World of Education/World of Education.iso/world_p/pcshx10b.zip/PCSHX10B.EXE/UTILS.EXE/UTILDOCS.EXE/FINREP.DOC

Text File | 1991-10-30 | 12KB | 259 lines

                   FINREP.DOC  DOS Version 1.0
                           05/26/86

Eric Gans
French Department, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024


     FINREP is a search/replace program that remedies most of the
deficiencies of Wordstar's ^QA and other similar commands.  Aside
from being faster, it has important additional features:

     - allows wildcards in search string
     - allows wildcard filename (find/replace in groups of files)
     - command-line entry allows easy inclusion in BAT files
     - allows entry of control or hex characters (0-FF)
     - can be used with object files (e.g., COM files)
     - sets  capitalization (first letter or whole word) and high
       bit of the last character according to the old string

This last feature means that,  for example,  if you are writing a
scenario where the characters' names appear sometimes in CAPS and
sometimes just Capitalized, you don't need two search/replaces to
replace one name with another: JOE will be replaced by HARRY, Joe
by Harry, and even joe by harry.

                              *****

Format: finrep [d:]fn [newfn] /[switches]/ oldstring [newstring]

(Enter "finrep" alone for a brief command summary.)

If a second filename is given, the changes will be placed in that
file;  if  not,  the  old filename will hold the changes and  the
original  file will be changed from fn.ft to fn.BAK  (unless  the
"B" switch is used).

Wildcards  (*,?) may be used anywhere in the filename;  if  there
are  wildcards in the filetype (after the ".") the B switch  will
be  set  automatically  to suppress creation  of  BAK  files.  If
wildcards are used,  a second filename cannot be entered.  If you
enter:

A>finrep urk*.doc // "blurk" "zap"

the files urk01.doc,  urk33.doc,  urktty.doc would be modified as
expected and files urk01.bak, urk33.bak etc. would be created.

The characters "//" must be entered even if no switches are used.

The switches are as follows:

B  =  no BAK file.  This switch disables making a BAK  file;  the
original  file  will be lost.  (Use only if you did not  enter  a
second filename.)

Q = allow wildcards in search string. (The program runs faster if
this  switch is not used.)  The various options for this  command
are described below.

V = verify replacement.   If this switch is used,  the context of
the search string will be displayed on the screen and you will be
queried  re replacement.   This switch cannot be used along  with
the O or H switches (see below).

O = Object file.  If this switch is used, the program will ignore
end-of-file  markers (1AH),  as in  COPY's /B switch.   Use   for
search/replace in non-text files.   WARNING: if you don't use "O"
with  a  non-text  file it will be cut off after the  first  1AH.
That's why FINREP makes BAK files!

H  =  keep High bit.  With this switch,  all bytes  are  searched
exactly  as they are;  letters with the high bit set will not  be
identified  with their standard ASCII  counterparts.

W = no Whole-word search.  This switch is used to search a string
whether  or not it is a whole word;  with it,  a search for "the"
will find "other", "their" etc.

NB  - The  program  defines a "word"  as  anything  preceded  and
followed  by  something other than a letter  (space,  punctuation
mark,  number, control character, beginning or end of file). Thus
this  switch  is not needed if the search string is a  series  of
words,  a  word  preceded  by a control  character  that  is  not
continguous to another word, etc.

C  = respect case.  This switch allows you to distinguish capital
from lower-case letters: in a search for "the", "The" will not be
found/replaced.  (NB: Upper case letters cannot be entered within
quotes; see below.)


In normal operation (with no switches),  the search will  include
whole words only; it will ignore case and high bits, but will set
the  new  string  to  correspond  to the  old  in  this  respect,
capitalizing the first letter or the whole string and setting the
high  bit  of the last as required.  This last  feature  is  only
useful if the replacement string is one word long; if it contains
more than one word,  you may set the high bits when you enter the
string,  or let your word-processor (e.g. Wordstar) do it. If you
include  capitals  in  your  replacement  string,  they  will  be
respected even if the find string is not capitalized.

If  you want to search for a capitalized word,  you must use  the
"C"  switch (or the "H" or "O" switch);  FINREP will give you  an
error message if you don't.

The last four switches are in the relation O > H > C
                                                 > W  ;
the "higher" switch includes the smaller.  Thus if the "H" switch
is used,  capitals and lower case will be distinguished,  and the
search will not be limited to whole words.

*****************************************************************

String entry:

The  find  and replace strings must be separated by a space  from
the switch entry and from each other.  Strings should be  entered
as follows:

ASCII     - in quotes: "blurk", "54%**90er @"

The following characters must NOT be placed between quotes:

HEX       - separate by commas: d,1A,cd,10,ff,3
CAPITALS  - between !!: !A!,!hello!
CONTROL CHARACTERS - preceded by ^: ^M,^m^j,^c,^C,^[,^^
WILDCARDS - ????, ?n (1 <= n <= 9) or ?* (indeterminate)
     The  "+" character is used to display a break in the replace
string (see below).

All ascii letters entered within quotes will be treated as  LOWER
CASE.  If  you  want  to search upper case letters with  the  "C"
switch,  or to put upper case letters in the replace string,  you
must  surround  them  with "!!",  unless you enter  them  as  hex
characters:  (A = 41, B = 42 ...).

Any  combination  of characters is  valid;  for  clarity,  groups
should  be separated by commas,  although this is only  necessary
for individual hex characters: !h!"ello",^m^j,e5,?7,32,!blurk!,^q
Quotes and !..!  must be closed.  To search/replace the quotation
mark,  enter it as a hex character ("=22h).   You can search  for
"!" if you keep it between quotes.

The  length  of the find/replace strings is limited to 30  bytes;
this  length  applies to the strings themselves and  not  to  the
keyboard entry,  which cannot exceed 127 bytes in all (blame  DOS
for  this).  Thus  ^j,cd,ff,3d is 4 bytes long.   In the case  of
indeterminate  wildcards,  up to 255 bytes are allowed,  but  the
limit of 30 still stands for the find/replace strings themselves.

If  you do not enter a replace string,  the  searched-for  string
will be replaced by nothing, i.e., deleted.

WILDCARDS
The wildcard search has a great deal of flexibility.  For obvious
reasons,  wildcards cannot appear at the beginning of the  search
string.  The options are as follows:

1. Simple wildcard search: all bytes of the search string will be
replaced.

finrep  zz.txt  /q/ "d"?2"e" "xxyz" will replace all  words  like
"done", "dare", "dove" etc. by "xxyz"  A maximum of four wildcard
groups are allowed in this form: thus "a"?"cd"?4"ijk"??"nopq"?"s"
is a permissible search string

2.  Simple wildcard search with break. Only one wildcard group is
allowed;  the  replace string is divided in two,  with the  first
part  replacing  what precedes the wildcards and the second  what
follows;  the  intermediate bytes are left alone.   The break CAN
appear at the beginning or end of the replace string to  indicate
that  the corresponding part of the find string is to be deleted.
A blank replace string (entered simply as: + ) will delete both.

finrep  xx.txt /qw/ "d"?2"e" "xx"+"yzz" will replace the  "d"  in
this  pattern  with "xx" and the "e" with "yzz";  "done"  becomes
"xxonyyz", "madame" -> "maxxamyxx", etc.  (This last example only
works if the "W" switch is used.)

3.  Indeterminate  wildcard  search/replace.   The  indeterminate
wildcard "?*" must be the only wildcard in the search string.  In
this  option  the  whole  string from the  beginning  to  end  is
replaced.   A  maximum of 255 characters will be allowed  in  the
search string; longer strings will not be found.

finrep  blurk.let  /qw/  "xy"?*"zq" "garbage"  will  replace  all
strings   beginning  and  ending  with  the  indicated   letters:
"xyrwerwerzq",  "xyuu  is  the nbrzq",  "xy ^C^Yzq" will  all  be
replaced by "garbage"

4.  Indeterminate  wildcard with break.  This is a very  powerful
option  that allows you,  for example,  to replace  PerfectWriter
"fences" with WordStar control toggles (& vice versa). Here again
only  one  wildcard group is allowed in the  search  string;  the
intermediate bytes are left unchanged.

finrep   zap.kkk   /qw/   "123"?*"45"  "6"+"789"   will   replace
"zz123blurk blurk xxxc oo45rr" by "zz6blurk blurk xxxc oo789rr";
finrep  perf.wri /qwc/ "@"!ux!"{"?*"}" ^s+^s will replace the  PW
underline fence @UX{ ...  } by WS's ^S ...  ^S  Note that the "C"
flag is used here to search for caps; if l.c. as well as caps are
acceptable,  it  could be omitted and the search  string  written
"@ux{"?*"}".   You  can delete the fences altogether by replacing
the ^s+^s by + in the last example.

One  user thought the word "break" was misleading and  should  be
replaced  by  "save," since the "+" in the replace  string  means
that  you  preserve the wildcard part of the  search  string.  In
other words:  finrep zap.txt /qw/ "<<"?*">>" will kill everything
between  the "<<..>>" whereas:  finrep zap.txt /qw/ "<<"?*">>"  +
will just kill the "<<>>" and "save" their contents.

FINREP  can be aborted at any time by typing <ESC>.

Except when the "V" switch is used, the only screen output is the
number of strings replaced and, if you use wildcards, the names &
total  number  of  files  processed.  If  you  want  to  see  the
replacement procedure in action, use a word-processor!

Notes:

1.  FINREP  will modify files of any length;  it uses the  entire
segment below  FF00H  as its buffer,  and writes to disk whenever
the  buffer  fills up.

2.  There  is no intrinsic limit on the number of  files  allowed
under the wildcard filename option;  for sanity's sake,  you will
get an error message if there are more than 255.

3.  If  you want to create a version of FINREP with some  of  the
switches preset,  run the program under DEBUG without a filename:
debug finrep.com /[sw1][sw2]/ and rewrite it when it  terminates.
This procedure  is  NOT  REVERSIBLE,  so  change the name  before
you write the file and keep  your  original  FINREP unchanged.

4.  In deciding whether to capitalize a whole word/string, FINREP
looks  at the first two letters.  If the find string has only one
letter,  only the first letter of the replacement string will  be
capitalized.   If   the   word  to  be   replaced   has   unusual
captalization (e.g.  BBrrOOOmm),  use the "C" switch and/or enter
separate replacement strings for different variants.

5.   In using indeterminate wildcards, you should usually use the
"W"  switch,  since  without it BOTH HALVES of the search  string
must  begin and end on word boundaries.   This is only likely  if
you are replacing whole words.

                              *****

FINREP  is  a  translation of  my CP/M program of the  same  name
(v2.2),  and in this first version at least has retained some  of
the  limitations of the original (no pathnames,  sector by sector
disk reads/writes).  Nonetheless, I haven't seen anything yet for
DOS  with the equivalent power and versatility.   Please  let  me
know  if you find bugs and/or if you can think of future areas of
improvement.