mdfind(1)

📦 version 1.1.0, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 mdfind — the girlies' guide to GWMetadata 💖

okay so real quick, this page is from the General Commands Manual section, and it's all about mdfind — a lil tool that goes digging through GWMetadata's database to find files that match whatever query you throw at it. she's a search queen, no cap. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

mdfind — search files matching a query in GWMetadata's database 🦋

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

mdfind [options] query

like. give her some options, give her a query, she does the rest. periodt. ✨

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay bestie, listen — this manual page is just a lil brief rundown of the mdfind command. not the whole saga, just the highlights. 💖

mdfind is a tool that searches for files matching a given query. it's part of GWMetadata, which is a desktop search and indexing system for GNUstep. so like… it's not just a search tool, it's a whole ecosystem's search tool. main character energy fr fr. 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -onlyin 'directory' — limits the search to “directory”. as in, stay in your lane, babe. 🚧
  • -s — reports also the score for each found path. like a little grade for every result. slay. 📊
  • -c — reports only the count of each found path. no list, no names, just the number. iconic minimalism. 🔢
  • -a [attribute] — if “attribute” is supplied, prints the attribute description; otherwise prints the attributes list. so -a alone = the whole menu, -a + a name = the tea on that one attribute. 🍓
  • -h — prints a help message and exits. your get-out-of-jail card, bestie. 🙈

🔍 the query format, bestie 🔍

the query has the format: attribute operator value — where “attribute” is one of the attributes used by the mdextractor(1) tool when indexing (type mdfind -a for the attributes list, i'm literally telling you, just do it), and “operator” is one of the following:

  • == — equal ✅
  • != — not equal 🚫
  • < — less than (only for numeric values and dates) 📉
  • <= — less than or equal (only for numeric values and dates) 📉
  • > — greater than (only for numeric values and dates) 📈
  • >= — greather than or equal (only for numeric values and dates) 📈
ok so yes, the last one says “greather” and no, i'm not fixing it. that's what the manpage says, and i don't make the rules. 💀

🌈 value comparison modifiers (for string values) 🌈

  • Appending the 'c' character to the search value ("value"c) makes the query case insensitive. so she stops caring about capitalization. we love a chill queen. 💖
  • The '*' wildcard can be used to match substrings anywhere in the search value. go wild, it's flexible like that. 🦋

🧚 combining queries 🧚

Queries can be combined using:

  • '&&' for AND
  • '||' for OR
  • parentheses to define nesting criteria

yes bestie, you can build a whole little logic tree. you're basically a compiler now. 👑

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

mdfind and GWMetadata were written by Enrico Sersale. absolute legend, we stan. 🌟

This manual page was added by Yavor Doganov <yavor@gnu.org> for the Debian distribution because the original program does not have one. so basically a whole rescue mission. 🎀

Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved. so like… share it, remix it, just keep the receipts. periodt. ✨

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🌈 this one came out of the General Commands Manual, dated June 19, 2014, and it's literally the mdfind(1) page. go search something cute. i'm obsessed. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from