Mac Geekery

Sometimes you need to do nested queries or more advanced boolean logic than “all or nothing” as the Finder gives, and the Finder gives you a way, though it’s a might complicated.

When you press Command-F to start making a new Spotlight query, choose Other… from the menu and scroll down to Raw Query (might want to add this to your Favorites).

Now you can enter in raw Spotlight queries. How? Well …

Spotlight queries are both easy and cryptic. They’re easy to understand as they’re basically logical expressions as used in any programming language. They’re cryptic because of the keywords you have to use. As an example, the following query finds all PDF files not made with Acrobat for Windows:

(kMDItemKind “PDF“) && (kMDItemEncodingApplications != ‘Windows‘)==

To get the keywords, browse a few files of the type you want to find with the mdls command in Terminal. Here’s what it has to say about a photo I took:

Pictures/iPhoto Library/2004/06/12/DSCF0063.JPG -------------
kMDItemAcquisitionMake         = "FUJIFILM"
kMDItemAcquisitionModel        = "FinePix2800ZOOM"
kMDItemAperture                = 3
kMDItemAttributeChangeDate     = 2005-04-15 23:25:10 -0500
kMDItemBitsPerSample           = 32
kMDItemColorSpace              = "RGB"
kMDItemComment                 = "Last-minute breathing and relaxing before we ruin their morning with questions and 
general harassment."
kMDItemContentCreationDate     = 2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500
kMDItemContentType             = "public.jpeg"
kMDItemContentTypeTree         = ("public.jpeg", "public.image", "public.data", "public.item", "public.content")
kMDItemDisplayName             = "DSCF0063.JPG"
kMDItemEXIFVersion             = "2.2"
kMDItemFlashOnOff              = 1
kMDItemFocalLength             = 32
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate     = 2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500
kMDItemFSCreationDate          = 2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500
kMDItemFSCreatorCode           = 0
kMDItemFSFinderFlags           = 1024
kMDItemFSInvisible             = 0
kMDItemFSLabel                 = 0
kMDItemFSName                  = "DSCF0063.JPG"
kMDItemFSNodeCount             = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID          = 501
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID           = 501
kMDItemFSSize                  = 972778
kMDItemFSTypeCode              = 1246774599
kMDItemHasAlphaChannel         = 0
kMDItemID                      = 513388
kMDItemISOSpeed                = 7
kMDItemKind                    = "JPEG Image"
kMDItemLastUsedDate            = 2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500
kMDItemOrientation             = 0
kMDItemPixelHeight             = 1200
kMDItemPixelWidth              = 1600
kMDItemRedEyeOnOff             = 0
kMDItemResolutionHeightDPI     = 72
kMDItemResolutionWidthDPI      = 72
kMDItemStarRating              = 3
kMDItemTitle                   = "Inside the Store"
kMDItemUsedDates               = (2004-06-12 15:48:12 -0500)

As you can see, there’s a ton of info here, and a lot of it is from iPhoto (like the comments and the star rating). Build your query with the codes on the left, like the following, which finds all good photos taken without a flash:

(kMDItemStarRating > 3) && (kMDItemFlashOnOff == 0)

Why search for photos in the Finder based on things like this? Well:

1. You can make complex queries, if needed, and even base your query on the focal length when used with a certain model of camera.
2. Once you have said selection, you can press the slideshow button in the Spotlight results for an instant slideshow in the Finder without starting iPhoto.

Of course, it works for other things as well, so have fun, and post any good recipes below!