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--------------------------------- SNiF - The ultimate file-finder Version 1.34 Copyright (c)1992 Written by Carl Declerck ---------------------------------- Introduction ------------ SNiF is a program that allows you to find files across one or more harddisks (floppies). It is operated from the DOS command line and offers many options which may affect the 'sniffing' (searching) of files. SNiF uses a method called Dynamic Parameter Parsing (DPP) to give the user optimum sniffing performance. This means that options may be dynamically set from command-parameter to command-parameter, thus affecting only those actual parameters in between! You will find that SNiF adapts itself automagically to your personal knowledge and experience in using the program. SNiF is as easy to operate as the DOS "dir" command. On the other hand, it is so powerful and versatile that a BBS sysop can do his complete daily maintenance under SNiF's control and supervision. Its uses and possibilities are unlimited! Running SNiF ------------ To start SNiF, you just type its name at the DOS prompt. When no parameters or options are given, SNiF will display some cryptic information on the options provided and their default values. The parameters which can be passed to SNiF are file-masks and options. File- masks are strings such as: *.BBS, BIMOD???.DOC, WIN.*, etc... any valid DOS wildcarded name. Options are strings such as: +d, -f, "+xdir &p&m", etc... Options provided ---------------- +aHSRA, -a Allows you to specify an attribute mask. Only files that have these attrs will be sniffed. Option -a disables attribute sniffing, it has the same effect as +aHSRA (ie. all attrs on). Valid attribute-identifiers are: H (Hidden), S (System), R (Read-only) and A (Archive). Any of these identifiers may be combined to make up the sniffing attribute mask. The order is of no importance. The default is -a. +bSTRING, -b This option is only useful when using a logfile (see further). It allows you to put in a commentline with the value of STRING. Note that when the +b option is set, all logged pathnames of files sniffed will be indented by 3 spaces, giving a neater layout. Option -b disables this indentation. Note that when STRING equals "INFO", additional file-info will be logged with each pathname. The default is -b. +c, +c1, -c Tells SNiF to ask for confirmations before executing a given command, or not. When just +c is used, SNiF will ask the user whether it should execute the specified +x command. Alternatively, when +c1 is used, SNiF displays the currently found file and prompts for a command to be entered. This command is subject to substitution just like the +xSTRING commands. The default is -c. +d, -d This option allows you to tell SNiF whether it should display the full pathname of any file that matches the given file-mask(s), or not. The default is +d. +e, -e Enables or disables the escape key whilst sniffing. The default is +e. +f, +f1, -f This option allows you to tell SNiF whether it should stop searching through the directories when a file matching the specified file-mask(s) is found. The +f option tells SNiF it should skip to the next directory when a matching file is found, the +f1 option tells SNiF it should stop sniffing immediately. The -f option tells SNiF it should just continue sniffing when matching files are found. The default is -f. +gSTRING, -g Allows you to snif for files that contain the STRING sequence of characters. This option is cumulative, this means you can specify multiple search-strings with multiple instances of +g. By default, searching for a STRING is case-insensitive. To make it case- sensitive, you precede STRING by a '!'. It is also possible to insert non-keyboard characters by giving their ASCII value in 2-digit hex-from, preceded by a backslash (ie. \XX). To escape the backslash itself, you simply use '\\'. Option -g clears ALL search-strings. The default is -g. +iSTRING, -i Tells SNiF to take subsequent options from a control file. STRING is the name of the control file to be used, it defaults to SNIF.CTL. When a +i option is issued SNiF will open the control file and use its contents as if they were passed as parameters on the command-line. When SNiF reaches the end of the control file, it just continues taking its parameters from the real command-line! This option is particularly useful for passing on variable lists of filemasks that should be sniffed for. The -i option may be used inside a control file to stop SNiF taking options from it. The default is -i. +kSTRING, -k This one allows you to specify a 'C-like' format-string for the logfile output. For each file sniffed this string will be logged, subject to the following substitutions: &f full pathname (incl. filename) of the file sniffed &p pathname only of file sniffed &n filename only of file sniffed &m currently active filemask &t sniffed file's creation time &d sniffed file's creation date &a sniffed file's attributes &s sniffed file's size in bytes It is also allowed to include hex-entries (\XX) in the format-string, like- wise to the +g option. The +k option is one of the more advanced features of SNiF... so for normal, standard logfile-info one might rather use the simpler +bINFO (or -bINFO) option! Option -k disables the format-string. The default is -k. +lSTRING, -l Tells SNiF whether it should log the full pathname of each matching file, or not. STRING is the name of the logfile to be used, if it doesn't exist, it is created, if it exists already, it is appended to. When the +l option is used with STRING omitted, STRING defaults to SNIF.LOG. However, if a +lSTRING option has been turned off with -l, and is later re-activited with just +l, the old value of STRING will be re-used! The default is -l. +m, +m1, +m2, -m This option is an _extremely_ powerful one; it allows you to build advanced exceptions using any criteria that SNiF supports (ie. not only filemasks, as +n option). Advanced exceptions are built just as you would build a set of criteria for normal sniffing, ie. you just specify the criteria which make up the advanced exception using the normal options... To start building advanced exceptions, issue the +m command. Any criteria or filemasks following this +m will be added to the advanced exception list. When the advanced exception list is built, and you want to activate it, issue the +m1 command and subsequently specify the criteria and filemasks you wish to snif for. For example: we wish to snif all files on the current drive, except all hidden .SYS files. This could be done with something like: SNiF +m +aH *.sys +m1 -a *.* We first turn on advanced exception building with +m, then specify the criterion for hidden-attribute sniffing and the *.sys filemask. Note that after having turned off building of advanced exceptions with +m1 (thus also activating it!), we still need to specify -a because we want to snif every file on the drive, not only the hidden ones! It is important to note that a +m1 instance does NOT turn off any criteria activated for advanced exceptions, we must do so separately! The +m2 option is similar to +m1, except that it also sets the Hidden attribute of all files in the advanced exception list. This may be useful when calling programs/commands that are passed wildcard parameters. When SNiF terminates or -m is issued, all +m2 Hidden files are restored to their original attribute. To disable advanced exceptions, -m must be issued. The default is -m. +nMASK, -n This option is a power-option of SNiF! It allows you to make exceptions in the files which should be sniffed for. MASK must be a valid wildcard. Any files that match the MASK wildcard will be ignored by SNiF. The +n options may be repeated to specify multiple MASKs. Note that MASKs should NOT include paths! If you want to have exceptions on paths as well, you should use advanced exceptions (option +m). The -n option turns ALL exceptions off. The default is -n. +o, -o Tells SNiF whether to use logical ORs or ANDs when dealing with each criterion list. Option +o will cause all criteria in the following criterion-instances to be OR'ed to make up the end-result for that criterion list (the OR is implicit). The -o option causes all criteria to be AND'ed. For example: SNiF +o +gbilbo +gbaggins *.txt will show all .TXT files containing the case-insensitive strings "Bilbo" OR "Baggins". Whereas SNiF -o +gbilbo +gbaggins *.txt would show only those .TXT files containing both "Bilbo" AND "Baggins". The default is +o. +r, -r Tells SNiF whether it should snif directories recursively or not. The default is +r. +s, -s The +s option tells SNiF to display some statistics on the actions it per- formed up 'till now. The -s option makes SNiF forget about all previously performed actions. The default is -s. +tSTRING, -t Allows you to specify an indefinite number of file creation-time criteria. Like +n, multiple criteria may be specified with multiple instances of +t. SNiF can handle two types of time criteria: absolute and relative ones. Absolute criteria are of the form: Thh:mm:ss where T is either E (equal to), B (before) or A (after), and hh:mm:ss is a time in hours:minutes:seconds, two digits per time-element MUST be given. So, option +tA20:12:16 means only files created after 20:12:16 will be sniffed. Relative criteria are of the form: Tnnnnn where T is either X (exactly), O (older than) or Y (younger than), and nnnnn is a number of minutes in decimal. So +tX45 means only snif files that are exactly 45 mins old. Option -t clears ALL stacked time-criteria. The default is -t. +uSTRING, -u Allows you to specify an indefinite number of file creation-date criteria. Like +n, multiple criteria may be specified with multiple instances of +u. SNiF can handle two types of date criteria: absolute and relative ones. Absolute criteria are of the form: Ddd/mm/yy where D is either E (equal to), B (before) or A (after), and dd/mm/yy is a date as day/month/year, two digits per date-element MUST be given. So, option +uB14/09/90 means only files created before 14th of september 1990 will be sniffed. Relative criteria are of the form: Dnnnn where D is either X (exactly), O (older than) or Y (younger than), and nnnn is a number of days in decimal. So +uO5 means only snif files that are (more than) 5 days old. SNiF also supports the American date-format, month-day-year. To use it instead of European format, dashes must be used to separate the date- elements. Ie: mm-dd-yy. Option -u clears ALL stacked date-criteria. The default is -u. +wXY, -w This option tells SNiF whether it should snif the whole system, or just the specified paths. If just +w is used, SNiF will search the whole currently selected drive. However, you can set the starting and ending drive (including floppies) by adding them to the +w option: The first letter corresponds to the first drive in the 'snif-range', the second letter corresponds to the last drive. If only a single letter is specified, it will correspond to the first drive. A special drive-letter is supported through the '@' character, it denotes the current drive. The default is +w@@. Any paths preceding filemasks override this default. +xSTRING, -x This is another power-option of SNiF: it allows you to tell it which DOS commands/programs it should execute when a file matches the given file-mask. Multiple commands/programs may be specified using multiple instances of +x. The commands/programs will be executed in the order they are given at the command-line (or in the control-file). Because DOS uses the SPACE character to separate its command-line into parameters, it may be necessary to surround the +x option with double-quotes " or square-brackets [ and ] when this contains any spaces. This will cause DOS to see it as a single parameter. The following character-sequences will be replaced by runtime-values when they are found in STRING and when a matching file is found: &f replaced by the full pathname of a matching file &n replaced by the filename (w/o extension) of a matching file &x replaced by the extension of a matching file's filename &p replaced by the path which a matching file resides in &m replaced by the currently active file-mask The -x option clears ALL stacked commands/programs. The default is -x. +zSTRING, -z This option allows you to set a filesize criterion. An unlimited number of filesize criteria may be set (memory-permitting, of course) by specifying multiple instances of the +z option (analogous to +n option). Only files whose filesize conforms to at least one of the criteria are sniffed. The value of STRING must be of the form "Onnnnnnn", where O is either E (equal to), L (less than) or G (greater than), and where nnnnnnn is the number of bytes to compare the filesize with (decimal). The -z option clears ALL stacked filesize criteria. The default is -z. Using SNiF ---------- When using SNiF, the user should know that the parameters are parsed dynamically, this means that all the various options can be turned on and off on the same command-line! For example, "SNiF +f1 *.exe -f *.com" will only snif for the first .EXE file to be found, but will snif for all .COM files. SNiF will exit with errorlevel 1 when at least one file was sniffed, otherwise it'll exit with errorlevel 0. Using control files to drive SNiF --------------------------------- With the +i option, you can instruct SNiF to take its options/parameters from a specified control file. Such a control file is plain vanilla ASCII text and can be created with your favourite text-editor. Lines in these control files may contain: - options, as at the command-line (ONE option per line!!!) - filemasks (preceded by paths) (ONE filemask per line!!!) - comments, preceded by a semi-colon ';' - nothing, ie: blank lines Note that it is no longer necessary to use quotes " or square brackets [ and ] to delimit strings inside control files. This restriction only applies to the command-line and the SNIF environment variable (see below). When the end of a control file is reached (when all options and parameters in it have been parsed/executed), SNiF will again continue to take options from the command-line. The SNiF environment variable ----------------------------- You can set up a DOS-environment variable called SNIF which will be parsed in the same way as the command-line or control files when SNiF starts up. This allows you to customize SNiF to your particular system needs. For example, you may want to set a different default sniffing range with +w, or change the default logfile-format using +k. Or you could even use +i to run 'default' control files. Anything is allowed! Some examples ------------- a) SNiF -d +f +wBF "+xdel &p&m" *.tmp Deletes all .TMP files on drives B: through F:. b) SNiF e:\windows\*.ini -r e:\*.com Shows all .INI files on drive E:, starting from directory \WINDOWS. Shows all .COM files in the root (only!) of drive E:. c) SNiF -d "+xcopy &f c:\backup\&n.bak" d:\tcpp\*.c +s Copies all .C files starting from drive D:'s \TCPP directory to drive C:'s \BACKUP directory, but with extension .BAK. Gives statistics on all performed copies. d) SNiF -d +w +nnot_this.txt "+xtype &f" *.txt Will type every .TXT file to be found on your system to the screen, except the NOT_THIS.TXT file! e) SNiF -d +wE +lgiflog.txt "+bList of GIF files:" *.gif -b +i Makes a logfile called GIFLOG.TXT of all GIF files, starting from drive E:, with logfile comment "List of GIF files:". Afterwards, it'll take subsequent options from SNIF.CTL. f) SNiF +n*.lzh +n*.zip +n*.arc -d "+xdel &f" e:\temp\*.* This will delete all non- .LZH .ZIP .ARC files on drive E:, starting from directory \TEMP. g) SNiF +w +aHS *.* -a "+xdel &f" +zE0 *.* +l -x -z +zG1000000 *.* Lists all Hidden System files, then deletes all 0-length files and finally logs all files which are over 1 meg in size. h) SNiF +m +zE0 *.* +m1 -z *.* Lists all non-0 length files on the current drive. Disclaimer ---------- You use SNiF at your own risk! I will not be held responsible for any possible loss of data or damage, caused to your system through the use of SNiF. You should be fully aware of the fact that SNiF can perform very powerful, yet extremely radical tasks! Forgetting to turn off a +xdel option may well be the cause of many a sleepless night, just to name an example. Limitations ----------- SNiF has been written to make the best use of available memory. However, as it is a kind of program that is expected to be fast, it is limited to 64Kb of work-space, ie. one data-segment in standard DOS. Therefore most strings used in SNiF have a limit of 128 or 256 bytes. This should be sufficient for most tasks you want it to do, but if you get a 'Memory allocation failed' error, you should write to one of the addresses listed below and I may recompile a version for a larger memory-model. This larger version will be slower though! Comments -------- SNiF is a freeware program, which means you copy and share it freely, as long as the program-code and this documentation is not modified. The program and docs were written by Carl Declerck, Copyright (c)1991-1992. Special thanx go to: Jan Meeremans. Beta-testing and bug-reports. Christophe David. Beta-testing, bug-reports and responsible for many of the great ideas behind SNiF's various features. Any supporting remarks or bug reports may be directed to the addresses listed below: Snail : Vrijgeweidestraat 24, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium (Voice: +32-15-432064) Netmail : 2:292/500.21510@fidonet.org Hope you enjoy using the program! The author, Carl Declerck.