InfoCenter

File Filter

In programs with a file list in which files can be added from folders, the question arises, which files are selected when searching a folder. For this purpose, various filter functions are available in the FilelistCreator, the FileAnalyzer, the TextEncoder or the TextConverter, which allow you to select files according to numerous criteria.

In the following, we would like to take a closer look at how these filters work, how you can use them for your goals and we will get to know their possibilities and special features.

• Areas of Application of the Filter Settings
• Call up the Filter Settings
• Filter for the File Name and Path
• Exclusion and Combination of multiple Search Terms
• Application of individual Search Terms with different Options
• Restrict Path Filters to specific Folder Levels
• Filename and Path Filter in Script Control
• File Extension Filter
• File Type Filter
• Folder Level Filter
• File Size Filter
• File Date Filter
• Date Filter in Script Control
• Filters for Encoding, Byte Order Mark and Line Break Type
• Filters for Text Files and Binary Files
• File Attribute Filter
• Filters for Files and Folders
• Search in Subdirectories
• Adding of Folders
• Filter for Single Files
• File List Refreshing
• List of all Script Control Parameters

Areas of Application of the Filter Settings

The filter settings presented in this compilation can be applied both when you drag and drop a folder onto the program as well as when you use one of the functions for browsing directories or adding files from folders via the program menu, via the context menu of the file list or the buttons under the file list. Additionally, you can determine whether the filter is also applied when adding individual files using the settings explained in the section about the filter for individual files.

Also files that have already been added to the file list can be subsequently thinned out using filters (see the section on refreshing the file list for more information about that). In addition, there are individual parameters for each of the filters shown, so that you can use the filters even if you are using the programs via a script, batch files or the command line.

Call up the Filter Settings

Depending on the area of ​​application, you will find the filter settings in different places and in different dialogs within the programs:

• If you use the dialog for searching in folders or for adding files from folders, you can click on the button "Filter" at the bottom right of the dialog window to display the filter settings. The filters defined here then refer to the search in the folder selected in the dialog.
• If you right-click on the file list, you can open the filter settings via the entry "Filter" from the file list's context menu. This filter can be used, for example, if you drag folders onto the program or if you want to filter your file list retrospectively.
• In some programs there are additional buttons to access the filter settings. In the FilelistCreator, for example, at the top right next to the file list under "Include" or in other programs also in the button bar below the file list.
• The parameters for using the filters in the script control can be found along with some application examples at the end of the sections in which the respective filter types are presented. In addition, all available parameters and their possible values ​​are briefly summarized in an overview table at the end of this tutorial.

After this brief introduction, we would like to take a look at each of the individual filters in the following sections.

Filter for the File Name and Path

The two filters for the file name and the file path are structured relatively similarly, so we would like to examine these two filters together here. The difference between these two filters only relates to which part of the file path is considered:

• The filename filter always refers to the actual name of the file. This means that for a file path like "C:\abc\def\ghi\dat.ext" only the "dat" component is checked. The names of the folders of the path (here: "abc\def\ghi") can, however, be searched independently of the file name filter with the path filter, the file extension (here "ext") with the file extension filter, which we will look at in the next section.
• The path filter - in contrast to the filename filter - refers to the folder names within the path. In our example file path "C:\abc\def\ghi\dat.ext" these are the folder names "abc", "def" as well as "ghi". By default, the path filter matches if at least one of these folder names matches our search criteria. Alternatively, you can also specify one or more folder levels in the path filter to which the search should be limited (more on this later).

In general, this filter searches for a text. The mentioned texts of the folder and file names must therefore correspond to the search criteria so that a file can be found. After you have entered your search text in the input field, you can use the following options to determine how your search text has to match the name:

• Match Case: This option allows you to specify whether your search should be case-insensitive. If this option is activated, "abc" only matches "abc" and not "ABC" or "Abc". If this option is deactivated, both a search for "abc" as well as a search for "ABC" will find all the examples mentioned regardless of their writing.
• Ignore Diacritics: If this option is activated, diacritics such as umlauts (ÄÖÜ), accents (ÉÙ) and other variations of letters such as Ĉ, Ã or Đ will be ignored when searching. This means that a search for "äƀčđé" would also match "abcde"; a search for A would also find Ä, Á, À, Ã, Å and so on. However, if this option is deactivated, all diacritics must match exactly to produce a hit (a search for A would only find "A").
• Consider only Whole Words (Beginning/End): If you activate both of these options, the search word must appear as a whole word in the name. So, a search for "bcd" would only match "abcde" if both of these options are disabled. If you activate only one of these two options, you can search for word beginnings or word endings.
• Name has to start/end with the Search Term: In contrast to the last function, these two options do not refer to words within the name but to the name as such. That is, this option allows you to search for file names or folder names that start or end with a specific text.
• Total Name must match: If this option is activated, the filter will only match if the name exactly matches your search term. If this filter is deactivated, a search for "abc" would also match names like "abc def", "xyzabc" or "xyzabc123". However, if this filter is activated, "abc" only matches "abc" and no longer the other examples just mentioned.
• Interpret as Regular Expression: Enabling this option allows you to search files using regular expressions. This means you have all the possibilities of regular expressions at your disposal. For example, using a search for [0-9] you can find files that contain a digit from 0 to 9 in their name.

Regardless of these search options, for simple searches, you can also use the classic wildcard search by simply entering a wildcard search term in the search field. The wildcard search is activated by the presence of a wildcard character such as the asterisk * in the search term, regardless of the other settings. For example, a* finds all names that start with an "a", while *a finds all names that end with an "a", and a*a finds all names that both start with an "a" and end with an "a". In addition to the asterisk, which stands for any number of characters, the question mark, which stands for exactly one character, can also be used in the wildcard search. With a?? you will therefore find names that start with an "a" and are exactly three characters long, but not shorter or longer names (the "a" is followed by two additional other characters for which the question mark is a placeholder). In addition to the regular expressions and search options such as "starts/ends with", the wildcard search offers you an easy and simplified way to further specify and dynamically expand your search terms.

Exclusion and Combination of multiple Search Terms

When searching for specific file names and within the file path, you are not limited to single search terms. Instead, it is also possible to combine or exclude individual search terms:

• If you want to search for several search terms at the same time (OR conjunction), you can connect the different search terms with a vertical line. For Example, a search for "abc|def|ghi" will find files that contain either the text "abc", "def" or "ghi" in their name.
• If you want several search terms to appear within one name (AND conjunction), you can separate the respective search terms with a colon. A search for "abc:ghi" finds files that contain both the text "abc" as well as the text "ghi" in their name, but not files that only have one of these two texts.
• If you would like to exclude search terms from your search, you can prefix these search terms with a minus sign. For example, searching for "-abc" will only find files whose names do not contain the text "abc".
• If you want to exclude multiple search terms, you can use the minus sign together with the OR conjunction. With "-abc|def" you search for files that do not contain either the text "abc" or the text "def" in their name.
• If you want to combine a positive and a negative search, you can join these two searches with an AND conjunction: For example, with "a:-b" you search for all files that have an "a" in the name but not a "b" ("a" and not "b" - "ax.txt" would be a hit, "ab.txt" would not).
• If you would like to search for one of these special characters itself, you can put your search term in double quotation marks. For example, if you want to explicitly search for a minus sign, you can write "-abc" with these quotation marks in the search field (search for "-abc"). If you want to use the vertical bar in a regular expression, you can for example write "[a|b]+" (search for a character string of any length consisting only of the letters "a" or "b"). A possible link character should of course be located outside the quotation marks: In "-abc"|"-def" the minus sign is in quotation marks while the vertical bar is outside the quotation marks and is therefore evaluated as an OR conjunction (so with this example you are looking for either "-abc" or "-def").

Of course, several of these conjunction types can also be combined with each other:

• Example 1: With a search for "abc:def|ghi" ("abc" and "def" or "ghi") you are looking for files that must contain both the text "abc" and alternatively either "def" or "ghi". So, file names like "abcdef" or "abcghi" but not "defghi" would match.
• Example 2: With a search for "abc:-def:ghi" ("abc" and not "def" and "ghi"), you search for file names that contain both the text "abc" and the text "ghi", but not the text "def" because this element was preceded by a minus sign in the search text.

Application of individual Search Terms with different Options

To apply specific search terms with different options, they can be preceded by the characters "c" (match case), "d" (ignore diacritics), "w" (whole words), "p" (starts as a word), "q" (ends as a word), "b" (start), "e" (end), "a" (entire name) as well as "r" (regular expression) in angle brackets <>.

• Tip: If you don't want to enter these characters yourself, simply select your desired options using the graphical user interface and then right-click on the option field. If you select "As Inline Flags" from the context menu, the flags will be created for you automatically.

Example: We want to search for names that begin with the word "Word" in exactly this writing, but we don't want to end with a number. We can carry out this search with the following search term:

<cbw>Word:<re>[0-9]

Our search term consists of the two individual search terms "Word" and "[0-9]", which are connected to each other with a colon (AND conjunction) because both individual search terms should apply. We prefixed our first search term "Word" with the parameters "cbw". This means that the search term must appear in exactly this uppercase/lowercase writing (c), the search term must occur at the beginning of the name (b) and the search term must appear as a whole word (w). Our second search term [0-9] is a regular expression (r) that should match at the end of the word (e).

Restrict Path Filters to specific Folder Levels

The only visible difference in the graphical user interface between the filename filter and the path filter is that the path filter provides an additional field for the path level. With this input field, which is entitled "Check folder names only on the following path levels", in addition to the other filter settings, you can specify which folder level(s) should be considered when searching in the path.

• By default, this field is empty. This means that all folder names in the path are searched and the filter matches if at least one folder name corresponds to the search criteria. A search for "abc" would accordingly find a file like "C:\abc\def\file1.txt" as well as files like "C:\xyz\abc\file2.txt" or "C:\x\y\z\abc\file3.txt", although the search term appears in different respectively at different folder levels.
• However, if you want to take into account only the folder names of certain levels, you can specify the level(s) to be searched as individual items (e.g. "1" or "3"), as a range (e.g. "2-5") or as a list (e.g. "1,3-7"). The count always starts at 0 for the drive level, so the levels are C:\Level0\Level1\Level2\... and so on. Once information has been provided which folder level(s) should be included in the search, all other parts of the path are no longer considered and can contain arbitrary folder names.

For our example mentioned at the beginning, this means that with a path search at level 0 we would only find the first file from our example, with a path search at levels 0-2 the first and second files and with 1-3 the second and third.

Analogous to specifying search term options using prefixed flags, which we learned about in the last section, the path level to be searched can also be individualized for individual search terms by prefixing the relevant search term with the folder level to be considered within the characters < and >. We can define the desired folder level using the abbreviation "l=" as the following example shows:

<l=0>abc:<l=2>def

With this search term we find files whose folder names contain the text "abc" in the path at drive level (level 0) and "def" at the second folder level. For example, files like "C:\abc\xyz\def\file1.dat" or "C:\abcdef\bcd\abcdef\file2.dat" but not files like "C:\def\xyz\abc\file3.dat" or "C:\abc\def\ghi\file4.dat". For this, we have combined the two search terms with a colon (AND conjunction).

If we would like to apply other individual flags for individual search terms in addition to the folder level, we can separate these from the folder level specification using the slash character:

<cb/l=0>A:<r/l=1-3>[0-9]

With this search term we search for paths whose folders at the drive level (l=0) begin with a capital "A" (c = case sensitive; b = beginning with) and at least one folder name at levels 1 to 3 (l=1-3) contains at least one digit (r = the term "[0-9]" is interpreted as a regular expression).

Of course, we are not forced to always use the same type of flags for each individual search term but can also combine them with each other completely freely:

<ed/l=1>a:<l=3-7>b|<w>xyz

In this example, we have combined three search terms with the colon (AND conjunction) and the vertical bar (OR conjunction) of which for the first both flags and a folder level were defined, while for the last two only a folder level respectively only a flag was prefixed. With this search term we find paths whose folder names at level 1 (l=1) end with an "a" or related diacritics such as "á" or "ä" (e = ends with; d = ignore diacritics) and which contain the letter "b" somewhere in the folder name at at least one of the folder levels three to seven (l=3-7) or which contain "xyz" as a whole word (w) somewhere in the path in any folder name.

Filename and Path Filter in Script Control

Also if you control the programs via the command line or a script instead of the graphical user interface, you can use all of the possibilities and options of the file name filter and the path filter presented in the last sections. For this, the two parameters "filter-name" and "filter-path" are available to you, with which you can pass the same type of search terms that you can also use in the corresponding input fields of the graphical user interface:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-name=abc cols=path save=C:\list1.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-path=xyz cols=path save=C:\list2.txt

With these two examples, we search for all files stored on the disk "D:\" that contain the text "abc" respectively "xyz" somewhere in the file name (filter-name=abc) respectively in the path (filter-path=xyz), create a list of all relevant file paths (cols=path) and save these as "list1.txt" respectively "list2.txt" with the FilelistCreator.

If you would like to define one or more of the options mentioned for your search terms, you can do this with the following additional parameters, each of which refers to the search text specified via "filter-name" or "filter-path" (to activate the corresponding parameter, you can use the value from the column "Active"; if the parameter is not specified or the parameter is to be deactivated, the value specified in the column "Default" is used; in the column "Flags" you will find the flag of each parameter, which you can, for example, precede individual search terms in searches with several search terms in order to activate the respective option for this part of the search term):

The following two examples show their use, in which we have added one respectively two options to our previous example calls:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-name=abc filter-name-words=1 cols=path save=C:\list1.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-path=xyz filter-name-matchall=1 filter-path-level=1-3 cols=path save=C:\list2.txt

Our first example, we have supplemented with the option "filter-name-words=1", which means that the search text "abc" must appear as a whole word in a file name and it is not sufficient if this text is only part of another word. Our second example, we have supplemented with the two options "filter-name-matchall=1" and "filter-path-level=1-3". In order to match, at least one of the folder names in the path at the folder levels 1, 2 or 3 must exactly match the search term as a whole.

Alternatively, we can also put these additional parameters directly in front of our search term in the form of flags embedded in < and > - as it is also possible via the graphical user interface (see the column "Flags" in the table), which leads to a more compact notation due to the possible omission of the additional parameters and enables us to express the entire name filter in just a single parameter instead of using many individual parameters. Below we have rewritten the last two calls accordingly:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ "filter-name=<w>abc" cols=path save=C:\list1.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ "filter-path=<a/l=1-3>xyz" cols=path save=C:\list2.txt

Depending on the context, it should be noted that the parameter containing the characters < and > must be enclosed in quotation marks, otherwise these characters will be interpreted with a different meaning (input or output redirection).

Of course, all of the other options shown, such as combining multiple search terms, excluding search terms or using individual parameters for individual combined search terms, can also be used via the script control. Anything you can enter in the text field of the graphical user interface can also be transmitted using the corresponding parameters. An example of this is the following call to the TextEncoder:

TextEncoder.exe -cl C:\Folder "filter-name=<cb>abc|<ce>xyz" enc=utf8

With this call we convert all files from the folder "C:\Folder" whose names either start with the lowercase text "abc" or end with the lowercase text "xyz" into the UTF-8 format.

File Extension Filter

If you want to limit your file search to specific file extensions or if you want to exclude files with specific extensions from your search, you can use the file extension filter.

• Individual file extensions can simply be specified as such (for example "PDF" or "TXT").
• If you want to search for several file extensions at the same time, you can separate them using the vertical bar. For example, with "MP4|WEBM|AVI" you search for all files that have either the file extension MP4, WEBM or AVI.
• If you want to explicitly exclude certain file extensions, you can prefix this or these file extensions with a minus sign. For example, with "-HTML" you can find files with all extensions except those files with the file extension "HTML". The minus sign always refers to all following file extensions, so for example you can write "-HTML|HTM" to exclude both HTML and HTM files.
• With wildcards you can also search for parts of file extensions: For example, a search for mp* finds all file extensions that start with "mp" such as MP2, MP3, MP4, MPG or MPEG, while a search for *mp finds all file extensions that end with "mp" such as "BMP" or "EMP".
• Tip: Instead of listing all file extensions of a specific type, you can alternatively use the file type filter, which is presented in the next section. Instead of explicitly listing all possible audio files such as AAC, AC3, FLAC, MP3, M4A, MKA, OGG, WAV and so on, in many cases it may be sufficient to simply just activate the option "Audio files".

The upper and lower case writing is not relevant for this filter. So you always get the same result, regardless of whether you search for "JPG", "jpg" or "Jpg", for example.

Also this filter can be applied not only via the graphical user interface but also via script control. The parameter "filter-ext" is available for this purpose, which can be used as follows:

filter-ext=docx
filter-ext=docx,odt
filter-ext=docx,xlsx,odt,ods

With the first line we are looking for Word documents with the file extension DOCX while with the second line we are not only looking for DOCX documents from Microsoft but also for the OpenOffice counterpart "ODT". In the third line we also add the spreadsheet formats XLSX and ODS.

As a separator, we have used the comma in all three cases. Alternatively, we can also separate our desired file extensions with the semicolon (;), the hyphen (-) or the slash character (/). The vertical bar (|), which you know from the graphical user interface of this filter, can also be used as a separator, but due to its special meaning within batch files it must be enclosed in double quotation marks together with the entire expression, for example in the form: "filter-ext=JPG|PNG". The other way around, the alternative separators can also be used in the graphical user interface, but the data is nevertheless saved under the usual separator, the vertical bar.

In the following you can see four examples of how you can use the file extension filter in practice:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder1 filter-ext=pdf cols=path save=C:\pdfs.txt
TextEncoder.exe -cl C:\Folder2 filter-ext=htm* bom=0
TextConverter.exe -cl C:\Folder3 filter-ext=-log "a=SORT_LINES 1-10 UP"
FileAnalyzer.exe -cl C:\Folder4 filter-ext=mp4/m4a compare=/moov/trak/tkhd

With the first line we create a file list with the paths of all PDF files from the folder "C:\Folder1" with the FilelistCreator and save this list as a text file under "C:\pdfs.txt". With the second line we want to remove the Byte Order Mark of all HTM and HTML files stored in the folder "C:\Folder2". For this, we use the TextEncoder with the parameters "bom=0" (remove BOM) and "filter-ext=htm*" (files whose file extension begins with HTM). In the third line we sort the first ten lines of all files from the folder "C:\Folder3" that have a file extension other than "log". We achieve this with the TextConverter, the exclusive file extension filter "-log" as well as with passing the action "SORT-LINES" as the last parameter. In the last line we want to compare the track header (tkhd) of both MP4 videos and M4A audios via the FileAnalyzer. This time we use the slash as an alternative delimiter to list the file extensions.

Of course, you can also alternatively use the file type filter instead of the file extension filter just introduced via the script control, too, which in some cases can be easier to use than listing a large number of file extensions individually using the file extension filter. More on this in the next section.

File Type Filter

If you want to limit your file selection for example only to images, videos and/or audio files, it is not necessary to list all conceivable file extensions of these file types using the file extension filter presented previously. Instead, you can simply use the file type filter, which makes it possible to limit your search to single or multiple file types.

The categories available are audio files, video files, images, text files, documents, spreadsheets, archives, websites, executables, source codes, fonts, playlists and others. The category "other" includes all other file types and file extensions that have not yet been classified. Right-clicking on the options makes your selection easier: in the context menu you will find the option to activate or deactivate all options as well as a function to only activate the option you clicked on.

In the following table you can see an overview of which file types are grouped into which category. These file types respectively file extensions will be searched for if you filter according to one of the corresponding categories:

In the column "Parameters" you can see the keyword for each individual category, which you can use if you want to use the file type filter within scripts. These keywords can be passed via the "filter-type" parameter:

filter-type=font
filter-type=text,document,website

With the parameter in the first line we search for fonts, respectively font files such as files in the formats TTC, TTF or WOFF. The example in the second line shows how we can search for multiple categories at once (here text files, documents and websites) by passing a list of the desired categories. The following characters are allowed as separators: comma (,), semicolon (;), hyphen (-), vertical bar (|) and slash (/) (here we use the comma). If you want to use the vertical bar, the entire type parameter has to be enclosed in double quotation marks, since this character has a special meaning on the command line (for example "filter-type=image|font").

In practice, using the file type filter might look like this:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-type=audio cols=audio_artist,audio_title,path save=C:\MyMusic.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-type=audio-video-image cols=path save=C:\MyMediaFiles.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl D:\ filter-type=document-spreadsheet cols=path save=C:\MyDocuments.txt

In all three examples, we want to create a file list of our files from drive D:. We use the FilelistCreator for this and vary the categories of the listed files: With the first line we only list audio files and save our list with the columns artist, title and path under "C:\MyMusic.txt". With the second line we save the paths of audio files as well as videos and images under "C:\MyMediaFiles.txt" while with the third line we save the paths of all found documents and spreadsheets under "C:\MyDocuments.txt". To list the several categories, we have used the alternative separator, the hyphen.

Folder Level Filter

If you only want to add files that are located at a certain level within the folder structure, you can use this filter for the folder level.

As a filter, you can use individual levels (e.g. "1" or "2"), ranges (e.g. "3-7") as well as enumerations ("1,3,5-7"). If this filter is active, only files that are on one of the selected levels will be added to the file list.

The count of the levels starts at 0. This means that files that are not located in any folder but are stored directly on the drive, for example under "C:\", "D:\" or "E:\", have a folder level of 0. Files that only have one folder in the path have folder level 1 (for example files from the folder "C:\Folder"). The folder level 2 would have files from a folder like "C:\Folder1\Folder2" and so on. To find out which file is at which level, you can activate the "Folder Level" column in the program's file list.

If you want to apply this filter via a script, you can use the parameter "filter-path-level". Just like in the graphical user interface, individual levels as well as ranges or lists can be specified as values. If no value is specified or the filter is omitted, there is no filtering by folder level taking place.

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-folderlevel=7-9 cols=folder_level,path

With this call, we use the FilelistCreator to create a file list that includes all files located in a subfolder on level 7, 8 or 9 within the folder "C:\Folder" (all paths start with "C:\Folder"). We output the folder level and the path of the files found directly in the console, as we have not specified a target file for a possible storage of the list.

File Size Filter

With the filter for the file size, you can set both a lower limit (input field "Min") as well as an upper limit (input field "Max") for the size of the files.

The size can be specified in the file size units byte, kilobyte (KB), megabyte (MB), terabyte (TB) and petabyte (PB). You can specify the unit used via the drop-down menu behind the respective input field. If both fields are empty, the size filter is inactive. If only one of the two fields is filled out, a one-sided filtering is carried out exclusively based on a minimum or a maximum file size. With both fields filled out, you can search for a range (from file size X to file size Y).

For the script control, the parameters "filter-size-min" and "filter-size-max" are available for specifying the file size filter. The two parameters can be used individually or together. If the parameters are empty or omitted, they are not active. Values ​​can be specified without a unit or with the units (b, byte, kb, mb, tb or tb). Values ​​without a unit are always interpreted as bytes.

Let's take a look at some examples:

filter-size-min=2gb
filter-size-max=0
filter-size-min=100kb filter-size-min=1mb
filter-size-min=2048 filter-size-min=2048

In the first line we define a minimum file size of 2 gigabytes. This filter finds files that are at least or larger than 2 GB. In the second line, we define a maximum file size of 0 bytes. So, with this filter we can find all empty files with no content. The last two examples are using both file size filters. First, we define a range between 100 kilobytes and 1 megabyte, whereby we look for files that must be at least 100 KB in size but not larger than 1 MB. Finally, we set both, the minimum bound and the maximum bound to the same value. This allows us to find all files that are exactly the same size (not larger and not smaller), in our example exactly 2048 bytes.

In practice, applying the file size filter can look like this:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder cols=name,size filter-size-min=1gb filter-size-max=1tb save=C:\FileList.csv

Here we want to use a script to create a file list with the FilelistCreator that contains all files with a size between 1 GB and 1 TB from the folder "C:\Folder". This file list should include the two columns "Name" and "File Size" and it should be saved in CSV format under "C:\FileList.csv".

File Date Filter

Depending on the operating system and the file system, the types of timestamps that are saved to files and folders and can be read out can differ. Therefore, the selection of date filters varies based on availability and depends on the system on which you are running the program. On Windows you typically have the filters for the creation date, the modification date and the last access date. The creation date is missing under Linux, but as on all Unix systems, the date of the last attribute change can be read out instead and if you use MacOS, all four types of timestamps are available.

However, the options for how you can narrow down the date and time with your filter settings are not different. For each date type, the following options are available from the drop-down menu that can be found in the filter dialog:

• Options for a relative date such as "Today" or "Yesterday" always refer to the current date as a fixed point and are therefore dependent on the time at which the filter is used (regardless of the time at which the filter was set). After setting the option, the currently resulting date is displayed as a mouse hover over the selection box so that you have an orientation.
• Options for a relative time period such as "This Week", "Last Week", "This Month", "Last Month", "This Year" or "Last Year" also refer to the current date as a fixed point in the same way as "Today" or "Yesterday". The resulting time periods are also stored as mouse hovers, so that you don't have to look in the calendar yourself to see which days or dates correspond exactly to the selection.
• With the options "Before Date" and "After Date" you can specify an exact, absolute fixed point of time (via date and time) before or after which the timestamp of the file has to be.
• The option "Between Dates" combines the last two filters mentioned and makes it possible to specify two exact fixed points in time with date and time between which the timestamp of the file must lie. The file date must be older than the lower limit and younger than the upper limit and must lie within this fixed, defined time period.
• With the options "Older than" and "Younger than" you can define any relative time period in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years with a reference point to the current time. Any numbers can be entered, such as older or younger than "1 minute", "2 hours", "3 days" or "4 years". Here, too, you can use the mouse over of the input fields to provide orientation and display the time resulting from your settings. With the option "Round to full seconds / minutes / hours / days / weeks / months / years" an even period of time can be derived. For example, if it is currently 5:37 p.m. and you activate the "Round to full hours" option, the limit will not be 5:37 p.m. but 6:00 p.m.
• The next option, "Relative Time Period", combines the two filters, "Older Than" and "Younger Than", allowing you to define a time period with any relative start point and any relative end point over any number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. The same options are available to you as for the last two filters mentioned. So you can use any time units again, optionally round them to full numbers and the resulting period can be displayed again if you hover the mouse over the input field. By the way, both points in time can also have different units. For example, you can not only make entries such as "older than 2 hours and younger than 4 hours" but also "older than 1 day and younger than 2 months", for example.
• Beyond that, the component search allows you to search for only individual components of the date and the time. Year, month, day, hour, minute and second can be searched independently of each other. For example, if you fill out only the fields "Day" and "Month" (year and time remain at "All") and set them to December, the twenty-fourth, for example, you will find all files with the date December 24th regardless of the year and the time. On the other hand, if you select only a time, for example, you will find all files with that time regardless of the day, month and year. In addition to absolute numbers like "1" or "7", you can also use the fields to enter ranges like "2-5" (looks for 2, 3, 4 and 5) or lists like "3-7,9,12" (looks for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 12). Examples of possible values ​​and notations can be found in the drop-down boxes. But of course, you are not limited only to this quick selection: In addition to the given values, you can also enter any of your own values ​​or change the existing ones.
• A special feature of the component search is the field "Custom", which allows you to search for multiple components combined with each other using the operators AND and OR, expressed using the characters : and |. For example, if you want to limit your search to the last five days of January and the first 5 days of February excluding the second of February (regardless of year and time), you could write m=1:d=26-31|m=2:d=1.3-5 (first month and 26th to 31st day or second month and first and third to fifth day). As you can see, you can also use any single values, ranges or combinations thereof here. For the individual time components you can use the abbreviations y (year), m (month), d (day), h (hour), i (minute) and s (second).

Date Filter in Script Control

Of course, you can also use all of the options presented via the script control. The parameters "filter-date-created" (date of creation), "filter-date-modified" (date of last change), "filter-date-accessed" (date of last access) and "filter-date-attrchanged" (date of last attribute change) are available to you, each of which you can call with one of the following values:

Simple placeholders for time specifications such as today, yesterday, this-week, last-week, last-2-weeks, this-month, last-month, last-2-months, this-year, last-year, last-2-years or last-5-years can simply be used as such as parameter values. In the following example, we will create a file list of all files in the folder "C:\Folder" that were created (filter-date-created) in the last week (last-week):

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-created=last-week cols=path save=C:\FileList.csv

Absolute time specifications such as before-d, after-d or between-d1/d2 expect a specific point in time for d. Depending on how long this information is (how many digits the number has), the number passed will only be interpreted as a year, a year with a month, a date or a date with a time. Missing digits for a complete time specification are supplemented with January, the first of the month and 0:00 a.m., so an entry like "2026" becomes January 1, 2026, 0:00 a.m., an entry like "2026-05" would become May 1, 2026, 0:00 a.m. and so on. Separators like "-" are ignored, so for example you can write both "2026-05-16" and "20260516" with the same result. In this way, in the following three examples, we list the file paths of all files that were modified before May 16, 2026, 8:18 p.m. (before-202605162018 would produce the same result), that were modified after February 2021 (February 1, 2021, 12:00 a.m.), and that were modified between 2020 and 2025 (January 1, 2020, 12:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. January 1, 2025):

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-modified=before-2026-05-16-20-18 cols=path save=C:\FileList1.csv
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-modified=after-202102 cols=path save=C:\FileList2.csv
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-modified=between-2020/2025 cols=path save=C:\FileList3.csv

Relative time specifications such as younger-t, older-t or period-t1/t2 expect the specification of a relative time period for t. A relative time specification always consists of a numerical value and a unit without spaces or separators in between. The letters y (year), m (month), w (week), d (day), h (hour), i (minute) and s (second) can be used as units. For example, "1w" means a week, "2y" means two years and "3h" means three hours. By appending "-r" the time can be rounded up to the next smaller unit. So "3y" stands for the time exactly three years ago from the current date (if we have May 16, 2026, the result is May 16, 2023) while "3y-r" always rounds to the next first January, regardless of the date (i.e. in this case to January 1, 2024 - in the sense of 3 years = the year 2024, 2025 and 2026). Similarly, "m-r" rounds to the nearest first of the month, "d-r" to the nearest hour 0, "h-r" to the nearest minute 0 and so on. In the following three examples we list all files that were last accessed within the last three weeks and whose last access was more than half a year ago (rounded up to full months) as well as files with an access date that was more than exactly 2 months ago but not longer than four years ago, rounded up to full months:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-accessed=younger-3w cols=path save=C:\FileList1.csv
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-accessed=older-6m-r cols=path save=C:\FileList2.csv
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-accessed=period-2m/4y-r cols=path save=C:\FileList3.csv

The component search components-x expects at least one date component (year, month, day) and/or time component (hour, minute, second) for x. Multiple components can be combined with each other using a colon (AND operation) or a vertical bar (OR operation). The notation of an individual component is in the form "component abbreviation=value" where the component abbreviation is one of the letters y (year), m (month), d (day), h (hour), i (minute) or s (second), while the value expresses the time value in the form of a number. In addition to individual values ​​(such as "y=2026" for the year 2026), ranges (such as "m=2-4" for the months February to April) or lists (such as "d=1,3-7" for the first and third to seventh days) can also be specified. Below you can see some examples of usage:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-created=components-m=4 cols=path save=C:\FileList.csv

With this filter you create a list of all files created in the month of April - regardless of the year, day or time.

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-created=components-m=4:d=11 cols=path save=C:\FileList.csv

With this filter you create a list of all files created on April 11th - regardless of the year or time. For this purpose, the component "m=4" (April) was combined with the colon (AND conjunction) with the component "d=11" (eleventh day).

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-date-created=components-h=23:i=30-59|h=0:i=0-30 cols=path save=C:\FileList.csv

This filter lists all files created between 23:30 and 0:30 - regardless of the date (year, month, day) or the second. To do this, we combined two different searches with a vertical bar (OR conjuntion): On the one hand, the search for hour 23 (h=23) in combination with a minute between 30 and 59 (i=30-59) and on the other hand, hour 0 (h=0) with a minute in the range 0 to 30 (i=0-30).

Filters for Encoding, Byte Order Mark and Line Break Type

These three filters are currently only available in the programs TextEncoder as well as TextConverter and allow you to filter text files according to their encoding and byte order mark (BOM) as well as the line break type used.

• The filter for the Encoding allows you to filter for US-ASCII, ANSI, UTF-8, UTF-7, UTF-16LE, UTF-16BE, UTF-32LE, UTF-32BE, UTF-1, UTF-EBCDIC and GB18030 encodings. The term "US-ASCII" refers to all 7-bit non-Unicode text files that only contain code points between U+0000 and U+007F (127). All 8-bit text files are grouped under "ANSI" regardless of their code page, since the code page actually used cannot be clearly identified due to the lack of labeling and text files encoded in this way do not differ from one another at the byte level. This filter is inactive when all options are enabled (then text files of all encodings are found). To make a selection, you can disable and enable the checkboxes manually or you can use the options "Activate all", "Deactivate all" or "Activate only this option" from the context menu.
• The filter for the Byte Order Mark (BOM) allows you to display only text files with or without BOM. By default, both options are activated again, which means that all text files will match. US-ASCII and ANSI text files can never have a byte order mark.
• The filter for the Line Break Type allows you to filter text files based on the line break type used. The options available are CRLF (Windows/DOS), LF (Unix/Mac), CR (Classic Mac/C64), NL (New Line), RNL (Require New Line), FF (Form Feed), NEL (Next Line), LS (Line Separator), PS (Paragraph Separator), VT (Vertical Tab) and "Unknown". Under "Unknown", files that do not contain any line breaks are summarized, since it is not possible to determine the theoretically intended line break type of such files. As with coding, you can quickly select or deselect the options using the context menu.

If you control the TextEncoder or the TextConverter via the command line, you can set these three filters via the parameters "filter-enc" (encoding), "filter-bom" (byte order mark) as well as "filter-lb" (line break type). If these parameters are not specified or the value "all" is passed via these parameters, all text files will match regardless of their encoding, their BOM and their line break type. Otherwise, the following values ​​can be used for the individual parameters:

The line break filter "system" is system dependent and represents the line break type of the system on which the script is running. Typically this is CR LF for Windows systems and LF for Unix, Linux or MacOS. The hyphen in the values ​​for "filter-enc" can also be omitted. For example, you can write both "utf8" and "utf-8" without affecting the result of the search.

The usage of these three parameters can look like this:

filter-enc=ansi
filter-enc=utf8 filter-bom=0
filter-enc=utf16le,utf16be
filter-lb=system
filter-lb=crlf filter-enc=utf32le filter-bom=1

With the filter in the first line we are looking for ANSI files, that means 8-bit text files that can be stored, for example, in one of the typical Windows (1250 to 1258), ISO-8859 (for example LATIN-1 to LATIN-9) or DOS code pages. With the second line we search for text files stored in the UTF-8 format without a byte order mark and the third line shows how we can search for several encodings at the same time, separated by commas (here UTF-16 Little and Big Endian). In addition to the comma, semicolons (;), slashes (/) and vertical bars (|) can also be used as separators of several encodings or line break types (in the case of vertical bars, the entire expression must be enclosed in double quotation marks, such as "filter-lb=crlf|lf").

In contrast to the previous encoding filters from lines 1 to 3, the fourth line defines a line break filter: Here, text files are searched for that have a line break that is typical for the current system (for example CR LF on a Windows system). The last example shows that both filters can also be combined, with which we search for UTF-32 little endian encoded text files with byte order mark and Windows line break type (CRLF).

TextEncoder.exe -cl C:\Folder1 filter-enc=utf1 enc=utf8
TextEncoder.exe -cl C:\Folder2 filter-lb=lf lb=crlf save-folder=C:\Converted

In these two examples we can see how we can use the filters discussed with the TextEncoder in practice. With the first line we convert all files with a UTF1 encoding from the folder "C:\Folder1" to UTF-8. With the second line, we save all files with a Unix line break (LF) from the folder "C:\Folder2" as Windows line break (CRLF) files in the folder "C:\Converted".

Filters for Text Files and Binary Files

Independent of the categorizations of files presented so far, files can also be divided into one of the two broad categories of "text files" or "binary files" regardless of their format or other properties. To filter your files according to this categorization, you will find the following two filters in the section "Options" of the file filter dialog:

• Only Text Files: If this option is activated, the search will be limited to files that are readable as plain text. These are, for example, classic TXT files but also all other text-based files and file formats such as CSV, XML, HTML, INI, any source code or your own text format creations.
• Only Binary Files: Binary files are the opposite of text files. If this option is activated, the search will be limited to files that contain binary content and cannot be clearly and completely interpreted as plain text. These are typically, for example, audio files, video files, images, fonts, archives or executables.

A file is therefore either a text file or a binary file and can never be both at the same time.

The decision whether a file is a text file or a binary file is not made based on superficial criteria such as the file extension, but rather at the byte level. For example, text files do not contain atypical bytes such as null bytes that are not part of an encoded character (null bytes as part of a UTF-16 or UTF-32 encoded character with a low code point that does not completely fill the available space are therefore permitted, but stand-alone null bytes or null bytes in 7-bit or 8-bit code pages are not). A purely superficial check would not be possible to properly implement this filter, since text files can have all possible file extension and files can of course also have extensions that differ from their content.

Of course, these two filters can also be used via the script control of the programs. The parameters in question are "filter-onlytextfiles" as well as "filter-onlybinaryfiles", which can each have the values ​​0 (no) and 1 (yes). By default, "filter-onlybinaryfiles" is set to "0" in all programs, while "filter-onlytextfiles" is set to "0" in all programs except the TextConverter and the TextEncoder.

TextConverter.exe -cl C:\Folder1 filter-onlytextfiles=1 "a=REPLACE x y"
FileAnalyzer.exe -cl C:\Folder2 filter-onlybinaryfiles=1 "search-bytes=0D 0A" cols=file_name,offset_file

In these two lines you can see two application examples for each of the filters mentioned. In the first line we use the TextConverter to replace the letter "x" with the letter "y" in all text files from the folder "C:\Folder1" and in the third line we search all binary files from the folder "C:\Folder2" for the byte sequence "0D 0A" with the FileAnalyzer and then output the byte offset of all hits together with the file name of the file in which the byte sequence was found.

These filters are interesting, for example, for programs such as the TextConverter and the TextEncoder. In these programs, the "Text Files Only" option is activated by default because both the TextConverter and the TextEncoder have been explicitly designed for editing text files and editing binary files with these programs only makes sense in absolutely exceptional cases. In all other programs, these two filters allow all types of files by default. On the other hand, the setting "Binary Files Only" can, for example, make sense in the FileAnalyzer, which can also display and analyze text files, but offers more analysis options for binary files, such as displaying their file structure.

File Attribute Filter

In the area "Options" of ​​the file filter dialog you will find - depending on the program - also the following option to filter files by attributes in addition to the filters mentioned so far:

• Include hidden Files and Folders: When this option is enabled, also folders will be searched and files will be added that have been assigned a hidden flag on the file system. By default, this option is disabled, which means hidden files and folders will be ignored when searching regardless of the other criteria.

Via script control, you can apply this filter using the parameter "filter-hidden", which can take the values ​​0 (no) and 1 (yes) and is set to 0 by default (that means without explicitly using the parameter):

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder filter-hidden=1 cols=path save=C:\FileList.xlsx

With this command we create a file list of the files from the folder "C:\Folder" including all invisible files as an Excel spreadsheet "C:\FileList.xlsx" with the FilelistCreator.

Filters for Files and Folders

Most of the filters presented so far relate to the name, the extension or certain properties of files. Some programs such as the FilelistCreator or the FileRenamer can process not only files but also folders (with the FilelistCreator you can create not only file lists but also lists of folders while the FileRenamer can also be used to rename folders).

This circumstance makes it necessary to also have a filter that can control whether only files, only folders or both should be processed. In the graphical user interface you will find the corresponding filter settings at the top right under "Include". In the FilelistCreator there is an option for files and for folders, which can be activated and deactivated independently of each other. This makes it possible to control whether, when adding a folder, only the files it contains and/or the folders it contains are added to the file list.

In the script control you can use the two parameters "add-files" and "add-folders" for the options mentioned, both of which can have the values ​​"1" (yes) and "0" (no). By default (without specifying these parameters) "add-files" is set to "1" and "add-folders" is set to "0" (so only files are processed by default).

Let's look at an example for using these two parameters:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder add-files=1 add-folders=0 cols=path save=C:\Files.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder add-files=0 add-folders=1 cols=path save=C:\Folders.txt
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder add-files=1 add-folders=1 cols=path save=C:\FilesAndFolders.txt

With the first line we create a file list that contains the paths of all files from the folder "C:\Folder" (folders are not listed) while with the second line we create a list of all folders (files are not listed). The third line, on the other hand, lists both the files and the folders from "C:\Folder". We can also omit the parameters "add-files=1" and "add-folders=0" in these examples, as they correspond to the default values ​​of the corresponding parameters.

For programs such as the TextEncoder, the TextConverter or the FileAnalyzer, these two filters are not relevant, since these programs only process files and therefore only files from the passed folders can be taken into account. This means that when folders are transferred to these programs, only the files from these folders are processed, but never the folder itself, as it is possible with the FilelistCreator.

Search in Subdirectories

If you want to select or process files from a folder, inevitably the question arises whether this only means the files that are located directly in this folder or also those files that are stored only in subfolders of the selected folder.

You can control this behavior with the option "Search Subfolders", which you can find in the filter settings under "Options". If this option is disabled, only files located directly in the selected folder will be taken into account. If this option is activated, all folders located in the selected folder will also be searched and all files from these subfolders will be taken into account, too.

In scripts, you can control this behavior using the parameter "search-subdirs", which can take the values ​​"1" (subdirectories are searched) or "0" (subdirectories are not searched). By default, that is if this parameter is not overwritten manually, this parameter is set to "1" which means that subfolders are searched without specifying any other rule.

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder search-subdirs=0 cols=name,date_modified
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\Folder search-subdirs=1 cols=name,date_modified

In these two examples, we use the FilelistCreator to create a file list of all files from the folder "C:\Folder" with the columns "Name" and "Date Modified". With the first line, we list only those files that are directly located in the folder "C:\Folder" by disabling the search of subdirectories. With the command in the second line, we also list all files that are stored in subfolders below "C:\Folder". Here we explicitly specify the parameter "search-subdirs=1", but we could also omit this parameter with the result remaining the same, as this is the default value. In this example, the file list is output directly within the console because we do not define an output file for storing the list.

Tip: If you only want to select files from a specific subdirectory, you can use the folder level filter or the folder name filter.

Adding of Folders

When adding files from folders, the case is clear: the files that are directly stored in the selected folder are added to the file list. If the option "Search Subfolders" is activated, additionally, the files that are located in any subfolders of the selected folder will also be added.

But how does the program behave in this case if not files but folders are to be added to the file list, as is possible, for example, in the FileRenamer (for renaming folders) or in the FilelistCreator (for creating folder lists)? Two different approaches are conceivable here: Either directly the selected folders are added to the list themselves or - analogous to the logic when adding files - those folders that are stored in the selected folder are added.

Our programs give you freedom of choice in this matter and therefore offer you both options to choose from. You can find the settings for this in the filter dialog (right click on the file list or button "Filter") on the "Settings" tab under "Add folders". In addition to the two approaches mentioned, you also have the options "Both" and "Ask" available:

• Only the selected folder itself is added: If this option is selected, only the selected folder itself will be added to the file list.
• Only the folders stored in the selected folder are added: If this option is activated, only the folders that are stored in the selected folder will be added, but not the selected folder itself.
• Both the selected folder as well as the folders it contains are added: This option is a combination of the two previously mentioned methods. When activated, both the selected folder itself as well as all folders directly within it are added.
• Ask: If you cannot or do not want to make a general decision and would rather decide individually depending on the case, this option is the right one for you. If this option is activated, when adding a folder, you will be shown a dialog that allows you to make an individual decision for each selected folder. The dialog also offers the option to save your decision. If you tick the "Remember decision" box, the dialog will no longer be displayed when you add additional folders and your decision will be applied to all further conflict cases. Of course, you can reverse this at any time by just changing the setting in the filter dialog back to "Ask" or generally resetting the settings.

In the following table we would like to illustrate the different options using an example. In each of these scenarios, we always select the folder "C:\A" while varying the options "Adding of Folders" and "Search Subfolders". In the folder "C:\A" there is a subfolder called "B" with the path "C:\A\B", which itself contains another subfolder named with the letter "C" with the path "C:\A\B\C". The table shows which folders are added for which settings constellation:

If we have not activated the option "Search Subfolders", the behavior corresponds exactly to what we have just discovered when explaining the individual options. On the other hand, we get a different result if we also want to search subdirectories:

• If we only want to add the selected folder itself, in addition to selecting "only itself", the option "Search Subfolders" must be deactivated.
• If we want to add both the folder itself and all subfolders of any level, we have to activate the option "Search Subfolders" and can additionally select "only itself" or "both". These two cases are the only ones of all constellations that lead to the same result. However, the subfolders are added in both cases for different reasons: in the first case only by searching the subdirectories of "C:\A", in the second case also by directly selecting the subdirectories of "C:\A" using "both".
• The difference between "both" and the status of the "Search Subfolders" option is which folder levels are included, i.e. whether only the direct subfolders (in our example "C:\A\B") or also the subfolders of the subfolders (in our example "C:\A\B\C") are included.
• All even deeper lying subfolders below "C:\A\B\C" such as "C:\A\B\C\D" or "C:\A\B\C\D\E\F" behave in the same way as "C:\A\B\C". If you would like to include or exclude the deeper folders in a different way, you can combine the options mentioned here with the folder level filter.
• Also if you do not want to add the selected folder itself and therefore select "subfolders only", you can determine by activating or deactivating "Search Subfolders" whether only the folders directly in the selected folder are added or whether all the deeper subfolders within the direct subfolders are added, as the two middle cases in the table show.

If you want to set the way in which folders should be added via the script control, you can use the parameter "add-folders-type", which can take the values ​​"self" (only the folder itself), "sub" (only the folders in the folder) or "both" (the folder itself with its subfolders). By default, this parameter is set to "self", so that without specifying this parameter, only the passed folder itself is considered. Of course, this parameter only makes sense in conjunction with the parameter "add-folders=1" (adding of folders), as this setting has no effect on adding files.

In the following we would like to look at an example for each of the cases mentioned in the table, with which a simple list of the affected folders is created:

FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=self search-subdirs=1 cols=path
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=self search-subdirs=0 cols=path
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=sub search-subdirs=1 cols=path
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=sub search-subdirs=0 cols=path
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=both search-subdirs=1 cols=path
FilelistCreator.exe -cl C:\A add-files=0 add-folders=1 add-folders-type=both search-subdirs=0 cols=path

The order of the examples, the parameters set as well as the expected result correspond to the cases shown in the table and explained previously. As already mentioned at the beginning, in these examples, in addition to the parameters "add-folders-type" and "search-subdirs", setting the parameters "add-folders=1" and "add-files=0" is particularly important, otherwise without this specification only files and no folders would be listed by default. Since the value of "add-files" is set to "1" by default, we have to deactivate the addition of files with "add-files=0" if we only want to list folders. If we only called the program with "add-folders=1", both folders and files would be added.

Filter for Single Files

Basically, at the program level, in addition to the distinction between drag and drop and selection via a dialog, there are two different ways in which you can add files to the file list in applications such as FilelistCreator, TextConverter, TextEncoder or FileAnalyzer: by adding individual files or by selecting folders that are then searched for files. With regard to the filter settings presented in this tutorial, this raises the question in which of these two cases the filter applies.

You can find the corresponding settings by right-clicking on the file list and selecting "Filter" from the context menu or by clicking on the button of the same name under or next to the file list in selected programs. In the dialog that opens, you will find the following options on the "Settings" tab under "Application":

• Apply filter only when searching folders: If checked, the filter will only be applied when you add folders. This means that you can, for example, drag and drop any individual files onto the program and they will be added to the file list even if they contradict the current filter settings. However, if you drag a folder onto the program, only those files from the folder that match the current filter settings will be added.
• Apply filter also when adding single files: If this option is activated, the filter applies equally both when adding individual files and when searching folders. You can use this option, for example, to select a large number of individual files without being seen and then let the program filter them according to your desired criteria instead of making a preselection yourself.
• Show warning if files have been rejected by the filter: In certain circumstances you may not be aware that there are still (old) filter settings active when you add various individual files. To prevent the program from blindly rejecting files in such a case, you can activate this option. If the option is activated, you will receive a message if individual files were rejected by the current filter. If this option is not activated, no message will appear and the corresponding files will simply be rejected without user feedback and will not be added.

Of course, the last option only makes sense in conjunction with the second option, since individual files cannot be rejected if the first option is activated.

If the last option is enabled, you will receive the message "Your current filter settings prevented adding X files. Do you want to reset the filter in order to add the rejected files?" This gives you the option of leaving the files rejected or adding them as required.

File List Refreshing

If the filter options are changed at a time when files are already included in the file list, the question arises what to do with files that have already been added and no longer fit the new filter. Two different approaches are conceivable in this case:

• Either the user wants to reduce the existing list with the new filter settings and only want to keep the files that fit both the old and the new filter settings
• or the user acts independently of the first search when setting the new filter and wants to add more files with a different filter while the old files should remain unchanged in the list.

These different approaches are represented by an option that you can find in the filter settings on the tab "Settings" under "Update" (the filter settings can be accessed via the context menu "Filter" of the file list (right mouse button) or in some programs also via the button "Filter" next to or below the file list).

Under "Update File List After Filter Changes", you will get the following three options here:

• Always: When changing the filter settings, the file list is always updated automatically without additional prompting. This means that all files that do not match the new filter are automatically removed from the file list.
• Never: Changing the filter settings does not affect files that have already been added. This means that regardless of what the new filters look like and whether the files already added correspond to them - the old files always remain unchanged in the list.
• Ask: If this option is active, after changing the filter settings, a check is automatically made in the background to see whether all files in the file list would also withstand the new filter. If this is not the case, a dialog is displayed in which the user can decide whether the existing files should be re-filtered with the new filter or should be allowed to remain.

The latter option is enabled by default and displays the following notice if your file list contains files that no longer match the new filter settings: "Your file list contains files not matching your modified filter settings. Do you want to remove those files?". By clicking "Yes", the new filter is applied to the existing files and all files that no longer fit are removed. By clicking "No", all existing files remain in the list, even if they no longer match the new filter.

List of all Script Control Parameters

In summary, the following table provides an overview of all the parameters mentioned in this tutorial for filtering when adding files from folders. Next to the parameter you will see a list of all possible values, the default value as well as a short description and a reference to the section in which the parameter in question is explained.

Parameters written in italics always refer to the last previously mentioned non-italicized parameter and can only be used in conjunction with that parameter (for example, "filter-name-matchcase" or "filter-name-regex" refer to "filter-name" and only make sense if the "filter-name" parameter is also specified). All other parameters not written in italics can be used alone or combined with each other as desired.

All of the parameters mentioned can be used in the script control of the FilelistCreator, the script control of the FileAnalyzer, the script control of the TextConverter and in the script control of the TextEncoder. In the linked tutorials you will find an explanation and overviews of the other parameters that you can use in the respective programs.