How To Search For Directory Listings 2

Following from How To Search For Directory Listings 1 on how to accurately locate directory listings, now it is time to apply some of the advanced operators to filter out the unwanted results. Here are 4 ways to narrow your result of directory listings.

Narrow Results by Site
Use the site operator to narrow results to a particular site's directory listing.

Example: intitle:index.of "parent.directory" site:wikipedia.org

Narrow Results by Sub-Directory
Use the inurl operator with the name of the sub-directory to narrow results to that sub-directory. The following example returns only directory listings that contains sub-directories with the name "admin".

Example: intitle:index.of "parent.directory" inurl:admin

Narrow Results by File Type
Use the filetype or ext operator.

Note that when combined with directory listing search, Google blocks the results from displaying the more popular audio and video file formats such as mp3, mp4, wma, wmv, ogg, avi, etc. The only popular video file format I have found that still works in such searches is the Flash Video format (flv). To overcome this, submit the filetype as an ordinary search term. This, however, does not guarantee that the results will contain your desired file type.

No result example: intitle:index.of "parent.directory" ext:mp3

Narrow Results by Specific File

This is easy if you have throughly understood the basic and advanced operators. Just include the file name and extension you wish to locate. Use double quotes to restrict your search further. Use the OR and period operators to expand your search.

Example: intitle:index.of "parent.directory" "this.is.an.example.mp3"

numrange Google Operator

The numrange operator

numrange is a powerful operator. It can be used for searching numbers within a desired range. You can use it to search for business contacts, addresses, and more. The following example searches for numbers from 1200 to 1230. Use a hypen (-) to separate the lower and upper bound of the two numbers.

Example: numrange:1200-1230

The .. operator

The .. (period period) operator is a shorthand for the numrange operator.

Example: 1200..1230

Both operators return identical results and can be combined with other operators and search terms.

Due to Blogger's Terms of Service and personal ethics, I can only provide the above basic examples. Google does offer some protection against malicious queries with the numrange operator though:

Some protection = Limited protection, it is still possible to work around this "apology". Use this operator wisely and be wary when making payments online!

ext Google Operator

The ext operator is very similar to the filetype operator. They are so alike that most people simply ignore the difference and use them interchangeably, or drop filetype operator entirely for the ext operator since it is easier to enter on the keyboard.

Originally, the ext operator is a shorthand for the numrange operator. However, it is soon replaced by the newer, further shortened version of the numrange operator: the .. (period period) operator. So eventually (and very naturally), the ext operator became an extension search operator just like the filetype operator.

Use the ext operator for the more uncommon file types because it usually produces a deeper and faster search. The filetype operator on the other hand performs better with common file extensions.

See filetype operator for more information.

Google Wildcard Operators

First off, for the benefit of non-geeks (and those who have never played Uno before), a wildcard is a single character used to represent a set of pre-defined characters or words. A single character wildcard represents a single character, and a single word wildcard represents a single word. Google accepts both single character and single word wildcards.

The * operator

The * (asterisk) operator is the Google single word wildcard. Try this example and compare the results: world round and world * round. With the * operator, Google will attempt to keep the order of words while matching the wildcard word.

You can also use double quotes with wildcards for a semi-flexible phrase search. For example, "* white and the * *" forces Google to include the common words, match at least the same number of words, and keep the order of those words.

Use the * operator to represent 'normal' words or you will end up with unpredictable results. Avoid using it for single characters or symbols.

Do not use a wildcard for a group of missing letters within a word. It is better to rely on Google to provide alternatives for a search term that is mis-spelled or cannot be found.

Note that Google may not provide alternatives for extremely uncommon words or words that are of different language from the Google native language you set.

The . operator

Google recognizes the . (period) as a single character wildcard. It is normally used in combination with other operators or with multiple search terms.

There are three rules in the wildcard representation. (1) It is used to represent any printable or extended ASCII character when searching URLs, (2) it represents any printable or extended ASCII character except alphabets and numbers when searching titles and text, and (3) it represents any printable or extended ASCII character except alphabets and numbers when searching URLs with the inurl operator.

Confusing? To keep things simple and results predictable, use the . operator only for wildcard symbols. Based on my experience, the . operator is best used to (1) loosely couple multiple search terms together, such as for general queries: how.to.get.to.city.hall, (2) to replace hypens and spaces in serial number based queries such as CAB.12569.X, and also (3) for source code related searches.

Summary

Pareto Principle - here's the 20% takeaway that gives you the 80% effect: Use the * operator as a wildcard for a single word, and use the . operator as a wildcard for a single symbol.