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1990-03-05
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March 5, 1990
File Sleuth v1.1
Copyright (C) 1990
By Derrick Burgess
Purpose:
Search a list of files and then display a list of
all matches to user specified string. Including AND
and OR logic.
(This program compatible with allfiles lists from most
major BBS programs - While PCBoard is the intended
program supported, many others are supported such as
Wildcat!, QuickBBS, Pheonix, Gap, etc... It also is ideal
for searching BBS phone number lists that include information
about each board...You could then search for your type of
modem, bbs software and location all in one search)
I'm sure you're aware of how to find files of interest when you log
onto PCBoard Bulletin boards. One of the best and easiest ways to
find files is with the Zippy scan feature of PCBoard. What this does
is scan the file lists for a matching string and then display all the
files with the search string in them. The disadvantage to this type
of search is that it 1) Must be done online, and 2) Can be quite slow
if the bbs is not running on a '386 machine. There is a way to do a
scan for files offline, and this requires that you download and
Allfiles list from the bbs. Most bbs's have this list available as a
Zip file or Self-Extracting Zipfile. The disadvantage to these files
is that once you get this file, there is not a very good way to
search it. Oh, there are many workarounds such as Norton's Text
Search, but that only shows a few lines and could even miss the
filename or the entire description. Many use a text editor, a text
editor comes very close to being ideal for this type of scan except
for a couple of serious drawbacks, which are if the allfiles list is
larger than available memory, or if you would like to see all the
matches one screen. Which brings us to the point of FileSluth.
FileSluth was written to overcome all the drawbacks of the offline
Scan for files and include many features that enhance the use of such
a program. Some of the reasons that make FileSleuth the only way to
zippy scan offline are
1) Faster than the PCBoard implementation
2) Handles multi-line Prodoor descriptions
3) Allows multi search strings (ie. ARC and ZIP
in the same description)
4) Allows wildcards to search several files
(such as *.LST or C:\BBS\*.LST)
5) Can keep a log of the search to either a file
or the printer. If the log file exists, the
log is appended to
6) Can be run in automatic mode, just specify a
string on the command line and the default bbs
list and defaul log file are used with no
prompt for input from the user.
7) Can change the default bbs file permanently
to the directory and files that you want to
search.
8) Can change the default log file permanently
from no log to a file or back to no log.
9) Handles file description lines that are greater
than 80 characters. Some bbs programs/sysops do
not include a return at the end of each line and
wrap to the next line, this is supported.
10) You can Abort a scan at any time
11) You can Skip a file if you change your mind
during a search that includes wildcards (* or ?)
in the filename.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you run it, it comes up with these possibilities.
Z Zippy Scan B Choose BBS list(s) to search
T Tag BBS list(s) to search
X Exit L Choose Log File ''
Search File(s): 'ALLFILES.LST'
If you want to scan the search BBS list, just hit Z and you will be
asked the text to search for.
B Choose BBS list
If you do not want to use the Default BBS list, but want a
different one, hit B and you will be asked for a new filename.
The filename can be any valid DOS name, and can include
wildcards, or be a Response File.
--------
@ Response File:
Another way to specify which files to search.
The @ response list
This is a file that you create that contains a list of the files
that you would like to search, one file per line including drive,
directory and extension. This file can be created with a text editor or
in DOS by...
C>Copy con Srch.Lst
\bbs\Grinder.Lst
\bbs\Lunacy.Lst
b:Offline.Lst
^Z (Control-Z)
1 File(s) Copied is the reply you should get if it worked, now to use
this list instead of wildcards or a single file, you need to always
precede it with a @ so you will be searching @Srch.Lst.
---------
T Tag Files to search
Similar to B Choose file to search, but this allows you tag only
a few files to search. It will ask for a drive and subdirectory,
such as C:\BBS but you may also add a mask to the end to use just
your allfiles lists to tag if you want C:\BBS\*.LST
Does not work with a @ response file.
All instructions on how to tag files are shown onscreen when they can
be used.
Z Zippy Scan
You are asked what you want to search for, this can be any string
containing any characters except &, |, and ~ which are special
commands to filsluth.
The ~ character should be used anytime that you want to search for
a space....If you want to search for a word and do not want it to
be inside another, you can put leading and trailing ~ on it.
ie. ~ARC~ will find only descriptions with ARC but not those
such as arcade, arcmaster, narc, etc....
You can do multiple searches at one time by combining strings with
the & and | commands
The & (AND) command specifies that both strings must be
found.... ie... ARC & ZIP searches for both ARC and ZIP
in the same File description
The | (OR) command specifies that either of the strings
around it are okay, but both are not necessary.
ie.... CONVERT & ZIP | ARC | LZH
would find any strings with the combination of Convert and
Zip, Convert and Arc, Convert and Lzh or any combination of
Zip, Arc, and Lzh.
One note: the | cannot be the first command, & must! There
must be one definite string first, but after that
you can mix & and | as much as you wish.
CONVERT & ZIP | ARC | LZH & ~01- | ~02- & -88 | -89
Convert And (Zip or Arc or Lzh) dated January or
February of either 1988 or 1989
Note: It is always best to put the least found string FIRST as the
program searches for the first string, and then only displays
the program if the rest of the search string is also found.
Another note on the Zippy scan used by FileSleuth. The search is
generally faster than that used by PCBoard. The reason for this is that
the program assumes that