Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/c/cnews004.zip/FF.ZIP/FF.DOC

Text File | 1987-07-02 | 8KB | 177 lines

FF.EXE

Utility for use with MS/DOS or PC/DOS on IBM PC/XT/AT and compatibles.

Author: Bill Mayne
        9707 Lawndale Dr.
        Silver Spring, MD 20901
        [phone] (home: reasonable hours)
        [phone] (answering machine: 24 hours)

Copyright 1987.

Changes: June 30, 1987 (first release of source code):
   (1) Allow options to entered before or after pathname.
   (2) Accept option for filesize range selection.
   (3) Default path changed to root directory.
   (4) If no filename is given default set to all files in the
       current directory and its descendents (".\*.*").
   (5) Accept options to specify a range of date/time stamps, so only
       files with dates in the given range will be selected. Default
       beginning would be earliest possible date and ending the maximum
       possible date and time. DOS only supports dates Jan. 1, 1980 or
       later.

Permission is granted to the public to copy and use for non-commercial
purposes.  No compensation is requested, provided the program is not
sold for profit.  Registration is not required, but comments and
suggestions for improvements are welcome.  Anyone who modifies the
source code is asked to contact the author and, pending approval of the
changes, to include the old code and comments on the differences with
any copies distributed to others.

Purpose: Find files on a disk where filename and extent match a given
value, with wildcards allowed.  If a directory is specified, the search
is limited to the subtree beginning with that directory.  Displays
directory, filename, extent, size, date, time and attributes.  Selection
may be on the basis of attributes and file size as well as file names.
Output is to the console, but may be redirected or piped as usual in
DOS.

Syntax: FF [/options] [drive:][path\]filename[.ext]
    or: FF [drive:][path\]filename[.ext] [/options]

If only drive is given, with no directory part, the root directory on
that drive will be used.  (Not the current directory on the specified
drive, as with some DOS commands.)  If no file or path name is given,
the default is all files in the current directory and its descendents
(".\*.*").

Default options would be to traverse the entire subtree beginning with
the root or specified directory and to display only files which are not
hidden or system files.  The display would include the path to each file
along with the filename and extent.

Options:

/Smin:max - specifies range of file sizes to be selected, min thru max,
    inclusive. Max must be an unsigned decimal integer and have no
    leading blanks. Both min and max are optional. If max is omitted
    the separating colon should also be omitted. Default min is 0 and
    max is the largest long integer value.
/Yfrom:to - specifies date/time range to select files. "from" and "to"
    are in the form "YYMMDDhhmm". The range is inclusive, and the
    defaults are the minimum and maximum possible values. Each is
    optional, but if only "to" is given, the colon is required as a
    place holder. You can also specify only most significant part of
    either, e.g. omit the time if only the date matters, or omit
    everything after year if only the year matters. "/y8605:86" says
    to find files with dates from May thru December 1986.
/n - where n is a positive decimal integer (without sign) limits the
     depth of the search. 1=root or specified directory only,
     2=root or specified directory plus first level of sub
     directories, etc. Default is the entire subtree. Subtrees are
     searched by recursion, so it is possible to run out of stack
     space if there is a very long path. The maximum length of a
     pathname plus the filename and extent is 127. The program has been
     tested with 16 levels of directories without running out of stack
     space.

/D - display each directory containing matched files on a line by
     itself, followed by one line for each file showing filename and
     extent (plus other data) without the directory part. Default is
     is to show the full pathname of each file, without a separate line
     for directories. If the options exclude files by attributes it is
     possible that a directory name containing matching files will be
     displayed, even though the matching files will be excluded from
     the display by their attributes.

Attribute specifiers:

  A = archive
  D = directory
  H = hidden
  S = system
  R = read only

May be used with:

/I - Include attributes. Use to specify D, H, or S, since these are
     not normally displayed.
/X - Exclude attributes. Do not display files with these attributes,
     even if they would be selected otherwise. Use to exclude A and R.
/R - Required attributes. Display only files having all of the
     specified list of attributes. If any of H, S, or D are required,
     they need not be specified with /I, since this is implied.
     Combinations such as "/ID/RH" are also supported, in which case
     both files and directories are shown only if they are hidden.

Options may be in upper or lower case and may be given either before or
after the filename part, but not both.  (Filename, if given must be
either the first or last argument, not in the middle.)  There should be
no spaces within an option specifier.  Spaces may be placed between
options, but are not required. The volume id attribute is not supported.

Examples:

  (1) FF *.BAT
      Show all .BAT files on current disk.
  (2) FF /XA *.*
      Show all normal files on current drive which do not have the
      archive attribute set.
  (3) FF /RD A:\*
         or
      FF /RD A:*
      Show all directories on the A drive.
  (4) FF /RHS \UTIL\*.*
      Show all files in the directory UTIL on the current drive which
      are have hidden and system attributes.

Background:

This started out to be a simple replacement for the Norton Utilities
FF.COM, which I do not know well but have seen on some other people's
systems. Some of the shortcomings I saw may be my lack of knowledge of
Norton's version, but I decided to write my own for the following
reasons:

(1) I didn't have a licensed copy of the Norton Utilities for each
    system where I wanted to use this function. Being a programmer
    myself and knowing how much work goes into software I was not
    willing to use pirat copies.

(2) I found I couldn't interrupt the Norton Utilities with CTRL-C except
    when it found a file to display.  Often I would have found what I
    wanted, but had to wait for the utility to finish its search before
    regaining control.  (Setting BREAK ON would get around this, but I
    do not normally run with BREAK ON.)  In this version, I test CTRL-C
    at the start of each new directory, so even if it contains no
    matching files execution is immediately stopped.  (When files are
    found CTRL-C will work anyway, even the in middle of the directory
    since console output is taking place.)

Other added features include:

(1) Searching a given subtree rather than the entire disk and optionally
    restricting the depth of the search.

(2) Presenting file names in the form of DOS names, with directory
    (optional) and a dot (and no blanks) between name and extent.
    This is more convenient for some intended uses where the output
    is redirected to a file and used to create .BAT files or read and
    used by .BAT file replacements such as Personal Rexx.

(3) Selection on the basis of attributes and displaying attributes.

(4) Selection on the basis of file size (/S option.)

(5) Selection on the basis of file date and time (/Y option.)

Disclaimer: This program has been tested and is free from known defects,
but the author assumes no responsibility for consequential damages
arising from the use of this program.  Anyone discovering a defect is
requested to contact the author.

Source language is Microsoft C, version 4.0.
Small memory model is used.