CRUMB Argument (The Windows Shell)

The crumb argument supports full Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) statements and is especially useful as a means of controlling the scope of a search. In addition to AQS statments, the crumb argument can take a special location parameter on Windows Vista and kind and store parameters on Windows XP, as described later in this topic.

This topic contains the following sections:

Crumb Syntax

The crumb syntax is as follows:

crumb=<column>:<value>[,<label>][,<column>:<value>[,<label>]]& 

The <column> portion is any property in the property system, and the <value> portion is a valid value for that property. The

General Examples

crumb=System.Author:paolo&
crumb=store:mapi&
crumb=location:c%3a%5cMyVacationPix,Vacation&

Using crumb with Vista (location)

In the crumb parameter, Windows Vista supports full AQS and also the location property, which has a special implementation available only on Windows Vista. You can use either an AQS string or the location property within a single crumb parameter, but not both. If the crumb parameter includes AQS, everything else in that crumb parameter is ignored.

The location property enables you to specify a path to search. Windows Vista can bypass the Indexer and traverse the directory directly if the location is outside the Indexer's crawl scope. Consequently, these searches may be slower than searches that use the Indexer.

When you specify a location property, two additional parameters are supported and optional:

Parameter Values Description
inclusion include, exclude Specifies whether the query should include or exclude items from that path. "Include" is the default. Windows Vista does not support exclusions without inclusions. (See example)
recursion recursive, nonrecursive Specifies whether the search should recurse all subfolders starting from the value defined in the location:<value>. "Recursive" is the default.

 

To scope a search using the search: protocol, you have different options depending on the target of the scope.

Folder on a local machine:

  • Use AQS (crumb=folder:<URL-encoded path>)
  • Use location argument (crumb=location:<URL-encoded path>)

Folder on a remote machine/network:

  • Use location argument (crumb=location:<URL-encoded path>)

Folder accessed through a known Universal Naming Convention (UNC) protocol handler:

  • Use AQS (crumb=store:<UNC protocol handler name>)
  • Use location argument (crumb=location:<URL-encoded path>)

Vista Examples

search:query=vacation&crumb=location:shell%3aPersonal,include,recursive&
    
search:crumb=location:c%3a%5cPictures&crumb=location:c%3a%5cPictures%5cDuplicates,,exclude& 
    
search:crumb=location:c%3a%5cDocuments&crumb=kind:pics&

The first example executes a search for "vacation" starting at the shell://Personal location (a special shortcut to the user's My Documents folder), including that folder and all subfolders. See table below.

The second example executes a search within C:\Pictures, but not in C:\Pictures\Duplicates.

The third example executes a search within C:\Documents, limited to files with the kind property set to pics.

Constants for Common Folders

Windows Vista enables the use of CSIDL values that provide a unique system-independent way to identify special folders used frequently by applications, but which may not have the same name or location on any given system. For example, the system folder may be "C:\Windows" on one system and "C:\Winnt" on another.

Use these locations with this syntax:

crumb=location:shell%3a<LocationName>&

The following table lists the CSIDL values. Refer to ShellSpecialFolderConstants for more information.

Name search string Description
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS ADMINISTRATIVE%20TOOLS File system directory that serves as a repository for administrative tools.
APPDATA APPDATA File system directory that serves as a common repository for application-specific data. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data.
CACHE CACHE File system directory that serves as a common repository for temporary Internet files. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Temporary Internet Files.
CD BURNING CD%20BURNING Folder containing data to be burned to CD.
COMMON ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS COMMON%20ADMINISTRATIVE%20TOOLS Administrative tools for all users.
COMMON APPDATA COMMON%20APPDATA Application data for all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data.
COMMON DESKTOP COMMON DESKTOP Microsoft Windows Desktop data for all users. Virtual folder that is the root of the namespace.
COMMON DOCUMENTS COMMON%20DOCUMENTS Documents for all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\My Documents.
COMMON PROGRAMS COMMON%20PROGRAMS Program groups common to all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs.
COMMON START MENU COMMON%20START%20MENU Start menu items common to all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu.
COMMON STARTUP COMMON%20STARTUP Startup program group common to all users.
COMMON TEMPLATES COMMON%20TEMPLATES Document templates common to all users.
COMMONMUSIC MY%20MUSIC My Music folder templates common to all users.
COMMONPICTURES MY%20PICTURES My Pictures folder templates common to all users.
COMMONVIDEO MY%20VIDEO My Video folder templates common to all users.
CONNECTIONSFOLDER CONNECTIONSFOLDER folder containing connection data.
CONTROL PANEL FOLDER CONTROLPANELFOLDER Virtual folder containing icons for the Control Panel applications.
COOKIES COOKIES File system directory that serves as a common repository for Internet cookies. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Cookies.
DESKTOP DESKTOP Microsoft Windows Desktop. Virtual folder that is the root of the namespace.
FAVORITES FAVORITES File system directory that serves as a common repository for the user's favorite items. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Favorites.
FONTS FONTS Virtual folder containing installed fonts. A typical path is C:\WINDOWS\Fonts.
HISTORY HISTORY File system directory that serves as a common repository for Internet history items.
INTERNETFOLDER INTERNETFOLDER Folder that contains Internet data.
LOCAL APPDATA LOCAL%20APPDATA File system directory that serves as a data repository for local (non-roaming) applications. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data.
LOCALIZEDRESOURCEDIR LOCALIZEDRESOURCEDIR Localized resource directory.
MYCOMPUTERFOLDER MYCOMPUTERFOLDER My Computer. Virtual folder containing everything on the local computer: storage devices, printers, and Control Panel. This folder may also contain mapped network drives.
MY MUSIC MY%20MUSIC My Music folder. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music.
MY PICTURES MY%20PICTURES My Pictures folder. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Pictures.
MY VIDEO MY%20VIDEO My Video folder. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Video.
NETHOOD NETHOOD Virtual folder representing the root of the network namespace hierarchy.
NETWORK PLACES FOLDER NETWORKDPLACESFOLDER A file system folder containing the link objects that may exist in the My Network Places virtual folder. It is not the same as NETHOOD, which represents the network namespace root.
OEM LINKS OEM%20LINKS Folder containing links to OEM sites.
PERSONAL PERSONAL File system directory that serves as a common repository for a user's documents. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents.
PRINTERS FOLDER PRINTERS FOLDER Virtual folder containing installed printers.
PRINTHOOD PRINTHOOD File system directory that contains the link objects that may exist in the Printers virtual folder. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\PrintHood.
PROGRAMS PROGRAMS File system directory that contains the user's program groups (which are also file system directories). A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs.
PROFILE PROFILE User's profile folder.
PROGRAM FILES PROGRAM%20FILES Program Files folder. A typical path is C:\Program Files.
PROGRAM FILES COMMON PROGRAMFILESCOMMON Program Files folder common to all users.
PROGRAM FILES COMMON x86 PROGRAMFILESCOMMONX86 Program Files folder common to all users on x86 machines.
PROGRAM FILESx86 PROGRAMFILESx86 Program Files folder on x86 machines.
RECENT RECENT File system directory that contains the user's most recently used documents. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Recent.
RECYCLE BIN FOLDER RECYCLEBINFOLDER Virtual folder containing the objects in the user's Recycle Bin.
RESOURCEDIR RESOURCEDIR The Resource directory.
SENDTO SENDTO File system directory that contains Send To menu items. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo.
START MENU START%20MENU File system directory containing Start menu items. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu.
STARTUP STARTUP File system directory that corresponds to the user's Startup program group.
SYSTEMx86 SYSTEMx86 System folder on x86 machines.
TEMPLATES TEMPLATES File system directory that serves as a common repository for document templates.
SYSTEM SYSTEM System folder. A typical path is C:\Windows\System.
WINDOWS WINDOWS Windows directory or SYSROOT.

 

Argument Information

Value
Minimum Operating System Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1)