A method for performing file lookups based on tags indicative of file characteristics may involve: a file system storing an association between a tag and a file, where the tag is indicative of a characteristic of the file; the file system storing an additional association between the tag and an additional file that also has the characteristic; the file system searching for files having the tag; and in response to searching, the file system returning identifiers of both files associated with the tag. The returned identifiers may include the files' pathnames or inode identifiers of the files' inodes.