't find that reference now.

The "application" syntax to call Spotlight IS arcane.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/ 
SpotlightQuery/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001841

But the truth is, Apple simply does not understand the concept of  
searching....

Try their "Advanced Search" option on apple.com/support -- search for  
"spotlight"
and select "english" for the language... and you get pages from every  
language
which Apple supports, not just those written in English.

Hmmm.... just noticed an interesting feature for Server - using  
Spotlight to search your
web pages:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=ServerAdmin/10.4/en/ 
c3ws14.html

Hmmm #2 ... I found a reference to searching email via Spotlight  
which outlines the
and/or/not/parens rules ...
"Use the words "and," "or," "not," and parentheses to refine your  
search:

"cat and dog" finds email containing both "cat" and "dog"

"cat or dog" finds email containing either "cat" or "dog"

"cat not dog" finds email containing "cat" but not "dog"

"cat and (dog or newt)" finds email containing both "cat" and "dog"  
and email containing both "cat" and "newt"

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mail/2.0/en/ml69.html

One wonders if those rules apply to Spotlight in general, or just to  
the Mail.app interface?


T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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