 File Listings
 -------------
   ^variantname allows access to files via special "directory rooms".  You
can identify a directory room by its prompt.  Normal rooms have a ">" (as
in "East Bloc>"), while directory rooms have a "]" (as in "Upload Room]").

   In order to do anything useful with directory rooms, you usually need to
know what's in them (hence the name of this help file, TOC, or "Table Of
Contents").  ^variantname has two basic commands available, both
extensions of the .Read command.

   The first is

     <.R>ead <E>xtended-directory <CR>

   This command will list the file's names available in the current directory
room in the following format:

 <filename>     <filesize in bytes> | <file comment, if any>

   The second command is

     <.R>ead <D>irectory <CR>

   This command lists the file's names followed by their size in 128 byte
chunks (i.e., number of sectors the file takes up), like this:

 <filename>  <size>  <filename>  <size> ...

   .Read Directory is useful for short quick scans of directories, while
the slower .Read Extended-directory is useful for getting more information
(provided by the sysop or the uploaders) on the files (file comments can
be anything from nothing to veritable tomes).

 Options
    The two above commands have a variety of options you can attach to them.
In the interests of clarity, we'll only show examples using .Read Extended;
please just assume you can use them with .Read Directory as well.  Also, we're
going to dispense with the "<..>" convention for the balance of this help
file, because the ">" and "<" are actually of use in some of the options
which follow.

   The first option is the use of a "file-spec".  A file spec is a way to
specify only a certain set of files should be selected for display.  When
specifying a file-spec, a '*' means match 0 or more characters, while a '?'
means match only one.  For instance, if you only wanted to see files starting
with the letters DU (like files DUMMY and DUMB), you might type "DU*".  Or
you might type "DU*.*", because of the peculiarities of some operating systems
(ahem).

   In any case, when you typed

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory

   the implication is that you meant "*.*" or "*" (again, depending on the
operating system).  You may, instead of typing a carriage soon after the
".RE", type in a file-spec.  To use our previous example,

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory DU*.*

   is perfectly valid and will display all the files which "match" (computer
jargon) the file-spec, including DUMB and DUMMY -- if such files are actually
in the current room, of course.

   Additionally, you are not limited to one file-spec.

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory DU*.* *.DOC

   is perfectly valid.  In general, you separate each file-spec from the next
by one or more spaces, and ^variantname will show all files which match any
of those file-specs.

   Using a file-spec is fairly mundane.  ^variantname also allows you to
use a "date-spec".  A date-spec tells ^variantname to "match" (once again)
only those files which match both the file-spec you may or may not have typed
in, and also the date-spec.  A date-spec is a means to select files who's
date is either before or after some date you specify.  Generically, a date-spec
looks like this:

     < or > followed by a date specification.

   A date specification is in ^variantname format: yymmdd, where yy is not
needed unless the year you're matching against is not the current year.  The
"< or >" means you may use one or the other.  ">" means "since", while "<"
means "before".  (If you forget to use either, ^variantname will think your
date-spec is a file-spec).  So if you wanted to see all the files in the
directory with a date on or after December 1st, 1989, you'd type

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory > 89Dec1

   Similarly, you can actually search for files in a range by simply using
two date-specs.  If you wanted to find all the files dated between July 1st,
1989, and December 1st, 1989, you'd type

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory > 89Jul1 < 89Dec1

   Naturally, you can use file-specs with date-specs, but file-specs must
precede date-specs.

   Now, naturally, it's always nice to find all files dated since the last
time you logged in.  Many upload protocols simply date-stamp each file with
the current time when the file was uploaded, which makes it especially
enticing to know what was uploaded since you were last on (but some popular
protocols do preserve the "real" date of the file, which defeats this scheme).
Using the above scheme, you'd have to remember the date of your last login
to achieve what we're talking about, so ^variantname provides a shortcut:
simply using "<" or ">" without an actual date-spec defaults to the date you
were last on.  For instance, to list the names of all files dated since you
were last on, you'd type

     .<R>ead <E>xtended-directory >

   Nice and simple.

   Now for an odd option.  If you've experimented, you've seen the file comments
^variantname will display for you when you use .Read Extended.  Now suppose
you want to find a file in a big directory room which you'd seen before, but all
you can remember is part of the comment, and not the name.  Rather than doing
a .Read Extended and then scanning the entire list for what you want, wouldn't
it be nice if you could actually scan using the comment as something to search
on?  Well, you can!

     .<R>ead <P>hrase <E>xtended-directory ...

   will, after your ending carriage return, prompt you for a search phrase.
Then all of the files which have a comment that has that phrase in it will
be displayed.

   Finally, ^variantname provides you with the capability to scan ALL the
directory rooms you know about using all of the commands so noted, by simply
specifying the <G>lobal option.

     .<R>ead <G>lobal <E>xtended-directory ...

   The system will go through ALL the directory rooms you know about, scanning
for the file-specs and date-specs you specified, if any.  This is very handy
for finding all the files dated since the last time you were on ...

     .<R>ead <G>lobal <E>xtended-directory >


 %UPLOAD Information on uploading to ^nodetitle.
 %DOWNLOAD Information on downloading from ^nodetitle.
 %FILES Summary of file handling.
 %ADVANCED Back to the advanced commands help menu.
 %HELPOPT Get a list of all help files in the system.
 %MAINHELP First level of help system.

