Help deleting file duplicates - the ~(2) variety

Is there a way I can use the standard Vista gui search box to find files in a selected folder (& subfolders) that contain "(2)" in the filename but not ones that just have a "2"?

I have doubles of 5000+ files (along the lines of "namexyz", "namexyz (2)"), spread across multiple folders and subfolders.

I have files like "namexyz" also stored in different folders under the same name for (unzipped) archive purposes - sadly all third party file duplicate removal programs I've found will find the "namexyz"s across subfolders but don't find the "namexyz (2)"s.

I've tried looking online for search terms to use in the standard Vista gui search, however all I've found is that a search for "(2)" will find all filenames in the selected folder that have a 2 in the filename as brackets count as dead space.

The only answer I've found that's anywhere close refers to using Powershell, which I'm somewhat loathe to use as my command line skills are pants.

It's quite an easy thing to get (2) duplicates so I imagine that must be a fairly common occurence... logic suggests there must be an easy way to search and removed that I've somehow missed. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi zuseht,

I can't get it to work with Vista Search either. However, I did find a free program that will do it: FileSeek ~ Download. I just checked it myself on a folder with 10 files containing 2 in them and by using the criteria specified in the attached picture, I was able to get just the one with (2) to show as a result. Also, by using "(2)" in exclude files instead of include files, I was able to get results which excluded such files. If the copy and selection options discussed below were used with such a search, it should be possible to create a folder which has none of the (2) files in it.

When I then selected selected all the results and clicked on open containing folder, the item with the (2) was highlighted. If this works for multiple items, then this will highlight those items in the folder and a simple delete should remove them (but I haven't tested this). It is possible it may need to be done folder-by-folder as it can only open one folder at a time.

I tried another option. I selected all the results and clicked on Windows Context Menu and clicked copy and created a new folder and was able to paste the results in that new folder. So it is possible to create a folder of just the results with a (2). I'm not sure how to use this to remove the items with a (2), but it is able to create a folder showing all of them. It should also be possible using the exclude command to create a folder eliminating the (2) files. Then after confirming the new folder works properly and contains actual files and not shortcuts, then this new folder can replace the old folder and the files with the (2) will be gone. Again, I'm not sure if this needs to be done folder-by-folder or if there's some way to do it more globally. With a little experimentation, it might be possible (but I'm not certain as I didn't test that).

Remember, this is a search tool, not a tool to replace duplicate files - but it's possible you may be able to do what you want using this tool and a bit of experimentation. Please note all the settings in the image below - if not setup that way, it won't produce the results you want (and it took me a while to figure out how to do it).

I hope this helps. If not, then post back and we'll try to find duplicate file removing software which will accomplish the objective.

Good luck!

P.S. If you're looking for a free duplicate file cleaner, the following may be helpful (though I'm not certain if it will catch everything as it doesn't seem able to sort by the criteria you've established above but uses other methods - but it still may work for many or most): http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/20...-cleaner-find-duplicate-files-by-content.html.

Type this into the normal Windows search box...

Filename:"*(*).*"

(that is the WORD filename - not the name of a file - and the quote marks must be included)

Just be aware that this will list ANY file where the last thing before a period mark is enclosed in brackets - so it will give a hit on a file like "Fred (woz ere).last week.jpg - but such files will be rare and you should be able to spot them easily enough. If you know that all of the duplicates are - for example - JPEG's, you can tighten the search up by using something like...

filename:"*(*).jpg"

Likewise, if you know that there's no chance of the number in the brackets being higher than 9, use...

filename:"*(?).*)

(Note - it doesn't matter whether you have the "dot last three" showing or not - the search will still detect the suffix so using the dot in the search helps remove any hits for names with brackets earlier than the tail-end)

Pete

PS - It's just took me an hour to work that out and I love puzzles, so thanks