Find all files not containing ...

[Neil Faiman]

I can get a list of all the files in a project that contain a pattern by doing a multi-file search, Select all in search results window, copy and paste into a new document.

But suppose I want a list of all files that don’t contain a pattern? (I guess I can get a list off all the files, get a list of all the files that do contain the pattern, and then diff them, but is there anything more direct?

Thanks,

Neil Faiman

[Bruce Van Allen]

In Multi-File Search you can define files to exclude from searches. Would that do it?

— Bruce

_bruce__van_allen__santa_cruz_ca_

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[Rich Siegel]

On 5 May 2026, at 11:21, Neil Faiman wrote:

> I can get a list of all the files in a project that contain a pattern by doing a multi-file search, Select all in search results window, copy and paste into a new document.
>
> But suppose I want a list of all files that don’t contain a pattern? (I guess I can get a list off all the files, get a list of all the files that do contain the pattern, and then diff them, but is there anything more direct?

The "Exclude matches" option does exactly this.

R.

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Rich Siegel Bare Bones Software, Inc.
<sie...@barebones.com> <https://www.barebones.com/>

Someday I'll look back on all this and laugh... until they sedate me.

[Neil Faiman]

Bruce and Rich,

Thank you for pointing out what was right under my nose.

Neil

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