Comments on: Number of files

Question: Number of files

hayeled — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 04:15:13 -0800

i'm getting a discrepancy between two methods of checking the number of files in a folder.

when i do the simple right click > properties, i'm getting 827 files. when doing a search within that folder for *.*, i'm getting 734.
i've got it set up so that hidden files are displayed.
something obvious i'm not seeing here?

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 04:36:19 -0800

How many subfolders are there?

By: Cuppatea

Cuppatea — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 04:43:17 -0800

do all your files actually have a '.' in them?

By: splice

splice — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 05:28:37 -0800

Are you sure the counts aren't the wrong way around? A search for *.* will also list all subdirectories and count them as files (and yes, it will also find all files without extensions). So your right-click -> properties files + folders should equal your search *.* files. (972+74 = 1046 in my tests here).

The search also does find and list hidden files, so that shouldn't be the problem.

By: hayeled

hayeled — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 05:48:42 -0800

there are 56 subfolders, but i took that number off to arrive at the 734 files (790 objects total found in the search).
properties gives 827 files, 56 folders.
one thing i've since considered - some files (mp3s) have pictures of album covers in the track tags - would these be counted in some strange way? i'd just assumed they became part of the file. an mp3 with an album cover pic in it is still only one file isn't it?

By: whatisish

whatisish — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 06:02:41 -0800

What output do you get from DOS when you give the following command from that directory?

dir /s

By: hayeled

hayeled — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 06:12:49 -0800

whatisish: 734 File(s), 170 Dir(s)

after screens and screens of text. i think that's what you were asking? i'm not all that dos-familiar.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 09:34:27 -0800

Sounds to me like the Search Subfolders option is turned off when you do the search.

By: anadem

anadem — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 09:57:52 -0800

for the count of actual files, excluding directories, you can change whatisish'd DOS command to this:
dir /s /w /a-d

and for count of only directories use
dir /s /w /ad

(presuming you're using some variant of Windows)

By: KRS

KRS — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:23:45 -0800

When you use the DOS command, each directory contains a < .> (parent) and < ..> (child) entry, each of which gets counted. With lots of subdirectories, these can pile up fast.

By: hayeled

hayeled — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 19:30:44 -0800

well, this question's off the front page now, so it's probable no one is going to see this, but i did the dir/s/w/a-d and got a count of 827. had a look back through the list, and some of the subdirectories are listing files that aren't actually visible from windows explorer/my computer.
these are files that i had deleted (also removed from recycle bin). why are they still showing up? more importantly, how do i get rid of them?