mdfind ( query -- results )

Vocabulary

spotlight

Inputs

query

a string

Outputs

results

a sequence

Word description

Finds files matching a given query.

mdfind [-live] [-count] [-onlyin directory] [-name fileName] query

The mdfind command consults the central metadata store and returns a list of files that match the given metadata query. The query can be a string or a query expression.

Spotlight Keywords
These can be included in the query expression to limit the type of documents returned:

Applications	kind:application, kind:applications, kind:app
Audio/Music	kind:audio, kind:music
Bookmarks	kind:bookmark, kind:bookmarks
Contacts	kind:contact, kind:contacts
Email	kind:email, kind:emails, kind:mail message, kind:mail messages
Folders	kind:folder, kind:folders
Fonts	kind:font, kind:fonts
iCal Events	kind:event, kind:events
iCal To Dos	kind:todo, kind:todos, kind:to do, kind:to dos
Images	kind:image, kind:images
Movies	kind:movie, kind:movies
PDF	kind:pdf, kind:pdfs
Preferences	kind:system preferences, kind:preferences
Presentations	kind:presentations, kind:presentation

Date Keywords
These can be included in the query expression to limit the age of documents returned:

date:today	$time.today()
date:yesterday	$time.yesterday()
date:this week	$time.this_week()
date:this month	$time.this_month()
date:this year	$time.this_year()
date:tomorrow	$time.tomorrow()
date:next month	$time.next_month()
date:next week	$time.next_week()
date:next year	$time.next_year()

Boolean Operators
By default mdfind will AND together elements of the query string.

| (OR)	to return items that match either word, use the pipe character: stringA|stringB
- (NOT)	to exclude documents that match a string: -string
==	equal
!=	not equal
< and >	"less" or "more than"
<= and >=	"less than or equal" or "more than or equal"

Examples

Return all files that have been modified today

"date:today" mdfind

Return all files that have been modified in the last 3 days

"kMDItemFSContentChangeDate >= $time.today (-3)" mdfind

Returns files with particular attributes

"com.microsoft.word.doc" "kMDItemContentType" attr== mdfind

Look for files with a particular file name

"Finding Joy in Combinators.pdf" "kMDItemFSName" attr== mdfind

Look for terms in documents

"Document cocoa.messages selector" mdfind

Return all files in the users home folder that have been modified in the last 3 days

"~" [ "kMDItemFSContentChangeDate >= $time.today (-3)" mdfind ] with-directory

Notes

This word uses the current-directory to restrict the search, choosing to search from the root ('/') if not set.

Definition

USING: formatting io.launcher ;

IN: spotlight

: mdfind ( query -- results )
    "mdfind -onlyin . %s" sprintf process-lines ;