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[ubacher]

I took a file in my db and used vartoy to display: {File.Created} as 17/04/2021 17:28:31

I then tried to find the file with this metadata.
I entered 17/04/2021 17:28:31 into the search field and selected exact phrase and
search everywhere in metadata.

Neither with the folder selected nor with searching the entire database did it find the file.

Then I tried ^17/04/2021.* as regular expression and search everywhere in metadata.
Did not find the file.

What am I doing wrong?

[Mario]

Keep in mind that ExifTool and metadata always use the standard YYYY:MM:DD HH:MM:SS format.
This is the same format you see when you edit a date and time value in the Metadata Panel manually.

This is also the format you must use when you search date and time metadata values directly. Not your country-specific date and time format.
IMatch does not do any transformations for you.

Variables by default format dates, times and numbers according to the Windows locale settings for the current user.
Which is why date and time are printed in your local format by default.

See Note: Date and Time Format for reference.

[ubacher]

I was reviewing the help topic and found the information about the formatting of time. I was about to correct my posting but you beat me
with your answer. Thanks

[Mario]

I've just checked because I could not remember.
But the Search Bar help topic has an extra section Tip: Searching for Dates which explains which format to use when directly searching dates.