How to find files with various weird filenames ?

[mattin]

Hello in new year

I'm curious how can I find files with weird names in my folder structure. Its worth to mention that here I have over 70GB of subfolers and files inside so must to find/search it "not by hand". Filenames which I want to find (later I want delete them ) look like this:
Image: https://i.ibb.co/0tZ72z7/Weird-Names.jpg
I must isolate / delete / rename / whatever these files before syncing to the cloud - some files can't be synced because of weird filenames as I suppose.

What steps should be taken by me after initial Alt-F7 step ?

[tuska]

Hello,

�
U+FFFD
REPLACEMENT CHARACTER

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_block#List_of_blocks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specials_(Unicode_block)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specials_(Unicode_block)#Replacement_character

Code: Select all

U+FFF0..U+FFFF Group ... regex:[\x{FFF0}-\x{FFFF}]

Try this...

Code: Select all

Title			Search for		required option
----------------------------------------------------------------
TC			\x{FFFD}		[X] RegEx
TC + 'Everything'	ev:regex:[\x{FFFD}]	[X] 'Everything'
Tool 'Everything'	regex:[\x{FFFD}]	– –

I do not have a solution for this sign at the moment:
■
U+25A0
BLACK SQUARE

Regards,
Karl

---

Windows 10 Pro (x64) Version 20H2 (OS build 19042.685)
TC 9.51 x64/x86 | 'Everything'-Version 1.4.1.1002 (x64) - Public release
[X] 'Everything' | Search queries: TC <=> 'Everything'

[tuska]

I have used the character table (charmap.exe): Font: Segoe UI
EmEditor is great! --> CTRL+I at cursor position ... then "Copy and Close"

■
U+25A0
UTF-16LE: 0x25A0
BLACK SQUARE

Try this...

Code: Select all

Title			Search for		required option
----------------------------------------------------------------
TC			\x{25A0}		[X] RegEx
TC + 'Everything'	ev:regex:[\x{25A0}]	[X] 'Everything'
Tool 'Everything'	regex:[\x{25A0}]	[X] –

What steps should be taken by me after initial Alt-F7 step ?

I would recommend you "Search in separate process... Alt+Shift+F7" ...

[mattin]

what is intresting (and maybe important maybe not) is that screen from my 1st post was taken from OneDrive app - it sees these files in this way like on 1st screen. But when I look at these files in TC then I see like this:
Image: https://i.ibb.co/8jMKfp9/Weird-Names2.png I marked using red arrows files with weirn names, next 2 files (eyebolts... and gasket... below have normal names)

@tuska does it change something ?

[tuska]

Well, I would take a file name with very few special characters from the PC for testing,
and find out the code for one special character (-> charmap.exe).

After that I would do a RegEx query as shown already in the examples above and rename the file
and then upload the file to OneDrive and check how it is displayed.

Example:
Á (-> as shown in your picture!)
U+00C1
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE

Search in separate process... Alt+Shift+F7
TC - Search for: \x{00C1} .... [X] RegEx

---

But I am NOT sure if the correct display of files is just a SETTING thing!

[mattin]

I made small test to find test file with Á in filename - created abcÁ.txt and tried to find it but no success

https://i.ibb.co/tbzd8HM/Weird-Names3.jpg

or maybe I put something wrong in TC search fields ? (I use TC regularly but not regex )

[petermad]

2mattin

https://i.ibb.co/tbzd8HM/Weird-Names3.jpg

The "Find text:" field is for searching INSIDE the files - for searhing file names you have to use the "Search for:" field and then check the "RegEx" box, not the "RegEx (2)" box.

[mattin]

aaaaa yes, thank you.
Then I created this regex to find files with filenames NOT containing expected characters ------> [^., aąbcćdeęfghijklłmnńoópqrsśtuvwxyzźż] and tested it on https://regexr.com/ and it find me these weird files - what I expected. Thank you