possible to search symbolic links with everything?

[klepp0906]

trying to do some testing/sorting of a big ole robocopy script and i need to know where certain symbolic links reside and whether theyre directories or files.

hoping I can somehow filter everything to show me only those files/folders in a given drive/directory? I've used it to great effect to suss out files with system hidden attributes but google hasnt been kind this morning surrounding symbolic links/junctions.

means i have to inconvenience the professionals

[void]

It will be possible with Everything 1.5.

To view reparse targets (files and folders) and hard link targets (files):

• In Everything 1.5, right click the result list column header and click Add columns....
• Search for: reparse
• Select Reparse Target and click OK.
• right click the result list column header and click Add columns....
• Search for: hard link
• Select Hard link Count and Hard Link Filenames and click OK.

Reparse Target (symbolic link/junction) is for files and folders.
Hard link Filename is for files only.

To find files and folders with a reparse target, search for:
reparse-target:

To search for files with 2 or more hard links, search for:
hard-link-count:>=2
Each file will have at least one hard link (itself)

[NotNull]

Code: Select all

attrib:L

Getting these results can be sped up significantly by enabling Index attributes (Options > Indexes)

[klepp0906]

thank you gentlemen, i am using 1.5a so one or both of the aforementioned solutions ought to have me covered <3

[klepp0906]

Code: Select all

attrib:L

Getting these results can be sped up significantly by enabling Index attributes (Options > Indexes)

is there an equivalent for directories? i have a folder that has symlinks to other folders and attrib:L doesnt cover it. works a treat for symlink'd files though.

[raccoon]

attrib:L is for folders.

Examples of attrib:L folders include

Code: Select all

C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath
C:\ProgramData\Application Data
C:\ProgramData\Desktop
C:\ProgramData\Documents
C:\ProgramData\Favorites
C:\ProgramData\Start Menu
C:\ProgramData\Templates
C:\Users\All Users
C:\Users\Default User
C:\Users\<User>\Application Data
C:\Users\<User>\Cookies
C:\Users\<User>\Local Settings
C:\Users\<User>\My Documents
C:\Users\<User>\NetHood
C:\Users\<User>\PrintHood
C:\Users\<User>\Recent
C:\Users\<User>\SendTo
C:\Users\<User>\Start Menu
C:\Users\<User>\Templates
C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Application Data
C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\History
C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Users\Default\Application Data
C:\Users\Default\Cookies
C:\Users\Default\Local Settings
C:\Users\Default\My Documents
C:\Users\Default\NetHood
C:\Users\Default\PrintHood
C:\Users\Default\Recent
C:\Users\Default\SendTo
C:\Users\Default\Start Menu
C:\Users\Default\Templates
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Application Data
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\History
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Users\Default\Documents\My Music
C:\Users\Default\Documents\My Pictures
C:\Users\Default\Documents\My Videos
C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Music
C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Pictures
C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Videos

[klepp0906]

huh. wonder why its not picking up any of the symlinked folders ive created. I just tested it on the C drive and youre correct, its picking them up.

however on another drive of mine which has symlink'd folders it does not. any guesses as to why that is? I thought the links might be dead due to migration/moving or some such but tested them and theyre fully functional good symlinks.

[raccoon]

Reference: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10176#attrib
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... -constants

You have to do some study on Reparse Points, Symbolic Links, Hardlinks and Junctions aka Softlinks.

Attrib:L are Reparse Points and you can look at the Reparse-Target: and Reparse-Tag: columns to learn more about them.

If the links you're creating are not of this type, they will not be Attrib:L

My memory is rusty but I recommend reading 5 different websites to learn about the differences. Some are for folders only, some are for files only, some are for files or folders.

[klepp0906]

thanks for the links, ill definitely have to do some reading. they were all/both (files and folders) created via LSE (link shell extension) via "pick link source" then "drop as symbolic link"

here is the folder

Snag_2f6c915.png (42.84 KiB) Viewed 4721 times

here is the folder in everything which shows them as they are

Snag_2f760d1.png (66.94 KiB) Viewed 4721 times

here is that same folder using attrib:L

Snag_2f7d054.png (7.88 KiB) Viewed 4721 times

[GSD]

Code: Select all

attrib:L

Getting these results can be sped up significantly by enabling Index attributes (Options > Indexes)

Is there any difference between attrib:L and reparse-target: results-wise? Asking because I wold prefer attrib:L precisely because I am indexing attributes.

[void]

For the most part, files and folders that have a reparse target will have the L attribute set.

It is technically possible for a NTFS file to have a reparse target without the L attribute set and a file to have no reparse target with the L attribute set.

Placeholder files also obfuscate some attributes and reparse targets.

[GSD]

For the most part, files and folders that have a reparse target will have the L attribute set.

It is technically possible for a NTFS file to have a reparse target without the L attribute set and a file to have no reparse target with the L attribute set.

Placeholder files also obfuscate some attributes and reparse targets.

So a comprehensive search that would 100% find all symlinks would be as follows?

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attrib:L | reparse-target: | hard-link-count:>=2

[void]

Yes.

[NotNull]

t is technically possible for a NTFS file to have a reparse target without the L attribute set

If it is not too much off-topic, do you have an example of that? Thought the owner of the reparse tag had to set the attribute too?
(I know there are sybolic links that map to device space (like C:), but those do not appear in Everything).

[void]

The attributes and reparse tag/target are stored separately on NTFS.

The NTFS driver will likely keep these in sync.



I don't have any good examples of out of sync attributes and reparse targets without writing directly to the NTFS volume.