File search cli

File Search CLI

Overview

Use Everything's es.exe CLI to rapidly search for files by name, path, extension, size, or modification date. Requires Everything to be running.

Prerequisites

1. Download and install Everything: https://www.voidtools.com/zh-cn/downloads/
2. Download ES (CLI): From the same page, scroll to "ES (Command line interface)" section and download es.exe
3. Add es.exe to PATH: Move es.exe to a directory in your system PATH, or use full path
4. Everything must be running in the background for IPC to work

Quick Reference

# Basic search (finds files containing text in name)
es.exe <search_term>

# Find by extension
es.exe *.pdf
es.exe *.py

# Limit results
es.exe <search> -n 20

# Sort results
es.exe <search> -sort size       # by size (largest first)
es.exe <search> -sort dm         # by date modified
es.exe <search> -sort name       # by name (default)

# Search in specific path
es.exe <search> -path "C:\Projects"

# Only files or only folders
es.exe <search> /a-d              # files only
es.exe <search> /ad              # directories only

# Regex search
es.exe -r "file\d+\.txt"

# Case sensitive
es.exe -i "MyFile"

# Show only results with path
es.exe <search> -p

# Export formats
es.exe <search> -csv > results.csv
es.exe <search> -txt > results.txt
es.exe <search> -efu results.efu

# Combine options
es.exe "*.py" -path "C:\src" -n 50 -sort dm

Common Patterns

Task	Command
Find by extension	es.exe *.md
Find in folder	es.exe notes -path "C:\Users"
Largest files	es.exe * -sort size -n 10
Recent files	es.exe * -sort dm -n 20
Find by size	es.exe /a尺寸 > 10MB
Only files	es.exe <search> /a-d
Only folders	es.exe <search> /ad

Options

Option	Description
-n <num>	Limit to num results
-sort size	Sort by size
-sort dm	Sort by date modified
-sort name	Sort by name
-sort dc	Sort by date created
-sort-ascending	Ascending order
-sort-descending	Descending order
-path <path>	Search under path
-parent <path>	Search in parent only
-r	Regex mode
-i	Case sensitive
-p	Match path and filename
-o <offset>	Offset for pagination
-csv	CSV output
-txt	Text output
-efu	Everything File List
/a-d	Files only
/ad	Directories only
/a[attributes]	Filter by attributes
-timeout <ms>	Wait for DB load
-pause	Pause on full screen
-hide-empty-search-results	Hide results if no search text

Return Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Failed to register window class
2	Failed to create listening window
3	Out of memory
4	Missing argument
5	Failed to create export file
6	Unknown argument
7	IPC query failed
8	Everything IPC window not found (ensure Everything is running)

Tips

• Omit -n to get all results
• Use -timeout 5000 if database is still loading
• Add -save-settings to remember your preferences
• For PowerShell, escape special chars with backtick: ^
• Default sort is ascending for size/date, alphabetical for name

Troubleshooting

"Everything IPC window not found" → Ensure Everything is running in the background

No results → Check if Everything has indexed the location (Options → Indexes)