C
Chris Largent
When using ANY application to search my file system directories for files
containing certain content, I noticed that some of my Microsoft Word files
are not showing up in the results lists. Ultimately through the use of a
hex editor, I determined that these particular Word files have nulls
embedded in them for spaces!
For example, the string "This is crazy!" is stored as
"This<null>is<null>crazy!" in the Word file. As a result, the strings do
not match when using any search functionality.
Notes:
- Only some of my Word files are "afflicted" with this state of being. If I
save a brand new Word document, Word correctly saves out spaces and not
nulls, so I have no idea how the afflicted files came to be.
- When I open an afflicted document in Word, it is interpreted correctly by
Word and behaves "normally" (i.e., from a user interface perspective.)
- These are straightforward, end-user created Word documents (i.e, no
programmatic access has ever been involved.)
I'm not asking for a "search workaround". I'm wondering what's up with Word
and its apparent act of storing nulls for spaces.
Anyone?
containing certain content, I noticed that some of my Microsoft Word files
are not showing up in the results lists. Ultimately through the use of a
hex editor, I determined that these particular Word files have nulls
embedded in them for spaces!
For example, the string "This is crazy!" is stored as
"This<null>is<null>crazy!" in the Word file. As a result, the strings do
not match when using any search functionality.
Notes:
- Only some of my Word files are "afflicted" with this state of being. If I
save a brand new Word document, Word correctly saves out spaces and not
nulls, so I have no idea how the afflicted files came to be.
- When I open an afflicted document in Word, it is interpreted correctly by
Word and behaves "normally" (i.e., from a user interface perspective.)
- These are straightforward, end-user created Word documents (i.e, no
programmatic access has ever been involved.)
I'm not asking for a "search workaround". I'm wondering what's up with Word
and its apparent act of storing nulls for spaces.
Anyone?