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────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FFG: File Finder/Grouper (c) 1992-1995 Thomas G. Vavoso, EnGamma - All Rights Reserved ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┴───┐ │ (R) ──│ │o │────────────────── │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of │ │ │─┘ Shareware └───│ o │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── └────╨────┘ MEMBER File Finder/Grouper (FFG) Version 2.01 Shareware Manual Copyright 1992-1995 Thomas G. Vavoso President, EnGamma All Rights Reserved Member Association of Shareware Professionals 2407 Cameron Mills Rd. Alexandria, Va. 22302-3302 Telephone (703)548-6869 Compuserve: 71674,1747 Internet: 71674.1747@compuserve.com File Finder/Grouper (FFG) performs three basic functions: 1) Searches disks/archive files for files based on flexible user-specified search criteria (e.g., name, date/time/size/Day-of-week ranges, text contents, attributes...) 2) Groups files for processing 3) Groups files for building databases of files If you think you already have a utility program that fills these functions, try the DEMO programs, examine the EXAMPLES.FFG file, and read the section "FFG Compared to Other File Finders", before you decide to put FFG aside. If you want to start using FFG right away read the "Quick Start" section below. Otherwise, skip to "Introduction". Be sure to read the "Shareware" notice on the next page. The registration cost for a single-user license and two years of updates is currently $15 plus a small shipping and processing fee for updates. See the FFG.REG file for details. You can also register on-line via CompuServe (GO SWREG, ID#1558). This manual is available in WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format to registered users upon request. File Finder/Grouper 1 (c) EnGamma Shareware Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or shareware. The shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. FFG is a copyrighted shareware program by Thomas G. Vavoso, President, EnGamma. The evaluation edition of FFG is offered at no charge to any potential user for evaluation, but after a brief evaluation period users must register and pay for it. Feel free to share the evaluation edition with your friends and associates, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. Disclaimer of Warranty Users of FFG must accept this disclaimer of warranty: FFG is supplied as-is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any File Finder/Grouper 2 (c) EnGamma purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from use of FFG. File Finder/Grouper 3 (c) EnGamma Quick Start 1. Demonstrations - The quickest way to become familiar with FFG or to get ideas for possible uses is run the DEMO program (DEMO.BAT). Go to the disk and directory with the demo batch files in it and enter: demo 2. Examples - See the file "EXAMPLES.FFG" included in the FFG package for a concise listing of many examples. 3. Usage Ideas - See the file "USEIDEAS.FFG" included in the FFG package for ideas on how FFG can be used and for answers to frequently asked questions. 4. Command Syntax USAGE: FFG [DriveSpec:][PathSpec]NameMask[,NameMask2...][\] [options] As usual, the items in brackets [] are optional. "NameMask" can contain one or more extended DOS wild card characters to specify the file name:" * = matches any string of zero or more characters" ? = matches any one character "DriveSpec" can be a simple drive letter or more: - If a '*' is substituted for a drive letter, all but A: & B: are searched. Redundant logical aliases of the same physical drive (e.g., substitute drives) are skipped to avoid multiple reports of the same physical file. - Multiple drives can be explicitly specified (e.g., A- D:, BDF:). - Drives listed after the '*' are excluded (e.g., *M: searches all but M:). - The above can be combined (e.g., AB*G-IZ: searches A: and B: first, then all non-redundant drives but G: through I: and Z: - No drive or ':' alone is taken to mean the current drive - To search for directories instead of files, put a '\' after the NameMask File Finder/Grouper 4 (c) EnGamma - During the search, pressing the following keys have special effects: <ESC> will stop the search. <G> will go to (Change Dir) the last found file. <S> will skip the current drive. <B> will cause FFG to beep when done searching. <UP>,<DOWN>,<RIGHT> arrow keys can guide the search Pressing any other key will pause the search operation. - Either '-' or '/' are acceptable command line option switches. - Options may be in any order, before or after the Search Mask. - There should be no spaces between option switches and their parameters. 5. Built-in Help/Examples - To get a listing of options and command syntax, at the DOS prompt enter: ffg - Prompts for parameters/options (/? for help) ffg /? - Usage, help, examples, options ffg /?? - Individual command-line option help menu ffg /?n - Help for option 'n'; (e.g., /?d is help for date option) 6. Finding a File on the Current Drive - To find a file anywhere on the current drive enter: FFG filename.ext where "filename.ext" is the name of the file you want to find. 7. Finding a File on All Hard Drives - To find a file anywhere on hard drives connected to your system enter: FFG *:filename.ext where the '*' is interpreted to mean all non-redundant disk drives except A: and B:, which are assumed to be floppy drives. A redundant drive is one that is an alias for some directory subtree of another physical drive. 8. Finding a File on All Drives (including floppies) - To find a file anywhere on the system drives enter: ffg ab*:filename.ext File Finder/Grouper 5 (c) EnGamma where "ab*:" is interpreted to mean search drives A: and B: plus all hard drives. 9. Searching Inside Archive Files (e.g., .ZIP files) - To search all drives and inside all archive files on those drives type: ffg *:filename.ext /z File Finder/Grouper 6 (c) EnGamma Introduction To get a quick idea of FFG's capabilities run the batch files included in DEMOBAT.ZIP or scan through the examples in EXAMPLES.FFG. Here is a basic list of features: - Perform filename searches using extended DOS wild card characters * and ?. For example you can find all files with "doc" anywhere in the name. This search is not possible using standard DOS wildcard conventions. - Easily search all disk drives or only selected drives. - Search for files or exclude files based on file name, date, time, size, day-of-week, attributes (hidden/system/read only/archive), and occurrence of text (including control codes) within the file. - Searches popular archive/compressed file formats such as those created with PKZip. - Can execute an arbitrary DOS command for each found file. - Versatile and Customizable Output Formats: - Standard columnar output, which is a basic fixed field output of the various file information items: FILENAME.EXT 12345 1/01/92 23:59 HSRA C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR - Packed format, which allows formation of list files for subsequent processing (e.g., PKZip @file): C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT - Comma delimited ASCII database file format, which allows building databases of found files: "FILENAME.EXT","12345","1/01/92","23:59:00","HSRA","C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR\" - Batch file processing format, which allows sophisticated manipulation of found files as a group: %1 C:\PATH\FILENAME.EXT %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 Within each of the above basic format types the user can further customize the output. (See the detailed reference for the /f option.) File Finder/Grouper 7 (c) EnGamma - See the section "FFG Compared to Other File Finders". File Finder/Grouper 8 (c) EnGamma FFG Compared to Other File Finders File Finder/Grouper (FFG) performs functions similar to those found in other utility programs, but here are some FFG features that some other file finders lack: 1. FFG uses the DOS wildcard characters '*' and '?' but they have extended function over the DOS counterparts. The extended functionality permits you to search for strings of characters that appear anywhere in the file name. 2. FFG can search for multiple file specifications in a single pass, such as find all BAT, COM and EXE files. 3. FFG permits you to concisely specify multiple file name search masks such as: "*[ZIP,ARC,ARJ,LHA,ZOO]*.[COM,EXE]" to find all archiving programs. 4. FFG can search all disk drives or selected disk drives. 5. FFG can search inside of archive files (ZIP, ARC, ARJ, LZH, ZOO). FFG will also search inside PKZip, ARJ, and LHA self-extracting (.EXE) archive files. (FFG also searches inside XEQ COM library files). 6. FFG can execute and arbitrary DOS command for each file found with or without a user confirmation before execution. 7. FFG finds hidden files and searches hidden directories. 8. FFG searches inside directories with name extensions (e.g., THISISMY.DIR). Some file finders do not search these directories. 9. FFG can move to the disk and directory of the found file (/g option). 10. FFG can search for directories instead of files simply by appending a backslash '\' to the search name. 11. FFG can search by a date range, time range, size range, or day-of-week range using intuitive syntax to specify these filtering criteria. Multiple include/exclude ranges can be specified. 12. FFG can search by the file attributes or combination of attributes, such as finding all Hidden Read-Only files. File Finder/Grouper 9 (c) EnGamma 13. FFG can find files based on the day of the week (i.e., Sun - Sat) they were modified/created. 14. FFG can find files based on whether or not the file contains one or more text/ASCII-code strings. FFG will even search for text inside files that are archived if you have the associated archive extraction program (e.g., PKUnzip, LHA, ARJ, etc.) on your DOS search path. 15. FFG permits you to exclude certain files base on name, date, time, size, attributes, day-of-week criteria, text contents. 16. FFG can search for files by date relative to today, such as all files modified/created 7 to 14 days ago. 17. FFG can search for files relative to the current time of day, such as all files modified/created within the last ten minutes. 18. The asterisk '*' can be used as a wildcard in date and time criteria, such as /d9/*/93 for all September 1993 files and /t13:* for all 1:00pm - 1:59pm files. 19. Current month (M), day (D), year (Y) can be specified in date criteria such as 1/1/Y-6/30/Y, M/D/Y (today) 20. Current hours (H), minutes (M), seconds (S) can be specified in time criteria such as H:M:S (now). 21. Partial dates and times are interpreted, such as 9/93 - > 9/*/93, 5/1 -> 5/1/Y (Y = current year), 92-93 -> all 1992-1993 files, 9 -> 9:00:00am. 22. Multiple date, time, size, day-of-week, attribute, text filtering criteria can be specified, which are combined in a logical AND or OR depending on how they are specified. 23. FFG lets you pause (press any key) or interrupt (press <ESC>) the search operation at any time. 24. FFG lets you guide the search by using the arrow keys to skip files and directories. 25. FFG can be used to produce database files of its output (ASCII comma-delimited files)(/f, option) 26. FFG provides useful default output format options but File Finder/Grouper 10 (c) EnGamma permits extensive user customization of the output format. 27. FFG can be used to produce output as DOS batch files (.BAT) with DOS replaceable parameters (%1 through %9). The batch file can then be used to execute an arbitrary set of commands against the group of files such as copy, back up, archive, delete, move, edit...). The power and flexibility of this feature is limited only by your imagination. Although some other finders have similar capability, they do not have the same flexibility. 28. By default, when FFG is searching all disk drives (i.e., *: is specified), it skips disk drives that are logical aliases of subtrees of physical drives that will also be searched. This avoids reports of multiple copies of the same physical file when it appears also on logical alias drives. 29. FFG lets you use 43- and 50-line video modes on EGA/VGA systems so you can see more on the screen. 30. Frequently used options can be made semi-permanent by setting them in the DOS environment variable FFGOPT using the DOS 'set' command as in: SET FFGOPT=/p /v5 /z /bpd /fp File Finder/Grouper 11 (c) EnGamma Usage and Examples FFG [DriveSpec:][PathSpec]NameMask[,NameMask2...][\] [options] FFG is currently not case sensitive. However, as features are added in future releases case may be used to distinguish options. Therefore, use of lower case is recommended. In many of the examples provided in this manual mixed upper and lower case is used for clarity only. If there is not at least one NameMask, FFG will prompt you for input parameters. DriveSpec tells FFG which drives to search. If DriveSpec is not specified the current disk is searched. A simple DOS drive letter designation can be specified (e.g., C:) or a list of drives can be specified (e.g., ABC:). Also, a '*' can be used to search all drives except A: and B:. When '*' is used FFG skips any drives that are redundant logical aliases of drives (e.g., substitute drives) that would have already been searched. When '*' is used, it can be combined with an explicit search list (e.g., ab*:); the drives that are explicitly listed will be searched first. If you wish to specify "all drives but..." then list the drives to exclude after the '*' (e.g., *cd). Finally, a range of drives may be specified (e.g., a-z:). All of the above can be combined (e.g., a-z*bcf-v:, which means all but B:, C:, and F:-V:). If any drives that are explicitly specified cannot be accessed, such as empty floppy drives, FFG reports them as inaccessible. If a drive letter appears both before and after the '*' in a DriveSpec, it is not searched. See the following DriveSpec examples. (Advanced: See also the /: option to change default behavior.) PathSpec tells FFG which directory to use as the search starting point. The specified directory and all descendent subdirectories will be searched unless the NO RECURSION option (/r) is specified. See the following PathSpec examples. NameMask gives FFG a file name pattern to look for. Multiple name masks can be specified by separating them with a comma (',') sign. NameMask can use DOS wildcard characters '*' and '?', but they have extended functions. The '*' will match zero or more characters and the '?' will match exactly one character. The period that separates the file first name and the filename extension is treated as any other character in the name. If a terminating backslash is appended to the list of NameMasks, FFG will search for directories in lieu of files. See the following NameMask File Finder/Grouper 12 (c) EnGamma examples. NameMasks can also include alternative patterns to concisely specify multiple masks that have common elements. For example, rather than specify "*.BAT,*.COM,*.EXE", you can use "*.[BAT,COM,EXE]". The brackets contain different possible alternatives for that part of the NameMask. Brackets can be nested. Here are two more complicated examples: 1. Let's say you want to see all files which have names that are variants of "CONFIG" or an abbreviation of it. Here's how you might specify it: "*C[[O,]N,]F[I,]G*", which is equivalent to specifying: "*CONFIG*,*CONFG*,*CNFIG*,*CNFG*,*CFIG*,*CFG*" 2. Let's say you want a listing of all archiving programs, including batch files that perform and archiving function. Here's how you could specify it: "*[ZIP,ARC,ARJ,LHA,PAK,ZOO]*.[EXE,COM,BAT]" The above is equivalent to specifying 18 separate NameMasks: "*ZIP*.EXE,*ZIP*.COM,*ZIP*.BAT,...,*ZOO*.COM,*ZOO*.BAT" NOTE: Slashes can be used instead of commas as in "*.[BAT/COM/EXE]". This permits a NameMask to be passed to FFG as a parameter to a batch file. This would not otherwise be possible using commas because DOS considers the comma to be a batch file command- line argument delimiter. Drive Specifier (DriveSpec) Examples: These examples illustrate the different ways to specify which disk drives should searched. ffg filename - Searches current drive ffg c:filename - Searches drive C: ffg *:filename - Searches all drives but A:, B:, and redundant logical alias drives. ffg ab*:filename - Searches all drives but redundant logical alias drives File Finder/Grouper 13 (c) EnGamma ffg a-z:filename - Searches all drives ffg ec*:filename - Searches E: then C: then all other non-redundant drives but floppies ffg *c:filename - Searches all non-redundant drives but C: and floppies ffg d*m-z:filename - Searches D: then all non-redundant drives except M: through Z: The /: option can be used to reconfigure and customize the way FFG treats the wildcard drive (*:) and which drive(s) FFG searches when no drives are specified. Refer to the /: option description for details. Also, see how this configuration change can be retained using the FFGOPT environment variable. File Path Specifier (PathSpec) Examples: These examples illustrate the different ways to specify the directory where the search should start. ffg filename - Searches from root directory ffg \filename - Searches from root directory ffg \DOS\filename - Searches from \DOS directory ffg .\filename - Searches from current directory ffg ..\filename - Searches from parent of current directory ffg \filename /r - Searches only the root directory, no subdirectories File Name Mask (NameMask) Examples: These examples illustrate the different ways to search based on the file name. ffg *.* - Searches for all files ffg * - Searches for all files (identical to *.*) ffg *\ - Searches for all directories ffg *bat - All files ending in 'BAT' (Finds: File Finder/Grouper 14 (c) EnGamma BALLBAT, WOMBAT, AUTOEXEC.BAT...) ffg *.bat - All files with a '.BAT' extension. (Finds: BALL.BAT but will NOT find BALLBAT) ffg *read*me* - All files with 'read' anywhere in name followed by 'me' (Finds: READ.ME, PLS- READ.ME, README, README.COM, READU.NME, YOUREAD.ME) ffg *help*,*hlp* or ffg *h[e,]lp* - All files with 'help' or 'hlp' anywhere in the name. (Finds: WINHELP.EXE, SETUP.HLP, PRINTHLP.EXE...) ffg *c*f*g* - All files with 'c', 'f', and 'g' in order in name. (Finds: CONFIG.SYS, MIDIMAP.CFG, CFGSAVE.DLL, MYCFG.DAT, MYCONFG.FIL...) ffg *. - Finds extensionless files ffg ????.* - Finds files with exactly four characters in first name. (Finds: DATA.IN, DATA.OUT, TASM.EXE, TEST...; Doesn't find: TEST1, TST.DAT...) ffg *bat?* - Finds files with 'BAT' anywhere in name but at the end. (Finds: BATLIB.COM, MYBAT.DAT, BALLBATS...; Doesn't find: BALLBAT, AUTOEXEC.BAT) ffg ?????? - Finds all files having exactly 6 character names, including the period if the file has an extension. (Finds: SCRAPS, GO.BAT, SAVE.C) ffg * /x*.bat - Finds all files but DOS batch files (.BAT) ffg *win*\ - Searches for all directories with 'WIN' anywhere in the directory name ffg *arc*.[com,exe] - Search for all 'arc' programs File Finder/Grouper 15 (c) EnGamma Alternate Methods of Entering FFG Parameters If no parameters are entered on the command line, then FFG will prompt you for input. In this case, the number of parameters are not limited by screen width or the DOS 128 character command line limit. This feature is also useful to let FFG be invoked by menu choices or by clicking on a icon in Windows since it doesn't require the parameters/options to be entered ahead of time. Alternatively, you can put FFG parameters and options on the first line of an ASCII text file and have FFG get its input from that file. For example, if you put FFG parameters/options on the first line inside a file named PARAMS.FFG you would run FFG with those parameters as: ffg < params.ffg This uses the DOS input redirection operator '<' to tell FFG to take its input from the file instead of the keyboard. File Finder/Grouper 16 (c) EnGamma Alphabetical Listing of Command Line Options/Switches Quick Reference: Option Function /a Filter by Attributes of File /b Set Beep when file found, prompted, and/or done /d Filter by Date of File /e Execute Command for each find /f Set Format of Output /g Go to directory /h Filter Hidden directories /p Set Pause each screenful, every n lines, when done /q Set Quiet/no screen output /r Do not Recursively search subdirectories /s Filter by Size of file /t Filter by Time of file /v Set Video mode # of lines /x Filter by eXcluding file names /z ZIP and other archive file search /1 Find only 1 file /$ Filter by Text/code string within file /: Set Drives and Drive types to be searched /! Set to disable various user interrupt methods File Finder/Grouper 17 (c) EnGamma Options - Detailed Reference: Filtering by File Attributes /a Attributes of File /aAttrMask[[,|']AttrMask...] - include only files matching specified attributes AttrMask = is a string composed of H,S,R,A,'.' H = hidden attribute set. S = system attribute set. R = read-only attribute set. A = archive attributes set. ! = before one of the above, it means not set . = "specified attributes period"; unspecified attributes must not be set; The period must be at the end of the string, e.g. /aHR. = hidden AND read only files with no other attributes set. Attribute Examples /aR - Read-only files /aH - Hidden files /a!S - All but System files /aA - Files with Archive bit set /aHR - Files that are both hidden and read-only /aHR. - Hidden&Read-only files with no other attributes set /aH!R - Hidden files that are not read- only /a!H - Files that are not hidden /a!H!R - Files that are neither hidden or read-only /aHR!S!A - Files with only hidden and read- only attributes (same as /aHR.) /a!H /a!S /a!R - Normal files (not Hidden AND not System AND not Read-only) /aHS,SR,HR /a!H,!S,!R - Any two of H, S, R, but not all three Audible Beep for Certain Events /b Beep - Beeps the system speaker for specified events /b[F][P][D][E] - Beeps when: File Finder/Grouper 18 (c) EnGamma F = a file is found P = user is prompted D = program is done running E = Error if /b is specified alone beeps will occur for all of the above If multiple /b options are encountered, the right-most will override previous settings. For example, /bf /bd will cause beeping only when FFG is done. [See also "Configuring FFG"] Filtering by File Date /d Date of File /dDateRangeStr[[,|']DateRangeStr...] - include only files matching specified date range where DateRangeStr is one of the following: mm/dd/yy - only files matching mm/dd/yy m1/d1/y1-m2/d2/y2 - only files matching this date range inclusive -mm/dd/yy - only files on or before this date mm/dd/yy- - only files on or after this date T - Relative: only files with Today's date nT-Tm - Relative: n days before TODAY to m days after today nT-mT - Relative: n days before TODAY to m days before TODAY [Su|Mo|Tu|We|...|Sa] - only file matching specified day of the week. Can also specify a range in this way. Use alone or in addition to above date options. Asterisks may be used in lieu of mm,dd,yy date elements to ignore an element. The characters M, D, Y can be used in lieu of numeric mm, dd, yy elements to use the current month (M), day (D), year (Y). If some elements are left off assumptions are made as follows: If an element is left off and its separator '/' is used then the current value for the missing element is assumed (e.g. 9//93 -> 9/D/93). If one separator is missing File Finder/Grouper 19 (c) EnGamma (i.e., xx/yy) a guess is made based on the values used for xx and yy: If it is possibly a mm/yy value, then mm/*/yy (any day) is assumed. If it is possible a mm/dd value then mm/dd/Y (current year) is assumed. If it's neither of the above then its a dd/yy value and M/dd/yy is assumed. Similar guesses are made if both separators are missing (i.e., xx): If xx is possible a year then */*/yy is assumed. If xx is possibly a day, then M/dd/Y is assumed. If /d is specified with no date filter, a default value of 'today' is assumed (i.e., /d = /dT). Date Examples /d1/1/93 - Files dated 1/1/93 /d1/1/80-12/31/80 - Files having a 1980 date /d-12/31/92 - Files dated 1992 and earlier /d1/1/93- - Files later than 1992 /dT - Files dated TODAY /d6T-T - Files dated in the last 7 days /d14T-7T - Files dated 7-14 days ago /dSu - Files dated on a Sunday /d6T-T /dFr - Files dated last Friday /d6T-T /dSa-Su - Files dated last Weekend /dM/D/Y - Files dated today (same as /dT) /d// - Files dated today /d1-15 - Files dated 1st-15th of this month /d80-85 - Files dated between 1980 and 1985 /d7/92-12/92 - Files dated in second half of 1992 Executing a Command for Each Found File /e Execute Command for each find /e[!][CommandStr] - Execute a command for each found file. where CommandStr is either: 1. Not specified, in which case the found file itself is executed. It is assumed the found file is executable, otherwise the command will not execute. 2. It is a DOS command string including optional Format Specifiers. The Format Specifiers are the same as those used for output formatting (see /f description) except File Finder/Grouper 20 (c) EnGamma that they must be preceded by a '%' character to distinguish them from normal characters. For example, to represent the full file name, %n would be used. Spaces are represented with %_ and double quotes are represented by %'. These two special specifiers are required because spaces are interpreted as separators between command parameters and double quotes are used to treat a string with spaces as a unit. Inside batch files, two percent signs %% are required to avoid having DOS interpret the % as a replaceable parameter. The command is executed from the disk drive and directory of the found file, so in most cases it is not necessary to specify %p\%n when referring to the found file; %n would suffice. Confirmation - Normally FFG asks the user to confirm whether the command should be executed. However, if the '!' is specified, the command will be executed for all found files without asking the user for confirmation. When confirmation is on, the user is given the following options: 1. <Y>es - Execute the command 2. <N>o - Skip the command execution 3. <A>ll - Execute the command and turn off subsequent confirmations 4. <S>hell - Shell to the DOS prompt 5. <ESC> - Quit Execute Command Examples: /e - Execute each found file w/confirmation /e! - same as above without confirmation /e"REN %P\%N %F.NEW" - => ren d:\path\fname.ext fname.new /eREN%_%P\%N%_%F.NEW - same as above /eDEL%_%P\%N - => del d:\path\fname.ext (%P\ optional) /eMD%_NEWSBDIR - => md newsbdir (make new subdirectory) /e"COPY %N A:" - => copy fname.exe a: (note that by quoting the part of command string containing spaces, you can avoid having to use the space Format Specifier, %_) Memory Available For Commands - When a command is executed with the /e option all but about 6 KB of the memory File Finder/Grouper 21 (c) EnGamma occupied by FFG is swapped to EMS, XMS, or Disk to maximize the amount of memory available to the executed program. Customizing the Format of FFG Output /f Format of Output /fxFormatStr There are four basic types of output formats supported by FFG: Columnar output (the default), Packed path, ASCII Comma delimited and Batch File. Within each of these types there is much flexibility in defining the precise output (see Format Strings below). Examples of each are: 1. Columnar Output (/fc, this is the default format) FILENAME.EXT 12345 1/01/92 23:59 HSRA C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR 2. Packed Path Output (/fp) C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT 3. ASCII Comma Delimited Database Output (/f,) "FILENAME.EXT","12345","1/01/92","23:59:00","HSRA","C:\DIRECT\SUBDIR\" 4. Batch File Output (/fb) %1 C:\PATH\FILENAME.EXT %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 Here is a detailed description of the output formatting options: /fxFormatStr x = C Column - Fixed field width columnar output ("NSDTAP" default) P Packed - Merge all fields together ("PN" is default) , Comma - Comma-delimited ASCII database format B Batch File - Format for batch processing with %1, %2.... File Finder/Grouper 22 (c) EnGamma S Summary - Summary Control - This option determines whether a summary report is displayed and is used independent of the other /f option switches. The 's' must be followed by '.' or '!', which have the following meanings: . - Summary only ! - no summary (good for when you are redirecting output and don't want the summary report to be redirected to the file). FormatStr is a string composed of Format Specifiers: f = file First name (e.g. if file is FNAME.EXT then "FNAME" is displayed) { c = Comments/File Descriptive notes e = file Extension (e.g. if file is FNAME.EXT then ".EXT" is displayed) s = Size of file d = Date of file t = Time of file n = Full FileName, including extension (e.g., FNAME.EXT) a = file Attributes e.g. "H-R-" for a hidden and read- only file; *ZIP, *ARC for files found in ZIP and ARC files p = full Path to file, including disk drive (trailing backslash '\' is excluded for all but Comma- delimited output) r = diRectory path without drive (trailing backslash '\' is excluded for all but Comma-delimited output) h = Home directory or in other words, the directory from which FFG was started. . = Same as h (home directory) _ = blank space ' = single quote translated to double quote (/e option only). % = to get a % sign (/e option only) \ = backslash directory separator : = drive on which file was found including colon (e.g. C:) ; = drive on which file was found excluding colon (e.g. C) 0-9 = (meaningful with the /fB option only) inserts a corresponding DOS .BAT file replaceable parameter %0-%9 (e.g. 1->%1); File Finder/Grouper 23 (c) EnGamma Formatting Examples 1. /FCnsdtap displays output in fixed Columns (the default) as follows: FILENAME.EXT 12345 1/01/92 23:59 HSRA C:\DIR\SUBDIR 2. /FPpn displays results in a Packed format as follows: C:\DIR\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT 3. /FPpn_s_d_t_a displays results in a Packed format as follows: C:\DIR\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT 12345 1/01/92 23:59 HSRA 4. /F, displays Comma-delimited results for import into a database as follows: "FILENAME.EXT","12345","1/01/92","23:59:00","HSRA","C:\DIR\SUBDIR" 5. /FB1_2_p\n_34_5 provides format for later Batch file processing: %1 %2 C:\DIR\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT %3%4 %5 6. /FB1_p\n_f.2 > changext.bat creates a batch file with lines as follows: %1 C:\DIR\SUBDIR\FILENAME.EXT FILENAME.%2 Which could then be used as follows to change the extension of all found files to ".NEW": changext rename NEW 7. /F, /FS! displays comma-delimited output without summary information. 8. /FS. displays summary information only [See also "Configuring FFG"] File Finder/Grouper 24 (c) EnGamma Go To Found File /g# Go to directory of found file /g# where # is a number N; goto Nth found file When this option is used, FFG changes the current disk drive and directory to the drive/directory of the Nth found file. No other files are found. If the found file is in an archive file (/z option used), FFG changes to the disk and directory of the archive file that contains the found file. If searching for directories instead of files, FFG changes into the found directory (makes it the current directory). If /g is specified without a number, then you will be prompted for each found file. # = blank, 0 - pause and prompt user after each found file # = 1 - go directly to first found file without prompting # = other # - go to directly to #th found file withoug prompting Multiple /g options override previous settings. For example, /g /g5 is equivalent to /g5. Searching Hidden Directories /h Hidden directories /h[.|!] Hidden directories are searched by default. The following modifications are possible: /h - toggle hidden directories search option (i.e, hidden directories will be skipped since the default is to search them) /h. - only hidden directories are searched /h! - do not search hidden directories If multiple /h options are encountered, the right-most one overrides previous settings. File Finder/Grouper 25 (c) EnGamma Pausing FFG Output /p[#] Pause each screenful, when done or page at a time /pd Pause when FFG is done. /p[#] pause after every # lines of output; # is optional; This option causes output and searching to pause after # lines of screen output. If # is not specified, the current screen height will be assumed. If # is set to 0, there will be no pause (as though /p were not used at all). # = blank - pause after one screenful of output. # = 0 - continuous output - don't pause (this is the default if /p is not specified) # = 1 - pause after each found file (useful for providing an opportunity for user interaction # = other # - pause after # lines of output. # = d - pause when FFG is done. This is useful when running FFG from Windows or from a menu system so that you have a chance to view the last screenful of FFG output before FFG exits and returns to Windows or the menu system. [See also "Configuring FFG"] Suppressing FFG Screen Output /q Quiet - Suppresses all but specified output events /q[M][T][S][F] - Suppresses output for all but: M = Status meter T = program title line S = Output summary F = Found File if /q is specified alone all output is suppressed File Finder/Grouper 26 (c) EnGamma If multiple /q options are encountered, the right-most one overrides previous settings. [See also "Configuring FFG"] Searching Subdirectories /r Recursion (subdirectory search) By default FFG recursively searches all descendent directories of the starting directory in the directory tree structure. When the /r option is used only the starting directory is searched. Multiple /g options toggle this setting. For example, /r /r is equivalent to not specifying /r. Filtering by File Size /s Size of file /sSizeRangeStr[[,|']SizeRangeStr...] - include only files matching specified size where SizeRangeStr is one of the following: Size - only files of this size MinSize-MaxSize - only files within this size range inclusive -MaxSize - only files this size or smaller MinSize- - only files this size or larger MinSize, Size, MaxSize can use suffixes K, M, G as abbreviations of 1 Kilobyte, 1 Megabyte, and 1 Gigabyte (e.g. /s1K-25M) Size Examples /s0 - empty files /s1M- - very large files (>= 1 megabyte) /s-500 - tiny files (<= 500 bytes) /s1K-2K - 1024-byte to 2048-byte files /s-500 /s!0 - smaller than 500 bytes but not empty /s-500,1M- - tiny or very large files Filtering by File Time File Finder/Grouper 27 (c) EnGamma /t Time of file /tTimeRangeStr[[,|']TimeRangeStr...] - include only files matching specified times where TimeRangeStr is one of the following: hh:mm:ss - only files matching this time h1:m1:s1-h2:m2:s2 - only files within this time range inclusive -hh:mm:ss - only files on or before this time hh:mm:ss- - only files on or after this time nN, Nm - n minutes before now, m minutes after now - can be used as min or max in time ranges Times must be specified using a 24-hour clock (i.e, 23:00 instead of 11:00 PM). Time ranges may span 0:00 (midnight). Asterisks may be used in lieu of hh,mm,ss time elements to ignore an element. The characters H, M, S can be used in lieu of numeric hh, mm, ss elements to use the current hours (H), minutes (M), seconds (S). If some elements are left off assumptions are made as follows: If an element is left off and its separator ':' is not used then '0' is assumed for that element (e.g., 9 -> 9:00:00). However, if the separator is specified then '*' is assumed for that element (e.g., 9: -> 9:*:*) If /t is used without a time filter, then a default value of 'now' is used (i.e., /t = /tN = /tH:M:*). Time Examples /t-8:00 - Earlybird files (before 8am) /t17:00-8:00 - After-hours files /t17:00- - Evening/night files /t8:00-17:00 - Workday files /t10N- /dT - Recent files (within last 10 minutes) /t9:*:* - Same as range 9:00:00-9:59:59 /t9-10 - Same as 9:00:00-10:00:00 /t9:-10: - Same as 9:*:*-10:*:* /t:: - Same as *:*:* /t9:10: Setting Video Mode (number of lines on screen) File Finder/Grouper 28 (c) EnGamma /v[2][4][5] - Change video lines to 25, 43,or 50 2 = 25 lines 4 = 43 lines (EGA and VGA only)(43 even if its VGA) 5 = 50 lines (VGA only) if /v is specified alone the video mode is toggle between the 25 and the maximum number of lines supported (43 or 50 depending on whether video is EGA or VGA). If multiple /v options are encountered, the right-most one overrides previous settings. [See also "Configuring FFG"] Filtering by Excluding File Names /x Exclude Files /xFileMaskList - exclude all files in FileMaskList, where FileMaskList is a list of file specs separated by ',' commas. For example, /x*.bat,*.exe,*.com or /x*.[bat,exe,com] If multiple /x option switches are specified, a file will be excluded only if it matches all of the separate /x criteria. For example, /x*boy* /x*dog* will exclude the files BOYDOG.DAT, DOGBOY.DAT, but not BOYS.DAT or DOGS.DAT. To exclude files that contain either 'BOY' or 'DOG' in the name specify: /x*[boy,dog]*, which is equivalent to /x*boy*,*dog* Searching Inside Archive Files /z ZIP and other archive file search /z[.][ArcExtList] - Search inside archive files. . = search ONLY inside archive files. ArcExtList = list of file extensions to treat as archives. e.g., /zZIP,ARC,LZH,ARJ,ZOO,COM,EXE FFG currently supports ZIP, ARC, LZH, ARJ, ZOO, and XEQ archive files. It also supports ZIP, LHA and ARJ self- extracting (.EXE) archive files. File Finder/Grouper 29 (c) EnGamma If /z is used in conjunction with /$ (text search) the files within the archive will be extracted and searched if: - you have the associated extraction program (e.g., PKUnzip, LHA) on you DOS search path and - FFG can find temporary disk scratch space to extract the file (see Setting a Temporary Directory in the Miscellaneous section of this manual). [See also "Configuring FFG"] Archive Examples /zZIP - Limits archive search to ZIP files /zARC,LZH - Limits archive search to ARC and LZH files /z. - Limits search to only archive files Filtering by Finding Text Strings Within Files /$ - Include files containing text the specified text string /$[=c][=!][=#n]TextCodeStr[=c][[,|'][=!][=#n]TextCodeStr2[=c ]...] Include files containing the string(s) represented by TextCodeStr. TextCodeStr can be a comma-separated/bracketed set of alternatives (see syntax for name searching) TextCodeStr- TextCodeStr is alphnumeric text with optional imbedded codes for special characters. =c = Case Sensitivity The '=c' at the beginning of the option sets the case-sensitivity for all alternatives specified in the option argument. This can be overridden for a specific alternative by putting a '=c' in that alternative string. For example, /$=cfirst,second=c,third would match files containing "first" (case sensitive) or "second" (ignoring case), or "third" (case sensitive). File Finder/Grouper 30 (c) EnGamma If mixed case it used in a text string, it is taken to imply that the search should be case-sensitive, regardless of whether '=c' is specified. =! = Exclude file if TextString found. =#n = Search only first 'n' bytes of file =Code = If within TextString '=' is followed by a 1-3 digit numeric code with a value between 1 and 255, the character corresponding to that numeric code will be matched. This enables specifying control codes and any other codes that might be otherwise not be allowed by DOS on the command line. For example, FFG *.exe /$=cPK=3=4 would search EXE files for self-extracting PKZip files. The above /$ option example is equivalent to /$=cPK=003=004. The leading zeroes are necessary only when you want to follow the code with numeric text. Special characters - Some characters are interpreted by the DOS command line interpreter and if used may give undesirable results. These include "><|", the DOS redirection and pipe symbols. The easiest way around this problem is use enclose search strings containing such characters in quotes. A second way around this problem is to specify the codes for these characters using '=' as described above. A third way is to use the following alternatives which are interpreted by FFG: =) = for '>' =( = for '<' =I or =i = for '|' =Q or =q = for '"' (Q for quotes) =: = for ';' =_ = for ' ' (blank)(to avoid quoting string) == = for '=' (to override special function of =) Also, since the characters ",'[]" have special meaning to FFG in specifying alternatives (as in /$[basket,foot,base]ball), if they are to be part of the search text they must be preceded with an '=' symbol. For example, /$Bill's is interpreted incorrectly as "Bill" OR "s", but /$Bill='s is File Finder/Grouper 31 (c) EnGamma interpreted correctly as "Bill's". Text String Search Examples /$simple - finds files containing 'simple' regardless of case (same as /$SIMPLE) /$=csimple - finds files containing 'simple' - lower case only /$T[h,]om - finds files containing 'Tom' or 'Thom' - case sensitive /$me /$you - finds files containing both 'me' and 'you' regardless of case /$T,=!M - finds files that either contain a 'T' or don't contain an 'M', case-insensitive. /$=#4=255WPC - finds WordPerfect Corporation product data files; searches only first 4 bytes of file Efficiency Note: Searching the contents of a file is much slower than searching by name, date, time, size, attributes. Searching contents is slower still when you combine it with the /z option to search for text within archive files, since the file must be extracted from the archive to be searched. Therefore, to improve the speed of a text search it helps to filter out files based on these other criteria before searching the file for text. FFG will do this filtering first if you specify other criteria. The more narrow the other criteria are, the greater the speed improvement will be. A particularly important criteria is file size. If you put an upper limit on the size of the files, it will avoid scanning large files. Another, important way to improve speed is to embed the '=#n' control sequence in the text string to limit the text scan to the first 'n' bytes of the file. Of course you need to know approximately how close the data you are searching for is to the start of the file. One of the above examples, uses this technique. Disk Drives to Search Customization /:*[DriveList] - Set wildcard drives /:[!]DriveTypeList - Set wildcard drive types File Finder/Grouper 32 (c) EnGamma /:_[DriveSpec] - Set drives to search when no drive specified /:[*|!|_] - Resets to defaults The /: option sets which drives and drive types are searched when a wildcard '*' is used for drive and/or when no drive is specified. DriveList = non-wild list of drives (ranges allowed) DriveTypeList = string of drive types composed of one or more of the following: C = CD-ROM F = Floppy N = Network S = Substitute Examples: /:*c-f => "ffg *:*.bat" Interpreted as "ffg cdef:*.bat" /:!FCN => "ffg *:*.bat" Searches all drives but Floppy, CDROM, and Network drives /:_ab* => "ffg *.bat" Interpreted as "ffg ab*:*.bat" This option is intended for use with the FFGOPT environment variable. [See "Configuring FFG"] Limiting Number of Found Files One /1[:|r|z|c] - Stops after finding 1 file [per drive, directory, archive, container] : = per drive r = per directory z = per archive c = per container (archive or directory) Disabling User's Ability to Interrupt /![i|q|s|g] - Disable various user interrupt methods to prevent user from skipping part of the search i = disable Input from keyboard of any kind (same as /!) q = disable Quit/escape using <ESC>, <CTRL>-<BREAK>, <CTRL>-C s = disable Skip drive g = disable Goto File Finder/Grouper 33 (c) EnGamma Configuring FFG DOS environment variables can be used to set FFG configuration preferences to avoid having to type them in as command line options each time FFG is run. Say for example, you want to always use 50-line video mode (/v5), packed output format (/fp), and pause when the screen fills (/p). To do this, set the desired options in an environment variable ("FFGOPT" by default). Options are saved in the "FFGOPT" environment variable using the DOS "set" command as follows: set FFGOPT=/v5 /fp /p FFG will then use the options specified in the environment variable as though they were typed on the command line before any other command line parameters. To continue with the above example, if you then ran FFG as follows: ffg c:*.bat it would be equivalent to having typed: ffg /v5 /fp /p c:*.bat Although any command line argument can be set in the FFGOPT environment variable, the following options are the most likely candidates, since they are preference items: /b, /f, /h, /p, /q, /r, /v, /z, /:, /! The best time to set the environment variable is at system startup, which is done by including a "set FFGOPT=" command in AUTOEXEC.BAT. If desired, the environment variable can be reset (changed) later using the set command. Microsoft Windows Note: If you set an environment variable from within a DOS window running under Microsoft Windows, the environment variable is set/changed only for that particular window. The name of the environment variable is actually not fixed at "FFGOPT"; instead it is composed of the name of the executable program, "FFG" by default, followed by the fixed "OPT", hence "FFGOPT". You can use this to your advantage to have differently configured versions of FFG by copying FFG.EXE to new names and setting associated OPT variables, such as: set FFG50OPT=/v5 for FFG50.EXE set FFGPOPT=/p for FFGP.EXE set GOOPT=/g /qm /bd for GO.EXE File Finder/Grouper 34 (c) EnGamma Bugs/Known Deficiencies/Future Improvements 1. Further date options are planned such as /dLASTYEAR 2. A combined date-time option is planned (e.g., /t12/1/93@13:47-) 3. A more general way of specify logical expressions of search criteria is planned, which will allow mixing and matching different criteria in arbitrary boolean expressions. 4. An option to use regular expressions for text searches or name searches or both is planned. 5. There is currently no way to use the "=' character in the FFGOPT variable. File Finder/Grouper 35 (c) EnGamma Miscellaneous 1. Interactive Keys - During a search the following keys have a special function: <ESC> - Aborts/interrupts the search <G> - Goes to the disk and directory of the last found file. If searching for directories, the found directory will be made current. <S> - Skips to the next disk drive <B> - Causes a beep when search complete <UP> - Skip to next directory in parent of this one <DOWN> - Skip to deeper directory (first subdirectory of this one) <RIGHT> - Skip current file. any other key - Pauses the search operation 2. Speed - A powerful and common use of FFG is find all files that contain a specified text string (and then maybe do something to/with them). However, opening each file on the disk and searching its contents is much slower than finding files based on their external properties such as name, date, time, size etc. If the files to be searched are compressed within an archive file, the search is slower still. With a little forethought on your part, FFG's true power can be brought to bear and such searches can be conducted quickly. The key to speeding up such searches is for you to also specify some additional filtering criteria based on the files' external properties. If you do this, FFG will filter out files before applying the slower archive extraction and text searching. For example, you could filter out all executable files and graphic files, exclude files with the system attribute set, very large (> 1 MB) files, very old files etc. In fact, some defaults have been set up for /x, /s, /a, /$ specifically to facilitate excluding files that are probably not of interest in a text search. These defaults are as follows: /x = /x*.[zoo,arc,arj,lzh,zip,bmp,gif,obj,ovy,drv,dll ,com,exe] /s = /s1-1M (excludes empty and very large files) /a = /a!s (excludes system files) /$ = /$=!=#2MZ (excludes files with executable signature at beginning of file) For example, rather than use: File Finder/Grouper 36 (c) EnGamma FFG *:* /z /$"text to find" you might try something like the following: FFG *:* /z /$ /$"text to find" /d95- /s /a /x 3. Status Meter - While searching, FFG displays one of two possible status meters (set with /fm[s|p]): a. The full status meter, which is the default, shows the directory file being searched, the archive file (/z), and the file being scanned for text (/$) along with percentage scanned. Here is an example: D:\PARENT\SUBDIR\[ARCHIVE.ZIP]TEXTFILE.TXT 58% b. Alternatively, the simple spinning meter can be used (/fms) which displays the drive currently being searched and indicates progress with a spinning run meter. The spinning meter is updated one increment each time a new directory or a new archive file is searched. When the meter slows, it is indicative of either a directory with many files or an archive file. 4. Summary Report - FFG displays a summary report of the search operation. It includes: - Total bytes inside all found files. - Disk space occupied by found files including unused space due to the disk cluster/block size. For files in an archive, the reported disk space occupied by files within that archive is limited to the size of the archive. - Number of directories searched. - Number of directories in which files were found - Name/Date/Time/Size/Attribute/Text criteria used - Starting directory for search if not root directory - Directory mask if wildcards used in directory spec - Number of archive files searched - Number of archive files in which files were found - Number of files that could not be extracted from archives. - Number of files scanned for text. - Number of files that could not be scanned for text. - The elapsed time from the start of the search. 5. Setting a Temporary Directory - FFG needs to use a temporary directory for text-search archive extracting File Finder/Grouper 37 (c) EnGamma (when /z and /$ are used together) and for swapping its program to disk during a /e execute command (only if there is insufficient EMS/XMS). If you set an environment variable, FFGTMP, to a valid path to which you can write files, then FFG will use it. If not, FFG will look for a TEMP environment variable and then a TMP environment variable. If none of these are set to a valid path with sufficient space, FFG will then try C:\ and finally the current directory of the current drive. Ideally, you should have one of the above environment variables set to a directory on your fastest drive that has enough space to hold about 250K plus the largest file you might extract from an archive. If you use a RAM drive, which is best for speed, make sure it is large enough. If you use a network drive, make sure you have access rights to write files to that directory. Here's an example of how to set the temporary directory in AUTOEXEC.BAT: set FFGTMP=C:\temp 6. Microsoft Windows - Although not required, there is a Windows PIF file in the FFG package which is set up to run FFG from within Windows. If you create your own PIF file, allow use of EMS and/or XMS memory for optimal performance. 7. Logical Combination of Search Criteria - Currently, search criteria of different types (e.g., size and date are different types) are combined in a logical AND expression. That is, for a file to match it must match all criteria. However, within a single command line option of one type (e.g., /d), multiple comma-separated criteria are combined in a logical OR expression. 8. One Floppy Systems - When a floppy drive is specified to be searched (e.g., ab*:FILENAME or ab:FILENAME or a:FILENAME or b:FILENAME), FFG will search the system's only floppy drive regardless of whether one or both floppies were specified. The summary will report whichever logical drive letter DOS was using at the time to refer to the drive. (This might be B: if prior to running FFG you tried accessing drive B:.) 9. FFG can be renamed. FFG will recognize the new name and display it in the usage screen if you are using DOS 3.0 or later. Note that the FFGOPT environment variable is valid only for FFG.EXE. If, for example, you rename FFG.EXE to F.EXE, then the corresponding environment variable must be FOPT, not FFGOPT. (You can use this File Finder/Grouper 38 (c) EnGamma feature to have different configured versions of FFG.) 10. Conventions - Several options attach special significance to '!' and to '.'. Generally, '!' is used to represent "negation"/"logical not"/"turn off". Generally '.' is used to represent "only"/"these period"/"no others". The '=' symbol will be used as a general purpose 'escape' character to indicate that the subsequent character or characters are to be treated differently than normal. For example, '=c' is used to indicate case-sensitivity in a text search. 11. Return Codes - Upon completion of an error-free search, FFG returns 1 if a file was found and 0 if no files were found. The DOS errorlevel batch command can be used to test for this return value. A few of the example batch files make use of this feature. 12. Commas and batch files - As shown in several of the example batch files, FFG can be used in batch files to build some special or general purpose utilities. However, there is an annoying problem with encapsulating FFG in a batch file that arises because of the use of the comma ',' as a delimiter for search criteria. The problem arises because when a comma is used in an argument to a batch file command, DOS interprets it just like a space and it is not passed on to FFG. To sidestep this problem, FFG accepts alternatives to the comma as follows: For Name criteria (including /x option) you can use a slash "/" instead of the comma. For date, time, size, day-of-week, attribute, and text criteria, you can use a single quote "'". Note that there is no problem using commas inside a batch file; the problem arises when including commas in a command line argument to a batch file. 13. Use of spaces in command line options - Generally spaces and semicolons are not allowed because they are interpreted as separators between the command-line options. To enable spaces to be used, where legal, you can enclose either the entire command line option (including the slash/dash and the switch character) in double quotes or enclose only the part with spaces. For example, use "/$Find this in a file" to find the string "Find this in a file". Note that any of the following File Finder/Grouper 39 (c) EnGamma alternatives would work: a. "/$Find this in a file" b. /$"Find this in a file" c. /$Find" this in a file" d. /$Find" this in a "file e. /$Find" "this" "in" "a" "file 14. Option Switches - Options can be specified using either '/' or '-' as command line switch characters. 15. Case Sensitivity - FFG is not currently case sensitive, but future releases may distinguish letter case as new features are added. Use of lower case letters is recommended. 16. Design - FFG is packed with different features and options, but it designed with the principle when using basic features, you should not be encumbered with the complexities of advanced features. In fact, even internal design follows this approach for performance. For example, if you specify a simple file specification that DOS can handle (e.g., *.BAT), FFG lets DOS handle it, which results in a quicker search. 17. FFG was developed using Borland C++ 3.1. File Finder/Grouper 40 (c) EnGamma System Requirements Operating System/Environment FFG requires DOS version 3.1 or later. FFG will also run under Microsoft Windows in a DOS window. Video Although not required, if the system has EGA or VGA video, FFG will be able to display more lines of information on the screen at once using the /v (Video) option. System Memory FFG uses Borland's VROOMM (Virtual Runtime Object-Oriented Memory Management) feature to provide many features while making most efficient use of system memory. Expanded memory (EMS) and/or extended memory (XMS) is used, if detected, to improve performance. During execution of commands with the /e option, FFG will swap itself (all but about 6 KB) to EMS, XMS, or disk to maximize the amount of memory available to the program being executed. With low system memory FFG will still operate, but performance may be degraded and some infrequent operations may not be possible. If there is low conventional memory, but sufficient expanded memory, there may be no noticable performance degradation. In any case, if low system memory is detected, FFG displays a warning message: WARNING! Low memory. Program may operate slowly and/or terminate prematurely. FFG requires a minimum of about 135K of conventional system memory. Performance and feature availability is maximized when there is greater than approximately 190K of conventional memory. If during operation, FFG is unable to obtain sufficient memory to continue, it will terminate with the message: ERROR! Insufficient memory to continue. If there is insufficient memory for FFG to execute, one of the following error messages will appear depending on the available memory: Cannot Execute FFG.EXE Abnormal Program Termination ERROR! Insufficient memory. 130K of available conventional RAM required File Finder/Grouper 41 (c) EnGamma File Finder/Grouper 42 (c) EnGamma