ZipScan

Archive Search Software - Search Zip Files, Search CAB files

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© Adrian Bhagat 1999-2014

Basic Searching Where to Search

Search Patterns

You can enter a search pattern to be compared to the name of a file. If the file name matches the search pattern then the file will be shown in the Results list. You can simply enter the name of a file, for example ‘Letter.doc’, or you can use one of the wildcard patterns shown below. Entering a search pattern of ‘*’ will match any file, whatever its name.

If you want to enter more than one pattern then separate the patterns with a semicolon. For example, if you want to find files called ‘Letter.doc’ or ‘Fax.doc’ enter the search pattern ‘ Letter.doc ; Fax.doc’.

Next to the ‘Search for files named…’ edit box where you enter the search pattern is a button. Clicking this opens a dialog that allows you to select how the pattern is interpreted. It can also be opened using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F2.


These are the different wildcard methods that are available:

Use Normal Pattern-Matching

These patterns use the wildcard characters (* and ?) to search for matching filenames. ? will match any single character and * will match any sequence of characters. For example, ‘*.txt’ would match all files that end in .txt. A pattern of ‘Picture?.jpg’ would match files named ‘Picture1.jpg’, ‘PictureA.jpg’, ‘

Picture+.jpg’ etc. To match every file, whatever its name, you should enter a search pattern of ‘*’.

Extra Wildcard Characters


This option is the same as Normal pattern matching except there are two additional wildcard characters. # will match any digit and $ will match any letter. So, a search pattern of ‘$$$###*’ will match any file name that begins with three letters followed by three digits, such as ‘BOB001.txt’ or ‘xyz999abc.doc.

Use Grep-style Pattern Matching


If you choose the Grep-style filename matching, the pattern is compared to filenames using these rules:

For example, the pattern ‘[A-Z][0-9]*’ will match any filename that begins with a letter followed by a digit.

Full Path Matching

When files are stored in archives, they can also store the directory name of the file. For example, you could create a zip file with the following files:

file1.txt

backup\file2.txt

backup\file3.txt

new\file4.txt


By default, ZipScan will compare the filename pattern you enter against only the name of the file (in this case, the files are named file1.txt, file2.txt, file3.txt and file4.txt). However, by checking the ‘Full Path Matching’ option, the whole path of the file is compared.

So, if you wished to find all the files in the archive that were inside the backup directory, you could check the ‘Full Path Matching’ box and set your filename search pattern to be ‘ backup\*’


Note:  This option does not change the way that the names of files that are stored in directories are matched.

Advanced Information

Note that this filename comparison is always case-insensitive.