*.* file search returns multiple blank lines and weird characters

[psionin]

Notepad++ v6.2.3

Find: test
Filters: .
Directory: C:\Windows
Mode: Normal

Many results like this one, example:

C:\Windows\AppPatch\sysmain.sdb (12 hits)
Line 2: #
Line 8: 
Line 9: &
Line 669: 
Line 685: 
Line 697: 
Line 697: 
Line 697: 
Line 703: ì
Line 714: 
Line 731: ¨
Line 742: e

How it looks in Notepad++: http://i57.tinypic.com/otned2.png

This happens quite frequently in searches that have only regular alphabet characters but look in folders that may contain DLLs and other application files.

[Justin Dailey]

It doesn't handle binary files well (for example sbd, dll, etc). If you double click one of those results you will find that the file actually contains the text you searched for. The results window doesn't display the entire line properly due to all the odd non-alphabetic characters. You'll just have to ignore those results or use a filter to look at specific types of files.

[psionin]

That makes sense, thanks.