Spotlight (software)
Encyclopedia
Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search
feature of Apple's Mac OS X
operating system
. Spotlight is a selection-based search
system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer, including documents, pictures, music, applications, and System Preferences
. In addition, specific words in documents and in web pages in a web browser's history or bookmarks can be searched. It also allows the user to narrow down searches with creation dates, modification dates, sizes, types and other attributes
. Spotlight also offers quick access to definitions from built-in New Oxford American Dictionary
and to calculator functionality.
The feature is also available on Darwin
, but only through a command-line interface
. A similar feature for iOS 3.0 with the same name was announced on March 17, 2009.
Spotlight was first announced at the June 2004 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, and then released with Mac OS X v10.4
in April, 2005.
are maintained by the Metadata Server (which appears in the system as the mds daemon
, or mdworker). The Metadata Server is started by launchd
when Mac OS X boots and is activated by client requests or changes to the filesystems that it monitors. It is fed information about the files on a computer's hard disk
s by the mdimport daemon; it does not index removable media such as CDs
or DVD
s. Aside from basic information about each file like its name, size and timestamps, the mdimport daemon can also index the content of some files, when it has an Importer plug-in that tells it how the file content is formatted. Spotlight comes with importers for certain types of files, such as Microsoft Word
, MP3
, and PDF
documents. Apple publishes APIs
that allow developers to write Spotlight Importer plug-ins for their own file formats.
The first time that a user logs onto the operating system, Spotlight builds indexes of metadata about the files on the computer's hard disk
s. It also builds indexes of files on devices such as external hard drives that are connected to the system. This initial indexing may take some time, but after this the indexes are updated continuously in the background as files are created or modified. If the system discovers that files on an external drive have been modified on a system running a version of Mac OS older than 10.4, it will re-index the volume from scratch.
Within Mac OS X v10.4, Spotlight can be accessed from a number of places. Clicking on an icon in the top-right of the menu bar
opens up a text field where a search query can be entered. Finder
windows also have a text field in the top-right corner where a query can be entered, as do the standard load and save dialogue boxes. Both of these text fields immediately start listing results of the search as soon as the user starts typing in a search term, returning items that either match the term, or items that start with the term. The search results can be further refined by adding criteria in a Finder window such as "Created Today" or "Size Greater than 1 KB".
The Mac OS X v10.4 also includes command line utilities for querying or manipulating Spotlight. The mdimport command, as well as being used by the system itself to index information, can also be used by the user to import certain files that would otherwise be ignored or force files to be reimported. It is also designed to be used as a debugging tool for developers writing Importer plug-ins. mdfind allows the user to perform Spotlight queries from the command line, also allowing Spotlight queries to be included in things like shell script
s. mdls lists the indexed attributes for specific files, allowing the user to specify which files and/or which attributes. The indexes that Spotlight creates can be managed with mdutil, which can erase existing indexes causing them to be rebuilt if necessary or turn indexing off. These utilities are also available on Darwin
.
Although not widely advertised, in Tiger, Spotlight can perform boolean searches. By default if you include more than one word, then Spotlight performs the search as if you including an "AND". If you place a '|' between words, Spotlight performs an OR query. Placing a '-' before a word tells Spotlight to search for results that do not include that word, i.e. a NOT query.
, Apple introduced some additional features. With Spotlight in Tiger, users can only search devices that are attached to their computers. With Leopard, Spotlight is able to search networked Macs running Leopard (both client and server versions) that have file sharing enabled. A feature called Quick Look
has been added to the GUI
that will display live previews of files within the search results, so applications do not have to be opened just to confirm that the user has found the right file. The syntax has also been extended to include support for boolean "AND", "OR" and "NOT" operators.
Also while Spotlight is not enabled on the server version of Tiger, it is on the server release of Leopard.
In addition, where Spotlight in Tiger had a unique and separate window design, Spotlight in Leopard now shares windows with the Finder, allowing for a more unified GUI.
The unique Spotlight window in Tiger allowed sorting and viewing of search results by any metadata handled by the Finder; whereas Spotlight Finder windows in Leopard are fixed to view and sort items by last opened date, filename and kind only. Unfortunately, under Leopard there is currently no way to save window preferences for the Finder window that is opened via Spotlight.
In Leopard the Spotlight menu doubles as a calculator with functionality very similar to that of the Google search field (but without the need to be online), as well as a dictionary that allows one to look up the definition of an english word using the Oxford Dictionary included in Mac OS X.
, calendars, media and other content. Compared to Spotlight on Mac OS X, the iOS search capability is limited. The Spotlight screen is opened with a finger-flick to the right from the primary home screen.
The feature was announced in March 2009 and released with iOS 3.0 in June 2009. The release of iOS 4.0 included the ability to search SMS
messages.
Desktop search
Desktop search is the name for the field of search tools which search the contents of a user's own computer files, rather than searching the Internet...
feature of Apple's Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. Spotlight is a selection-based search
Selection-based search
A selection-based search system is a search engine system in which the user invokes a search query using only the mouse. A selection-based search system allows the user to search the internet for more information about any keyword or phrase contained within a document or webpage in any software...
system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer, including documents, pictures, music, applications, and System Preferences
System Preferences
System Preferences is an application included with the Mac OS X operating system that allows users to modify various system settings which are divided into separate preference panes...
. In addition, specific words in documents and in web pages in a web browser's history or bookmarks can be searched. It also allows the user to narrow down searches with creation dates, modification dates, sizes, types and other attributes
File attribute
A file attribute is metadata that describes or is associated with a computer file. For example, an operating system often keeps track of the date a file was created and last modified, as well as the file's size and extension . File permissions are also kept track of...
. Spotlight also offers quick access to definitions from built-in New Oxford American Dictionary
New Oxford American Dictionary
The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....
and to calculator functionality.
The feature is also available on Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
, but only through a command-line interface
Command-line interface
A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks...
. A similar feature for iOS 3.0 with the same name was announced on March 17, 2009.
Spotlight was first announced at the June 2004 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, and then released with Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
in April, 2005.
Functionality
Indices of filesystem metadataMetadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
are maintained by the Metadata Server (which appears in the system as the mds daemon
Daemon (computer software)
In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...
, or mdworker). The Metadata Server is started by launchd
Launchd
launchd is a unified, open-source service management framework for starting, stopping and managing daemons, applications, processes, and scripts...
when Mac OS X boots and is activated by client requests or changes to the filesystems that it monitors. It is fed information about the files on a computer's hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
s by the mdimport daemon; it does not index removable media such as CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
or DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s. Aside from basic information about each file like its name, size and timestamps, the mdimport daemon can also index the content of some files, when it has an Importer plug-in that tells it how the file content is formatted. Spotlight comes with importers for certain types of files, such as Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
, MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, and PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
documents. Apple publishes APIs
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
that allow developers to write Spotlight Importer plug-ins for their own file formats.
The first time that a user logs onto the operating system, Spotlight builds indexes of metadata about the files on the computer's hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
s. It also builds indexes of files on devices such as external hard drives that are connected to the system. This initial indexing may take some time, but after this the indexes are updated continuously in the background as files are created or modified. If the system discovers that files on an external drive have been modified on a system running a version of Mac OS older than 10.4, it will re-index the volume from scratch.
Within Mac OS X v10.4, Spotlight can be accessed from a number of places. Clicking on an icon in the top-right of the menu bar
Menu bar
A menu bar is a region of a screen or application interface where drop down menus are displayed. The menu bar's purpose is to supply a common housing for window- or application-specific menus which provide access to such functions as opening files, interacting with an application, or displaying...
opens up a text field where a search query can be entered. Finder
Macintosh Finder
The Finder is the default file manager used on Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications...
windows also have a text field in the top-right corner where a query can be entered, as do the standard load and save dialogue boxes. Both of these text fields immediately start listing results of the search as soon as the user starts typing in a search term, returning items that either match the term, or items that start with the term. The search results can be further refined by adding criteria in a Finder window such as "Created Today" or "Size Greater than 1 KB".
The Mac OS X v10.4 also includes command line utilities for querying or manipulating Spotlight. The mdimport command, as well as being used by the system itself to index information, can also be used by the user to import certain files that would otherwise be ignored or force files to be reimported. It is also designed to be used as a debugging tool for developers writing Importer plug-ins. mdfind allows the user to perform Spotlight queries from the command line, also allowing Spotlight queries to be included in things like shell script
Shell script
A shell script is a script written for the shell, or command line interpreter, of an operating system. It is often considered a simple domain-specific programming language...
s. mdls lists the indexed attributes for specific files, allowing the user to specify which files and/or which attributes. The indexes that Spotlight creates can be managed with mdutil, which can erase existing indexes causing them to be rebuilt if necessary or turn indexing off. These utilities are also available on Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
.
Although not widely advertised, in Tiger, Spotlight can perform boolean searches. By default if you include more than one word, then Spotlight performs the search as if you including an "AND". If you place a '|' between words, Spotlight performs an OR query. Placing a '-' before a word tells Spotlight to search for results that do not include that word, i.e. a NOT query.
Leopard additions
With Mac OS X LeopardMac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
, Apple introduced some additional features. With Spotlight in Tiger, users can only search devices that are attached to their computers. With Leopard, Spotlight is able to search networked Macs running Leopard (both client and server versions) that have file sharing enabled. A feature called Quick Look
Quick Look
Quick Look is a quick preview feature developed by Apple which was introduced in their operating system, Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". It was announced and demonstrated at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2007.-Overview:...
has been added to the GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
that will display live previews of files within the search results, so applications do not have to be opened just to confirm that the user has found the right file. The syntax has also been extended to include support for boolean "AND", "OR" and "NOT" operators.
Also while Spotlight is not enabled on the server version of Tiger, it is on the server release of Leopard.
In addition, where Spotlight in Tiger had a unique and separate window design, Spotlight in Leopard now shares windows with the Finder, allowing for a more unified GUI.
The unique Spotlight window in Tiger allowed sorting and viewing of search results by any metadata handled by the Finder; whereas Spotlight Finder windows in Leopard are fixed to view and sort items by last opened date, filename and kind only. Unfortunately, under Leopard there is currently no way to save window preferences for the Finder window that is opened via Spotlight.
In Leopard the Spotlight menu doubles as a calculator with functionality very similar to that of the Google search field (but without the need to be online), as well as a dictionary that allows one to look up the definition of an english word using the Oxford Dictionary included in Mac OS X.
iOS
A search tool, also named Spotlight, has been included on iOS (originally iPhone OS) products since version 3.0. This feature allows the user to search contacts, mail metadataMetadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
, calendars, media and other content. Compared to Spotlight on Mac OS X, the iOS search capability is limited. The Spotlight screen is opened with a finger-flick to the right from the primary home screen.
The feature was announced in March 2009 and released with iOS 3.0 in June 2009. The release of iOS 4.0 included the ability to search SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
messages.
See also
- Desktop searchDesktop searchDesktop search is the name for the field of search tools which search the contents of a user's own computer files, rather than searching the Internet...
- List of desktop search engines
- Search As You Type functionalityIncremental findIn computing, incremental search, incremental find or real-time suggestions is a user interface interaction method to progressively search for and filter through text. As the user types text, one or more possible matches for the text are found and immediately presented to the user...