Searching for files with a dot/period in their name

Question

Normally if I search for a file by name it will be found if the criteria matches any part of the file name, e.g. searching for

File name: new

would find:

New York.doc
Renewal Quote.doc

However, I've just realized that if I search for a file that has a dot/period, ie '.', in its name then the matching must be precise, e.g. searching for

File name: new.york

Does NOT find:

new.york.doc

Why is that?

Answer 1

That's by design. If you include a '.' in the criteria then the program assumes that you know exactly what you're looking for and adds start and end of expression markers, ie

new.york

becomes

<new.york>

If you want to search for partial matches then add wildcard characters, e.g.

*new.york*

---

More information

This behaviour is designed to allow more precise searching so that a search for

*.doc

only returns files like:

Reservation.doc
New York.doc

and NOT files like:

Office2013.docx
Previous.doc.old

The user can achieve a wider search simply by adding a wildcard, e.g.

*.doc*