How to Sort files

2516 March 25, 2021

Below you find a step by step guide, if you prefer you can watch our How to Sort files video tutorial.

Files in the Local files and Remote files sections of the main window can be sorted by any of the attributes displayed. Click on a column heading to sort files by that attribute.

Quick search

To run a quick search of files in a particular local or remote directory:

Navigate to the directory required.

Ensure that the focus is in either the Local files or Remote files section of the main
window, as needed.

Press CTRL-F (Windows) or CMD-F (MacOS).
FileZilla Pro will display the Quick Search bar in the bottom of the section.

Click on the down arrow next to the search criteria field to select search parameters:
- Case Insensitive: ignore character case when searching. For example, if enabled,
  searching on document can return document109.docx, Document102.docx, and
  DOCUMENT099.docx)
- Use Regular Expressions: allows you to use special characters to search files:
  - .: use a period to substitute for a single character. For example, searching
    on f.ll can return fell.txt and fill.txt.
  - *: use an asterisk after a character to search for any number of that character
    in the specified place in the string. For example, searching on tex*t can
    return tet, text, texxt, texxxxxxxxt, etc.
  - ?: use a question mark after a character to search for 0 or 1 uses of that
    character in the specified place in the string. For example, searching tex?t
    can return tet or text, but not texxt.
  - ^: use a caret mark to search for all file names beginning with the character(s) after it.
    For example, searching on ^t would return all files with names beginning with a t.
  - $: use a dollar sign to search for all file names ending with the character(s)
    before it. For example, searching on b$ would return all files with names ending with a b.
  - \: use a backslash character to ‘escape’ the following character, telling
    FileZilla Pro to treat it as a normal character and not as a search expression.
  - For example, if you want to search for text files, you could search on
    \.txt.
- Invert filter: instead of searching for files that match the search criteria, search
  for files that don’t match the criteria.
Enter the search criteria. FileZilla/FileZilla Pro will display any files that match your search settings.

Search for files

If you need to find a particular file on the local machine or remote server:

Connect to the server in FileZilla/FileZilla Pro.

In the main menu, click on Server > Search remote files.
Alternatively, press the F3 key.
The File search window will be displayed.

Choose either Local search or Remote search from the Search type radio buttons. Pick Local search if you want FileZilla Pro to look on your local computer (the one that you’re using), or Remote search to look on the remote server that FileZilla Pro is currently
connected to.

Enter the directory that you want to search in. The search is recursive, meaning that
FileZilla Pro will also search all sub-directories in the specified directory. For example,
entering D:\ would cause FileZilla Pro to search all of D:, but entering D:\Program
Files would cause FileZilla Pro to only search in the Program Files directory, its subdirectories,
their subdirectories, and etc.

Select a search method from the Search conditions drop down list:

Match all of the following: FileZilla Pro will only show a file if it meets every single
search condition that you’ve set.
Match any of the following: FileZilla Pro will display a file if it meets one or more
of the search conditions that you’ve set.
Match none of the following: FileZilla Pro will only display a file if it doesn’t meet
the criteria of every single search condition that you’ve set.
Match not all of the following: FileZilla Pro will display all files that don’t meet the
criteria of one or more of the search conditions that you’ve set.

Set at least one search condition.

In the first column, select what FileZilla/FileZilla Pro should search on:

Filename: Look at the name of the file, including its extension (eg. .doc). Requirements:
alphanumeric characters; can include punctuation.
Filesize: Look at the size of the file. Requirements: numeric characters only.
Path: Look at the names of the directory and subdirectories in which the file is found. Requirements: alphanumeric characters; can include punctuation.
Date: Look at the date on which the file was created or last modified. Requirements:
Numeric characters in YYYY-MM-DD format. For example, April 1, 2019 would be entered as 2019-04-01. Use hyphens as separators.

In the second column, select the type of search to use:

contains: Search for files and directories in which the name includes the text entered. For example, searching on ‘word’ using this option could return both My Word File.docx and Sword-and-sorcery.epub.
is equal to: Search for files and directories with a name that exactly matches the text entered. For example, searching on ‘word.docx’ would only return files named word.docx.
begins with: Search for files and directories with a name starting with the text entered. For example, searching on ‘word’ using this option could return Word of the Day.xls but not My Word File.docx or Swordand-sorcery.epub.
ends with: Search for files and directories with a name that ends with the text entered. This includes the filename and extension; for example, searching on ‘doc’ could return caradoc and hustle.doc.
>matches regex: Use regular expressions in your search criteria.

Available search parameters:

.: use a period to substitute for a single character. For example, searching on f.ll can return fell.txt and fill.txt.
*: use an asterisk after a character to search for any number of that character in the specified place in the string. For example, searching on tex*t can return tet, text, texxt, texxxxxxxxt, etc.
?: use a question mark after a character to search for 0 or 1 uses of that character in the specified place in the string. For example, searching tex?t can return tet or text, but not texxt.
^: use a caret mark to search for all file names beginning with the character(s) after it. For example, searching on ^t would return all files with names beginning with a t.
$: use a dollar sign to search for all file names ending with the character(s) before it. For example, searching on b$ would return all files with names ending with a b.
\: use a backslash character to ‘escape’ the following character, telling FileZilla Pro to treat it as a normal character and not as a search expression. For example, if you want to search for text files, you could search on \.txt.

does not contain: Search for files and directories that do not have the entered text in any part of their name.
greater than: Search for files larger than the specified size.
equals: Look for files at the specified size, or created or modified on the date entered. This is exact; FileZilla Pro doesn’t include a margin of error for this option.
does not equal: Look for files that are of any but the specified size, creation or modification date.
less than: Search for files smaller than the specified size.
before: Search for files created or modified before the specified date.
after: Search for files created or modified after the specified date.

In the third column, enter the search parameters for FileZilla/FileZilla Pro to use:

Filename and Path: Use alphanumeric characters; can include punctuation.
Filesize: Use numeric characters only./li>
Date: Use numeric characters in YYYY-MM-DD format with hyphens as separators. For example, April 1, 2019 would be entered as 2019-04-01.

To create another search condition, click on the + button to the right and underneath
the bottom condition.

To delete a search condition you’ve created, click on the – to its right.

To make the search case-sensitive – for example, if you’ve entered lower-case letters, to ensure that FileZilla Pro only returns results using the lower-case string and not a combination of upper- and lower-case, or all upper-case – tick the Conditions are case sensitive checkbox.

To find files that match the search criteria, tick the Find files checkbox.

To find directories that match the search criteria, tick the Find directories checkbox.

Click on Search to start the search process

The video tutorial below shows how to search files with FileZilla and FileZilla Pro.

Video tutorial: FileZilla Pro Search Files

Tags: file, Local Files, Quick search, remote files, Search for files, sort, sort file