We provide a custom wildcard system which provides more flexibility
than either the DOS or Unix wildcard systems. You can select multiple
files from a directory using the following rules:
1) Multiple sets of filenames can be selected using ^
2) Each filename can contain 1 or more string tokens separated by *
3) Each * also stands for one character (or more)
4) Filenames which contain all individual tokens in the filename entered,
in the correct sequence will be selected
5) The index of an individual token in the filename selected cannot
be less than the index of that token in the filename entered
6) The length of the filename selected will always equal or exceed
the length of the filename entered
7) If * (or multiple *) is at the end, it
is ignored. However, the length of the filename selected
will equal or exceed the length of the filename entered
8) For exact filename search, use # at start of filename. This
ensures only one file with the exact name will be selected
9) To exclude filename(s), use ! at the start of filename. The
exclusion filename should be followed by at least one other token
separated by ^. The exclusion filename(s) should also be listed before
any normal filename ex: !.zip^* or !.zip^.txt or !.txt,!.zip,.htm,.gif
Consider a directory with the following files:
junk, test, temp, temp1, temp.txt, temp.htm, Test, Temp.txt, teeempju.txt,
activityLog.txt, debugLog.txt, test.zip, test.gif
Filename entered | Files Selected |
All files selected | |
* | All files selected |
te | test, temp, temp1, temp.txt, temp.htm,teeempju.txt |
ju | junk,teeempju.txt |
T | Test, Temp.txt |
.txt | temp.txt, Temp.txt, teeempju.txt, activityLog.txt, debugLog.txt |
te*htm | temp.htm |
te*emp | teeemp.txt |
te*htm^debug | temp.htm, debugLog.txt |
te*htm^te*emp^debug | temp.htm, teeemp.txt, debugLog.txt |
temp*.txt | No files selected (temp.txt is not selected per rule 5) |
*********** | teeempju.txt, activityLog.txt, debugLog.txt (per rule 6) |
est** | No files selected (test, Test are not selected per rule 6) |
est* | test, Test (per rule 6 and 7) |
#temp | temp (per rule 8) |
!.zip^* | All files except test.zip (per rule 9) |
!.txt^temp | temp,temp1,temp.htm (per rule 9) |