everyfile#

Instant file search on Windows via Voidtools Everything. Two interfaces — choose based on context:

InterfaceWhen to useReferenceCLI ( ev)Terminal commands, shell scripts, piping results between commandscli.mdPython APIPython scripts/tools that need programmatic file search, Cursor/Row iterationapi.md

Decision Guide#

• User asks to find/list files → CLI ev or API search()
• User writes a Python script that needs file search → API ( from everyfile import search)
• User asks "how many X files?" → CLI ev --count or API count()
• User asks for file contents after search → CLI ev -l | ForEach-Object { ... } or API iteration
• User asks about Everything status → CLI ev --info

Install#

powershell

pip install everyfile

Search Syntax (shared across all interfaces)#

Operators & Wildcards#

text

space   AND       |   OR        !   NOT      < >   grouping     " "  exact phrase
*   zero or more chars (matches whole filename by default)
?   one char

Modifiers — prefix any term or function#

text

Filename matching:
  exact:  wfn:  wholefilename:      match whole filename ← use before regex for exact names
  nowfn:  nowholefilename:          match anywhere in filename
  path:   nopath:                   match full path vs filename only
  wildcards:  nowildcards:          enable/disable wildcard expansion

Files/folders:
  file:  files:                     files only
  folder:  folders:                 folders only

Case / encoding:
  case:  nocase:                    case-sensitive / insensitive
  diacritics:  nodiacritics:        match/ignore accent marks
  ascii:  utf8:  noascii:           fast ASCII case comparisons

Word / regex:
  ww:  wholeword:  noww:  nowholeword:   whole words only
  regex:  noregex:                       enable/disable regex

Functions#

text

Extension / type:
  ext:<ext>              ext:py   ext:py;js;ts  (semicolon OR list)
  type:<type>            file type description string

Paths:
  parent:<path>          in path, including subfolders
  infolder:<path>        in path, NO subfolders  (alias: nosubfolders:<path>)
  depth:<n>              folder depth from drive root
  root:                  items with no parent folder (drive roots)
  shell:<name>           known shell folder (Desktop, Downloads, Documents…)
  child:<name>           folders containing a matching child
  childcount:<n>         folders with n total children
  childfilecount:<n>     folders with n files
  childfoldercount:<n>   folders with n subfolders

Size:
  size:<size>            size:>1mb  size:2mb..10mb
  size words: empty  tiny  small  medium  large  huge  gigantic

Dates (all share same value syntax):
  dm:   datemodified:     dc:  datecreated:
  da:   dateaccessed:     dr:  daterun:
  rc:   recentchange:
  Constants: today  yesterday
    <last|past|prev|this|current|next><year|month|week>
    last<n><years|months|weeks|days|hours|minutes|seconds>
    january..december  jan..dec  sunday..saturday  sun..sat  unknown

Attributes:
  attrib:<flags>    A=archive  C=compressed  D=dir  E=encrypted  H=hidden
                    I=not-indexed  L=reparse  N=normal  O=offline  P=sparse
                    R=readonly  S=system  T=temp

Duplicates:
  dupe:          same filename       namepartdupe:  same name (no ext)
  sizedupe:      same size           dmdupe:        same date modified
  dcdupe:        same date created   dadupe:        same date accessed
  attribdupe:    same attributes

Filename text:
  startwith:<text>         filename starts with
  endwith:<text>           filename ends with
  len:<n>                  filename character length

Miscellaneous:
  empty:                   empty folders
  count:<n>                limit results to n
  runcount:<n>             Everything run count
  filelist:<a|b|c>         pipe-delimited filename list
  filelistfilename:<file>  load list from file
  frn:<list>               semicolon-delimited File Reference Numbers
  fsi:<index>              internal file system index

Content search (slow — narrow with other filters first!):
  content:<text>           via iFilter, falls back to UTF-8
  ansicontent:  utf8content:  utf16content:  utf16becontent:

Images (slow): width:<px>  height:<px>  dimensions:<w>x<h>  orientation:landscape|portrait  bitdepth:<n>
ID3/FLAC (slow): title:  artist:  album:  genre:  track:  year:  comment:

Value / range syntax#

text

fn:value      fn:=value    fn:>value    fn:>=value    fn:<value    fn:<=value
fn:start..end   (range, inclusive)     fn:start-end  (alternative range)

Built-in macros#

text

File groups:    audio:  video:  doc:  pic:  zip:  exe:
Literal chars:  quot:"  apos:'  amp:&  lt:<  gt:>  #<n>:  #x<n>:  (unicode dec/hex)

Key examples#

text

exact:env.json                           exact filename (not substring)
ext:py;js;ts                             multiple extensions
ext:py dm:thisweek size:>10kb            AND combination
parent:C:\Dev\myproject                  in folder (+ subfolders)
infolder:C:\Dev\myproject                in folder only, no subfolders
sizedupe: ext:mp4 size:>1gb             large duplicate videos
ext:py content:"TODO"                   content search (slow)
attrib:H                                 hidden files
dm:last7days size:>1mb                   modified last 7 days
startwith:test_ ext:py                   files starting with test_

Safety#

• Confirm with the user before piping results into destructive commands
• Use count first ( count_files / ev --count / count()) to check scale before bulk operations
• Use limit/ -n/ max_results when testing queries
• Everything must be running — all interfaces error if it's not