Thank you very much mouser ... this is what i needed
but the outcome seems less than usable -- files you expect to be found are not found.
for example if you search for "firefox" it won't find "Mozilla Firefox".
This would have been already perfect for me i guess because the way i use this function is
- alternate mode initiated with a different hotkey
- limited to just 20-50 aliases i define especially for that mode
- and more importantly i just know the exact word i want it to execute something on. So in these clean defined aliases i would never search for "Firefox" by Mozilla to keep your example.
I would always type Firefox. I would always type "Word", "Excel", "Powerpoint" and never "Microsoft Word"
The outcome being less than useable for you was because you were using it in the default search bar and not in a secondary one especially for this if i guess correctly.
Which leads me to think this is why this might not be perfect for (most?) other users yet.
DonĀ“t get me wrong ...
at this point i am happy since i got what i needed to do what i wanted. I am really thankfull that you added this and the way you did it works well for me. End of story. So thank you very much!.
However (ah there he goes again ...) thinking about how you ended up modifying your first attempt because you found it less than usable got me thinking: There might be some added value if these settings were not (only) global but instead could be used as "Special search modifiers" like +sall and the others.
That way any user wanting this only in some cases like me (albeit for me its the primary way) could still retain the full power of the "normal" search. Since you already have the mechanisms in place (different hotkeys and modifiers) i would guess its not to far away. Just a thought. Again personally i am a happy camper already the way it is now ;-)