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Text File | 1993-02-15 | 22KB | 566 lines

                       I Just got a Computer and I'm Lost

                                  Finding Files

                                 By Ken Johnson

        This month we'll look at some DOS commands and techniques to find
        and  manage files in various subdirectories.  Let's start with  a
        way to see the subdirectory structure itself:  the TREE command.

        TREE (DOS 4.0 & 5.0)

        An excellent command for viewing the directory structure of  your
        hard  disk  is  TREE.  TREE will display a  graphical  "tree"  of
        directories,  and optionally displaying the files in each  subdi-
        rectory.   Though the TREE command has been available  since  DOS
        2.0,  in versions before 4.0 it only prints the  directory  names
        instead of a graphical display.  The format of the command is

             TREE [d:][path] [/F] [/A]

        where

        [d:] is the optional drive to display.

        [path] is the optional path to display at the "top" of the  tree.
        If a path is not specified, DOS will use the default directory as
        the topmost directory to diagram.

        [/F]  will show the names of all non hidden files in each  direc-
        tory, beneath the directory name.

        [/A]  will display (and print) the output with  regular  keyboard
        characters  rather than the high-ASCII box draw  characters,  for
        example | and + instead of   and  .

        Here  is the output of TREE C:\, displaying the hard disk  direc-
        tory structure:

             Directory PATH listing for Volume HD 80 MEG
             Volume Serial Number is 16CF-7D4E
             C:\
             /-- 123FILES
             |--\CCS
             |  \--  DATABASE
             |-- DOS
             |-- DOSHELP
             |-- PCTOOLS
             |--\PDOX35
             |  |--  KMEMO
             |  |--  MBP
             |  |--  PDOXDATA
             |  \--  UTIL
             |-- PROCOMM
             |-- QEMM
             |--\UTIL
             |  |--  POWERUP
             |  \--  INFOPLUS
             |--\WINDOWS
             |  \--  SYSTEM
             |-----  TEMP
             |-----  WINUTIL
             |--\ZIP
             |  |--  ARC
             |  \--  LHA
             \-  STACKER

        Since  it  is likely that the tree display will  scroll  off  the
        screen,  you  may want to redirect the output of TREE  into  DOS'
        MORE filter.  The MORE filter will take input from a file or from
        the  output  of another command, and display it one screen  at  a
        time.   At  the bottom of each screen, you'll see a  "--More  --"
        prompt.  Press any key to continue and display the next screen.

        DOS has several symbols used to redirect input and output.  These
        include:

             >    "With output to" --redirects output into a new file.
                  The arrow "points" to the file receiving the output.
             >>   "Appending output to" --redirects output into a file
                  and appends to the end of the file if the file already
                  exists.
             <    "With input from" --redirects the contents of a file
                  (or keystrokes from the keyboard) as input into a
                  program.  The arrow "points" to the program receiving
                  the input.
             |    "Piping to" --sends the output of one program into
                  another program as input.  The "flow" goes left to
                  right.

        To  send the output from the TREE command into the  MORE  filter,
        use the pipe symbol (|) like so:

             TREE C:\| MORE

        TREE's  output will be "piped" into the MORE program, which  dis-
        plays it one screen at a time.

        Better yet, if you have the LIST program you can redirect  TREE's
        output into that program for viewing.  The advantage of using the
        LIST  program is that you can page up and down through  the  dis-
        play; the MORE filter doesn't allow you to scroll backward.   You
        can  also print from LIST.  When using redirection, use with  the
        "/S"  switch  to tell LIST that it is browsing  redirected  input
        rather than a file:

             TREE C:\| LIST /S

        You can also send the TREE output directly to your printer for  a
        hard  copy, by redirecting the output to the printer  port.   Use
        the DOS reserved name for the first parallel port, PRN:

             TREE C:\> PRN

        If your printer cannot print the high ASCII line draw characters,
        use the "/A" switch to print with standard characters:

             TREE C:\/A > PRN

        You  can save the TREE output in a file, for editing or  incorpo-
        rating into a document.  To do so, just redirect the output to  a
        file, here called TREE.LST:

             TREE C:\> TREE.LST

        If  you have two hard drives, you can append the output from  the
        second drive's TREE to the same file by using the double greater-
        than signs:

             TREE C:\> TREE.LST
             TREE D:\>> TREE.LST

        If  you want a listing of the files on the TREE display, use  the
        "/F"  switch.  Under each subdirectory branch, DOS will  print  a
        one-column list of all non hidden files in that directory.   Here
        is an abbreviated sample from my hard drive:

             Directory PATH listing for Volume HD 80 MEG
             Volume Serial Number is 16CF-7D4E
             C:\
                 OPT3.BAT
             |   D5MACROS.BAT
             |   ATDOSXL.SYS
             |   AUTOEXEC.QDK
             |   AUTOEXEC.BAT
             |   AUTOEXEC.DOS
             |   AUTOEXEC.KEJ
             |   CONFIG.000
                 CONFIG.SYS
             :     (etc.)
             :
                 CCS
             |       $EDUC.ZIP
             |   |   BBS-HELP.ZIP
             |   |   BOARD15.WP5
             |   |   BULLET14.WP5
             |   |   BYLAWS90.CCS
             |   |   EDBUDGET.WK1
             |   |   OPCHAIR
                       (etc.)
             :   :

                     DATABASE
             |   |       ADDRESS.DB
             |   |       ADDRESS.PX
             |   |       DO-SKDB.SC
             |   |       JUNK.DB
             |   |         (etc.)
             |   |
             :   :
        While  TREE gives you a good look at the subdirectory  structure,
        it's  not great help with seeing file information and in  finding
        particular  files.  Let's take a common case:  it's  likely  that
        your hard drive is littered with .BAK files: Backup files created
        when  editing.  Usually you don't need to keep these around,  and
        they have a real tendency to proliferate.  Since they are  likely
        to be in subdirectories all over the disk, it would be helpful to
        be  able to see them all at once.  Let's look at ways to do  just
        that.

        DIR /S (DOS 5.0)

        One  significant new feature is the "/S" switch, which tells  DOS
        to  do  the DIRectory display in the default  directory  and  all
        child  subdirectories.  This means that, executed from  the  root
        directory, DIR can search the entire disk.

        To see all the backup files, use "*.BAK" as the filespec for  the
        DIR command.  "*.BAK" will get us those files with any file  name
        and an extension of BAK.  So the command:


             DIR C:\*.BAK /S


        will display (on my disk):


              Volume in drive C is HD 80 MEG
              Volume Serial Number is 16CF-7D4E

             Directory of C:\

             AUTOEXEC BAK      1697 05-06-92   9:29p
             CONFIG   BAK       578 06-14-92  10:33a
             D5MACROS BAK       650 06-03-92   9:15p
             MIRROR   BAK    100864 05-03-92  11:38a
                     4 file(s)     103789 bytes


             Directory of C:\123FILES
             COMMANDR BAK     13745 01-30-92  10:12p
             DPR155   BAK     17642 09-15-91   3:02p
             DPR161   BAK      9336 11-03-91  12:47p
                     3 file(s)      40723 bytes


             Directory of C:\PCTOOLS

             README   BAK      3840 09-08-90  10:13p
                     1 file(s)       3840 bytes
             Directory of C:\PDOX35

             INIT     BAK      4831 01-26-92   2:50p
             PDOX     BAK       642 11-07-91   6:58p
             PQ       BAK        43 03-09-92   6:49p
             RETAIL   BAK       524 01-26-92   2:52p
                     4 file(s)       6040 bytes

             Directory of C:\PDOX35\KMEMO

             KMCONFIG BAK        40 02-06-91  11:31a
             MACRO    BAK       132 03-16-91  10:28p
                     2 file(s)        172 bytes

             Directory of C:\PROCOMM
             CCS      BAK       616 07-17-91   4:35p
             CSERVE   BAK      1539 09-06-91  10:15p
             DIALCOM  BAK       442 02-11-91   6:12p
             SHELL    BAK       779 06-15-92  12:35p
                     4 file(s)       3376 bytes

             Directory of C:\UTIL

             ARTICLES BAK      1154 05-26-92   7:48p
             CHERYL   BAK       163 01-26-92  10:55a
             RUN-G5   BAK       109 05-26-92   5:34p
             TRAINING BAK       546 03-30-92   7:47p
                     4 file(s)       1972 bytes

             Directory of C:\WINDOWS

             DRWATSON BAK      6462 04-25-92  11:14a
             SYS-PM   BAK      1307 12-23-90   7:21p
             SYSTEM   BAK      1353 04-11-92   6:34p
             WIN      BAK     11292 04-26-92   4:14p
                     4 file(s)      20414 bytes

             Total files listed:
                    26 file(s)     180326 bytes
                                 22211275 bytes free

        Again, if the list of files scrolls off the screen, use the  MORE
        filter:

             DIR C:\*.BAK /S | MORE


        or redirect into the LIST program:

             DIR C:\*.BAK /S | LIST /S

        This   DIR  display  includes  quite  a  few  blank   lines   and
        header/footer  information that you may not really be  interested
        in. It's also a little hard to read, since once you find the file
        name, you have to look up a few lines so find the path name (that
        is, what subdirectory the file is in).  Fortunately there is a
        good solution, via the "/B" switch.

        The  "/B" (Bare) switch tells DIR not to display the  header  and
        footer information, and display only the filename (no file  size,
        date, or time).  When used with the "/S" switch, DIR will display
        the full path name with the file name --in other words, the  full
        filespec.  So to see a more readable display, try:

             DIR C:\*.BAK /S/B

        which produces:

             C:\AUTOEXEC.BAK
             C:\CONFIG.BAK
             C:\D5MACROS.BAK
             C:\MIRROR.BAK
             C:\123FILES\COMMANDR.BAK
             C:\123FILES\DPR155.BAK
             C:\123FILES\DPR161.BAK
             C:\PCTOOLS\README.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\INIT.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\PDOX.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\PQ.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\RETAIL.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\KMCONFIG.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\MACRO.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\CCS.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\CSERVE.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\DIALCOM.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\SHELL.BAK
             C:\UTIL\ARTICLES.BAK
             C:\UTIL\CHERYL.BAK
             C:\UTIL\RUN-G5.BAK
             C:\UTIL\TRAINING.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\DRWATSON.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\SYS-PM.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\WIN.BAK

        Again, for a long list of files, use the MORE filter or  redirec-
        tion into the LIST program:


             DIR C:\*.BAK /S/B | MORE
             DIR C:\*.BAK /S/B | LIST /S

        ATTRIB /S (DOS 3.3+)

        If you don't have DOS 5.0 but do have version 3.3 or 4.0, you can
        use another command to search through subdirectories --ATTRIB.

        The ATTRIB command is used to view and optionally change (depend-
        ing  on the DOS version) four of a file's attributes.   The  four
        attributes are Hidden, System, Archive, and Read-Only.  DOS 5.0's
        ATTRIB  includes the "/S" switch to search the current  directory
        and  all  child subdirectories.  The full format  of  the  ATTRIB
        command is:

             ATTRIB [+A] [+R] [+H] [+S] [filespec] [/S]

        where:

        [+A]  turns on (+) or off (-) the Archive attribute (DOS 3.2  and
        above).

        [+R] turns on (+) or off (-) the Read-Only attribute (DOS 3.0 and
        above).

        [+H] turns on (+) or off (-) the Hidden attribute (DOS 5.0).

        [+S] turns on (+) or off (-) the System attribute (DOS 5.0).

        [filespec] is the optional filename; if not included, ATTRIB will
        act upon every file in the directory (*.*).

        [/S] specifies to act upon files in the current directory and all
        child subdirectories

        So to display all the .BAK files on the C: drive, use:

        ATTRIB C:\*.BAK /S

        to produce:

                          C:\123FILES\COMMANDR.BAK
                          C:\123FILES\DPR155.BAK
                          C:\123FILES\DPR161.BAK
                          C:\PCTOOLS\README.BAK
                          C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\KMCONFIG.BAK
                          C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\MACRO.BAK
                          C:\PDOX35\INIT.BAK
                          C:\PDOX35\PDOX.BAK
               A          C:\PDOX35\PQ.BAK
                          C:\PDOX35\RETAIL.BAK
                          C:\PROCOMM\CCS.BAK
                          C:\PROCOMM\CSERVE.BAK
                          C:\PROCOMM\DIALCOM.BAK
               A          C:\PROCOMM\SHELL.BAK
               A          C:\UTIL\ARTICLES.BAK
               A          C:\UTIL\RUN-G5.BAK
                          C:\UTIL\CHERYL.BAK
               A          C:\UTIL\TRAINING.BAK
               A          C:\WINDOWS\DRWATSON.BAK
                          C:\WINDOWS\SYS-PM.BAK
               A          C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.BAK
               A          C:\WINDOWS\WIN.BAK
                          C:\CONFIG.BAK
               A          C:\AUTOEXEC.BAK
               A          C:\D5MACROS.BAK
               A    R     C:\MIRROR.BAK

        The spaces before each filespec is where the attributes for  each
        of  the individual files are displayed:  A S H R.  Just like  the
        examples  above, you can use the MORE filter, redirect  into  the
        LIST program, or output to the printer or a file.

        CHKDSK /V

        There  is  still  another way to find  files,  by  using  CHKDSK.
        You're  probably saying, "CHKDSK, that is for fixing  disk  prob-
        lems."  Well CHKDSK has a secret.  It can also display file names
        by  using the "/V" (Verbose) switch.  "/V" will display all  file
        names,  including hidden files.  In fact, before DOS 5.0,  CHKDSK
        /V was the only DOS command that would show hidden files.

        The full syntax for CHKDSK is:

                  CHKDSK [filespec] [/F] [/V]

        where

        [/F] tells CHKDSK to fix any disk problems it encounters.

        [/V] displays all filenames as it checks the disk.

        [filespec]  is  an optional path and file  name.   If  specified,
        CHKDSK will check if that file (or all files matching a  wildcard
        filespec) is stored in contiguous sectors on the disk.  Note:  if
        you use a filespec with the /V switch, CHKDSK will still  display
        ALL files on the disk.

        Using CHKDSK to find files is complicated because the output  may
        not  be in the format you expect.  CHKDSK /V will  display  files
        based  on  their physical order in the directory,  not  in  their
        "logical" subdirectory order.  This means that files in the  same
        subdirectory  may  not  be listed together.   Also,  CHKDSK  will
        always go through the process of checking the entire disk  (which
        slows  getting  the output) and producing a report  on  file  and
        memory use.

        But  the  biggest problem with using CHKDSK /V to find  files  is
        that  it  displays all the files; you can't subset like  you  can
        with  DIR or ATTRIB.  The solution is to use another DOS  filter,
        FIND.   By "piping" the CHKDSK output into the FIND  program,  we
        can end with only the file names we're interested in.

        The  FIND program takes input and, line by line, tries to find  a
        specified  string.   If found, that line is output; if  not,  the
        line  is  dropped.  The specified string is put in  quotes.   The
        FIND syntax is:

                  FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/I] "string" filespec

        where:
        [filespec]  is the text file to search.  You can list  more  than
        one  filename, but wildcard filespecs are NOT allowed.   You  can
        also use redirection to specify an input file

        (e.g., < INPUT.TXT)

        or a file to output the result to

        (e.g., > FIND.LST).

        You can also "pipe" input into FIND.

        [string] is the string of text to find; it must be in quotes.

        FIND  is case sensitive unless you use the "/I" switch, which  is
        only available in DOS 5.0.

        [/V]  is a reverse find; FIND will only output lines that do  not
        contain the string text.

        [/C]  outputs  only a Count of lines containing the  string;  the
        lines themselves are not output.

        [/N] outputs the line Number before each matching line.

        [/I]  instructs  FIND to do a case Insensitive  search  (DOS  5.0
        only).

        In  our  example, we'll pipe (|) the output from CHKDSK  /V  into
        FIND,  and search for ".BAK".  Remember that DOS file  names  are
        always in capital letters:

             CHKDSK C: /V | FIND ".BAK"

        This produces:

             C:\123FILES\COMMANDR.BAK
             C:\123FILES\DPR155.BAK
             C:\123FILES\DPR161.BAK
             C:\AUTOEXEC.BAK
             C:\CONFIG.BAK
             C:\PCTOOLS\README.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\INIT.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\KMCONFIG.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\PDOX.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\PQ.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\RETAIL.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\CCS.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\CSERVE.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\DIALCOM.BAK
             C:\PDOX35\KMEMO\MACRO.BAK
             C:\PROCOMM\SHELL.BAK
             C:\UTIL\ARTICLES.BAK
             C:\UTIL\CHERYL.BAK
             C:\UTIL\RUN-G5.BAK
             C:\UTIL\TRAINING.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\DRWATSON.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\SYS-PM.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.BAK
             C:\WINDOWS\WIN.BAK
             C:\D5MACROS.BAK
             C:\MIRROR.BAK


        Unfortunately,  the list might still not be in a logical,  subdi-
        rectory  order.  Note in this example that two of the .BAK  files
        in  the  root are toward the top of the list and two are  at  the
        bottom.  But there is yet another DOS filter to come to our  aid,
        the SORT program.

        SORT  will take input and sort it line by line.  You can  specify
        the  starting sort position; otherwise SORT will begin  with  the
        first character.

        The syntax is:

        SORT [/R] [/+n] < infile [ > outfile]

        where:

        [infile]  is the filespec containing the input to sort.  You  can
        also  pipe  input into SORT, as well as pipe SORT's  output  into
        another program.

        [outfile] is the optional file to contain the sorted output.   If
        not  specified,  and if you don't pipe the  output  into  another
        program, SORT will output to the screen.

        [/R]  requests a Reverse sort; the input is sorted in  descending
        order (Z-A, then 9-0).

        [/+n]  specifies  to start sorting at the nth character  of  each
        line.   For example, if you wanted to start sorting on  the  10th
        character, you would specify /+10.

        So our command now becomes:

             CHKDSK /V | FIND ".BAK" | SORT

        Again,  if the display is too long we can continue the "pipe"  by
        redirecting  SORT's output into the MORE filter or the LIST  pro-
        gram:

             CHKDSK /V | FIND ".BAK" | SORT | MORE
             CHKDSK /V | FIND ".BAK" | SORT | LIST /S

        Since these commands are complicated and take a while to type in,
        they're  a good candidate for a batch file.  We'll look  at  that
        batch file next month, along with ways of deleting all these .BAK
        files now that we've found them.

               ===================================================


        Author Information:  Ken Johnson is Training and Support  Manager
        at  the  law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago.   He  is  a
        contributing  editor  to Hard-Copy, the Journal  of  the  Chicago
        Computer Society, and a contributing writer to the Lawyers Micro-
        Computer Users Group newsletter.



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