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Search and Filter Guidelines

Use search and filter fields to tailor the results while conducting a search. The goal of searching and filtering is to provide you with information sets that are manageable and meaningful.

In search and filter fields:

Enter a character string to find objects with a name that matches or contains the character string. You can also enter partial character strings. Character strings are case insensitive.
Enter * to return all available objects.
Apply wildcards as needed. Wildcard considerations are described later in this topic.

Perform a basic search using inline search parameters:

Using the following inline search strings, you can perform complex searches based on a file's location, size, and access, creation, or modified time from the basic search field.

Search by object location:

Limit your search to a specific cataloged location using the following examples:
- type:file location:<HOSTNAME>* searches for all objects on the storage system associated with the entered host
- type:file location:<HOSTNAME>* name:*.txt searches for .txt files on the storage system associated with the entered host
Search by object size:

Search for cataloged objects with a specific file size or file size range using the following examples:
- size:100KB searches for all objects that are 100 KB in size
- size:50KB-100MB searches for all objects between 50 KB and 100 MB in size
- size:*-100MB searches for all objects that are less than 100 MB in size
- size:100MB-* searches for all objects that are larger than 100 MB in size
The following size unit strings are supported:
- k, K, KB, Kb, kB, kb, KiB, kib, kilobyte, and kilobytes
- m, M, MB, Mb, mB, mb, MiB, mib, megabyte, and megabytes
- g, G, GB, Gb, gB, gb, GiB, gib, gigabyte, and gigabytes
- t, T, TB, Tb, tB, tb, TiB, tib, terabyte, and terabytes
- p, P, PB, Pb, pB, pb, PiB, pib, petabyte, and petabytes
Search by object access, creation, and modified time:

Search for cataloged objects that were last accessed, modified, or created at a specific time or time range using the following examples:
- atime:2yearsago searches for all objects with an access time of two years ago from the time of the search. ctime searches against the object's creation time, and mtime searches against the object's modification time.
- atime:2yearsago-lastyear searches for all objects with an access time between last year and two years ago. ctime searches against the object's creation time, and mtime searches against the object's modification time.
- atime:past2weeks searches for all objects with an access time from the past two weeks. ctime searches against the object's creation time, and mtime searches against the object's modification time.
The following time strings are supported:
- years, yearsago, year, yearago
- months, monthsago, month, monthago
- weeks, weeksago, week, weekago
- days, daysago, day, dayago
- hours, hoursago, hour, hourago
- minutes, minutesago, minute, minuteago
Combining search strings:
By combining the above search strings in the basic search field, you can limit your search to specific objects, locations, and size ranges.
*.vmdk type:file location:<HOSTNAME>/vmtemplates/* catalog:netapp size:2MB-5MB
In this example, search results include all resources that include ".vmdk," residing on a resource named <HOSTNAME>/vmtemplates and its subfolders within a NetApp ONTAP catalog, with a size greater than 2 MB but less than 5 MB.

Wildcard Considerations:

A wildcard is a character that you can substitute for zero or more unspecified characters when searching text. Position wildcards at the beginning, middle, or end of a string, and combine them within a string.

Match a character string with an asterisk, which represents a variable string of zero or more characters:
- string* searches for terms like string, strings, or stringency
- str*ing searches for terms like string, straying, or straightening
- *string searches for terms like string or shoestring
Match a single character with a question mark:
- string? searches for terms like strings, stringy, or string1
- st??ring searches for terms like starring or steering
- ???string searches for terms like hamstring or bowstring

You can use multiple asterisk wildcards in a single text string, though this might considerably slow down a large search.