A seemingly simple task that I could not get Windows XP search function to perform. Here is a command for creating a result where you want to search a big directory of subdirectories and files for a certain string or content with the help of DOS.

Enter this in the main directory of your search:

for /F "usebackq" %i in (`dir /b /s *.asp`) do find /N "John Wayne" %i >> searchresult.txt

Where you change the following values to make your search:

*.asp with the type of files you want to search through, e.g. *.* (all files), *.txt (all text files).

"John Wayne" with the search term you want to search for within the files.

searchresult.txt with the file you would like to save your result in.