Basic Windows Shell File Search Commands

To find files within a Windows command shell (CMD), you can use several built-in commands depending on the complexity of your search.

dir command: This is the most basic way to list files in the current directory.
- To search recursively through all subdirectories for a specific file name, use: dir /s <filename>
  - Example: dir /s config.php
where command: This is excellent for locating the path of executable files or specific files within the system's PATH environment variable.
- Syntax: where /r <directory> <filename>
  - The /r flag tells it to search recursively starting from the specified directory.
findstr command: If you are looking for files that contain specific text content rather than just a file name, you can use findstr.
- Syntax: findstr /s /i "search_string" *.*
  - /s: Searches the current directory and all subdirectories.
  - /i: Makes the search case-insensitive.
  - *.*: Specifies that you want to search through all file types.

Permissions: Always be aware of your current user privileges. If you are searching in system directories (like C:\Windows or C:\Users), you may receive "Access Denied" errors if you do not have sufficient permissions.
Wildcards: You can use the asterisk * as a wildcard. For example, dir /s *.txt will list every text file found in the current folder and all subfolders.
Output Redirection: If the search returns a massive list of results, you can output them to a text file for easier reading using the > operator: dir /s > results.txt

EONRaider/windows_shell_search_basics.md