Searching for files in eMule usually means that all servers in
the server list are asked if they know another client you has a file with the
matching search keyword. The servers themselves do not store any files, they
just compile a list of the connected clients files.
The advanced search function in eMule allows precise searches for files in the
network. The more accurate a search is done the better it is since searches
put a considerable load onto the servers. Therefore eMule only finds max 200
individual hits for any given search term. If the connected server, could already
give more than 200 results the More button becomes active and allows
to query up to 1200 results from the local server.
Search
o Name
This filed takes the term to search for. Multiple keywords can be entered
and eMule will displays only hits with all the keywords in the filename. For
more accurate and flexible searches see the boolean search further down this
chapter.
This textbox has an auto-completing feature which stores previous search entries.
To clear this list press and hold CTRL or ALT then press DEL or use the Reset
Button in Preferences -> Display. There this option can also be
deactivated.
o Search with Unicode
This feature has been added to eMule in v.44a and will allow to search for files
with non Latin letters, e.g. Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic etc. As Unicode clients
are not so far spread at the moment and Unicode searches may not yield as many
results as ANSI searches, this checkmark can be used to specifically search
in Unicode. It is only active if a Unicode letter is entered.
o Type
Type can be used to filter the hits for specific group of extensions. The type
of download and their associated extensions are given in the table below:
| All | no filter |
| Archive | .ace, .arj, .gz, .hqx, .lha, .rar, .sea, .sit, .tar, .tgz, .uc2, .zip, .7z |
| Audio | .669, .aac, .aif, .aiff, .amf, .ams, .ape, .au, .dbm, .dmf, .dsm, .far, .flac, .it, .mdl, .med, .mid, .midi, .mod, .mol, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .mpa, .mpc, .mpp, .mtm, .nst, .ogg, .okt, .psm, .ptm, .ra, .rmi, .s3m, .stm, .ult, .umx, .wav, .wma, .wow, .xm. |
| Images | .bmp, .dcx, .emf, .gif, .ico, .jpeg, .jpg, .pct, .pcx, .pic, .pict, .png, .psd, .psp, .tga, .tif, .tiff, .wmf, .xif |
| CD-Images | .bin, .bwa, .bwi, .bws, .bwt, .ccd, .cue, .dmg, .dmz, .img, .iso, .mdf, .mds, .nrg, .sub, .toast |
| Programs | .bat, .cmd, .com, .exe, .ace, .arj, .gz, .hqx, .lha, .rar, .sea, .sit, .tar, .tgz, .uc2, .zip, .bin, .bwa, .bwi, .bws, .bwt, .ccd, .cue, .dmg, .dmz, .img, .iso, .mdf, .mds, .nrg, .sub, .toast, .7z |
| Video | asf, .avi, .divx, .m1v, .m2v, .mov, .mp1v, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mps, .mpv, .mpv1, .mpv2, .ogm, .qt, .ram, .rm, .rv, .vivo, .vob, .wmv |
o Method
Method is the way eMule searches. Also web based search engines for the eMule
network are available. The results of the web searches will open in the browser.
| > | Server |
| > | Global (Server) All servers from the server list are queried. Each server is asked individually. The green bar at the bottom shows the progress of the search. |
| > | Kademlia Searches all the Kademlia network for the given keywords. The eD2k network, i.e. servers are not search with this method. It may take some time until the search results arrive. Should even a popular search expression yield no results then the system's UDP Port is probably blocked by a firewall or router. |
| > | Jigle (Web) Web based search engine. The Match Keyword checkbox forces Jigle to return only results which have the exact search keyword as a single phrase in the filename. |
| > | Jigle This method offers direct access to the Jigle Database from within eMule. |
| > | Filedonkey Web based search engine |
Filter
o min size / max size
Min and max size is used to narrow the search according to file size. Only hits
are displayed which are either over a entered min size or below the given max
size. If no additional unit abbreviation is entered file size is assumed in
Mega bytes.
| Unit | Valid abbreviations |
| Bytes | b | byte | bytes |
| KiloBytes | k | kb | kbyte | kbytes |
| MegaBytes | m | mb | mbyte | mbytes |
| GigaBytes | g | gb | gbyte | gbytes |
Examples:
Min size = 200
without further unit specified, this will only return files with a minimum size
of 200 mega bytes
Max size = 1gb
file size must not exceed 1 giga byte
o Availability
Denotes the minimal number of sources for a single file one individual server
must have for the search term to be counted as hit.
Note:
This filter does not respect the global availability but a per server availability.
Setting this value too high may result in no hits as the servers might not have
indexed files with that many sources.
o Extension
Only files with the provided extension will be found. The extension has to be
entered without the trailing . e.g. the extension avi will
only find this file type.
Boolean Search
This function is used to create complex search queries using the boolean operators
NOT, AND, OR. These operators always have to be entered in capital letters otherwise
they are counted as a normal search Keyword.
| > | NOT This operator is actually called NAND which means "and not". The keyword following a NOT will be excluded, i.e. no hit may contain this keyword. Highest precedence. String: Keyword1 NOT Keyword2 |
|
| > | AND AND is the default operator if no operator is specified. AND-linked searches must contain all entered keywords in the resulting hits. Medium operator precedence. String: Keyword1 AND Keyword2 (equals: Keyword1 Keyword2) |
|
| > | OR OR means that any of the entered keywords result in a hit. OR has the lowest precedence String: Keyword1 OR Keyword2 |
|
| Notes: | ||
| > | Kademlia searches must always start with a keyword having 3 or more letters. After the first keyword there must not be any boolean operator apart from AND. | |
| > | Except for the web based search engine filedonkey the boolean search may be combined with any method or filter. | |
| > | The operators are evaluated according to their mathematical precedence. NOT -> AND -> OR. This precedence can be change by setting ( ) around the expression which has to be evaluated first. | |
| > | To mask the operators or ( ) quotation marks " " can be used. Operators or ( ) enclosed in " " will not be interpreted by their boolean meaning but be used as normal search keywords. | |
| > | OR and NOT linked searches are not as restrictive as AND searches. AND requires the whole keyword to match whereas OR and NOT also allow partial matches in another word. | |
| > | OR and NOT also take into account embedded meta data like mp3 tags or comment / author information of files. | |
| Examples: | ||
| > | Search | Keyword1 Keyword2 OR Keyword3 Keyword4 |
| Boolean interpretation | (Keyword1 AND Keyword2) OR (Keyword3 AND Keyword4) | |
| Explanation | Finds files that must contain either keyword 1 + 2 or keyword 3 + 4 in the filename. | |
| > | Search | Keyword1 Keyword2 OR Keyword3 Keyword4 NOT Keyword5 |
| Boolean interpretation | (Keyword1 AND Keyword2) OR ((Keyword3 AND Keyword4) NAND Keyword5) | |
| Explanation | All files with keyword 1 + 2 or keyword 3 + 4 but any files matching 3 + 4 must not contain keyword 5 | |
| > | Search | Keyword1 Keyword2 NOT Keyword5 OR Keyword3 Keyword4 NOT Keyword5 |
| Boolean interpretation | ((Keyword1 AND Keyword2) NAND Keyword5) OR ((Keyword3 AND Keyword4) NAND Keyword5) | |
| Explanation | Similar to the example above with the only difference that keyword 5 must neither appear with 1 + 2 nor with 3 + 4. | |
| > | Search | (Keyword1 Keyword2 OR Keyword3 Keyword4) NOT Keyword5 |
| Boolean interpretation | ((Keyword1 AND Keyword2) OR (Keyword3 Keyword4)) NAND Keyword5 | |
| Explanation | Same search as the one above but more elegant through the use of ( ) to apply the NOT keyword5 to the entire OR expression | |
| > | Search | (Keyword1 "OR" Keyword2) NOT Keyword3 |
| Boolean interpretation | (Keyword1 AND or AND Keyword2) NAND Keyword3 | |
| Explanation | By using " " to include the term, the OR operator is no longer counted as such but as a regular expression. This search translates to hits which must contain keyword1 and keyword2 and also the word "or" but must not contain keyword3. | |
Interpreting the Results
o Availability (Sources)
The availability is the number of sources found on the servers for a download.
This is not the total number of sources in the entire net but serves as an indication
how well spread the file is. If there are different matching hits for a search
the file with highest availability should be chosen. Also see Color coding
of Search Results.
A value in ( ) behind the availability are sources which can be added directly
to the download without eMule having to search for them again.
o Color coding of Search Results
| > | Black, dark blue, light blue |
| > | red Files already in the download list are shown in red |
| > | Green Hits shown in green are already downloaded and completed. |
o Searching within the results
Pressing CTRL + f shows a search dialog which can search for keywords (File
name), ID, size, type and availability. The function key F3 jumps to the next
found item with the same search keyword while SHIFT + F3 jumps to the previously
found.
o Multiple names found for one file
Files are identified by their hash values and not filenames. A search may yield
many different file names for the same file. This is shown by an Explorer like
+ before the search result. If a result has vastly different filenames, this
may be a fake.
Applies to version: .44a +
Last update on: 2004-09-11, Monk