Search all folders with Find

Nov 24, '04 08:57:00AM

Contributed by: t3hl33t

The problem: Hit Command-F and search for "filename is 'Dock'". Nothing found ... What do you mean I don't have a Dock? Go into the top-level System -> Library -> CoreServices folder, and it's in there!

The solution: There is a "blacklist" of folders not to search. It is located in the top-level System -> Library -> Find directory, and it's called SkipFolders. Now, how to edit it? If you're not a user of vi or emacs or pico, run a copy of TextEdit as root instead. Go into Terminal and type sudo and a space. Go into TextEdit in the Finder, and control-click on it. Navigate to Contents -> MacOS, and drag the file TextEdit into the Terminal window. Type return. And then enter your admin password. TextEdit will open with root privileges in the Finder.

Now use this root TextEdit to open /System -> Library -> Find -> SkipFolders. Change the contents of the file to something like this:

search12312312everywhere
do23123not12313have3123a13123folder123123named1323123this
get132123around3123123the1323123blacklist
Basically, folder names you won't ever have in your hard drive. Now save it, quit TextEdit and reboot. Do the same search again. Notice the Dock in the search results.

[robg adds: This hint was actually mentioned in passing in this much older hint, but I thought it was worth its own mention. I'd recommend backing up the SkipFolders file first, just in case. In the Terminal, just type these two commands (without the $ prompt, of course):
$ cd /System/Library/Find
$ sudo cp SkipFolders SkipFolders.bak
Supply your password when asked, and you'll now have a backup in the same location as the original.]

[robg udpate: Please see the comments; this hint makes some wrong statements regarding the Find function...]

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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20041124021412608