Is it possible to call "Alfred internal search engine" in a workflow and get result?

[bigplume]

I don't know whether I used the correct name, when I search files in the Alfred search bar, there must be some search engine working in the background, this is "Alfred internal search engine" I mean in the title.

 

I am writing a workflow which process a list to file name, I need to get the full path of these files and open them or whatever further processing. They are located in various place in my computer and I don't want to or can't list all possible paths to find them. I tried to use "fd", "find" command line tools, but because I didn't give precise path, so it takes some times to get results. When I search this file names in Alfred search bar, I always get result instantly and of course the full path is known. So can I ask Alfred to search something for me in a workflow? thanks.

Edited January 24, 2023 by bigplume

[vitor]

Welcome @bigplume,

 

It’s not entirely clear to me what you’re looking to do. Maybe you’re looking for the File Filter? Or perhaps all you need is a Universal Action?

 

If you describe your exact goal and restrictions we should be able to provide more pertinent help.

[bigplume]

@vitor thanks for response,

 

I want Alfred to search some file for me without any user interaction window in a workflow, the input is a list of file name (of course can process them one by one in a loop), the output is full path of the file in my computer. Actually it is identical to what "find" command does (filename -> full path), but Alfred is super fast if I search a file in the search bar.

 

File Filter does the task actually, I can input a file name to it from workflow, but it has a popup window even the file name is unique in the computer. As I mentioned, I want to process a list of file name, it's terrible to get popup window for each file. So what I want is a no popup window solution, just outputs the file path as string to the following processing steps. Thanks.

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by bigplume

[vitor]

What you’re looking for is mdfind, then. It uses the Spotlight indexing, which is what Alfred uses as well.

[bigplume]

11 minutes ago, vitor said:

What you’re looking for is mdfind, then. It uses the Spotlight indexing, which is what Alfred uses as well.

Thank you very much!! Just tried, I think this is what I want!! never know this command....