Filesystem fuzzy search

[makov]

My no 1 missing feature is to be able to navigate to a folder (reveal in finder), that matches a partial (fuzzy) query.

 

For example. Say I have a project located at this path:

 

/Work/Projects/Clients/Bob/2013/New Year/Materials/Pictures

 

And I desperately want to open it in finder just by typing something like: PBob13NYP

 

This is well implemented in Intellij IDEA and Sublime Text. Typing this query (PBob13NYP) in those ides, would search through index of paths and highlight fuzzy matches like so:

 

/Work/Projects/Clients/Bob/2013/New Year/Materials/Pictures

 

I spend too much time navigating in finder or alfred using filesystem navigator. One useful addition that Alfred has for me - is ability to open looked up folder in specific application. That would be a bonus too.

 

Maybe it's already possible, but I couldn't find a way to do it. Thanks. 

Edited November 20, 2013 by makov

[politicus]

@makov +1 to your request. 

 

95% of the time typing the file/folder's name is the easiest/fastest solution.
But sometimes it is not (ie. a big bulk of files with the same name in different locations)

Needless to say navigating to the file/folder is slower.

[pavel.sakun]

+1

[cutcopypaste]

After getting totally used to this in sublime text I am pretty bummed this is not a feature.. it makes life so much easier, I pretty much expected it from Alfred

[ctwise]

Alfred relies on Spotlight, so it _should_ be able to do this, e.g., if you type in 'grd' then Alfred could search using mdfind "kMDItemDisplayName=='g*r*d*'c" which might return 'generate_index_command.rb' or 'gnutls_x509_crq_set_challenge_password.3'.

 

But, that doesn't take into account word separators or some other complex filtering. If what you _really_ want is for 'grd' to return 'gnutls_record_discarded.3' but _not_ 'gnutls_record_get_discarded.3' then you're out of luck because Spotlight doesn't support grep. That said, you can create a workflow that does what you want, run the mdfind using the letters entered to get the base files, then filter them using a fuzzy search algorithm or grep and return them as files.

[deanishe]

My Fuzzy Folders workflow can do this. You can initiate a search via an Alfred file action, or assign keywords to specific folders. Have a look at the demo GIF.

http://www.alfredforum.com/topic/4042-fuzzy-folders/

Edited March 17, 2014 by deanishe