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P S E A R C H
-------------------------
Users Guide and Reference
-------------------------
Version 5.2B
July 1992
┌─────────┐
┌─────┴───┐ │ (tm)
│ │o │──────────────────
│ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of
│ │ │─┘ Shareware
└───│ o │ Professionals
────│ ║ │────────────────────
└────╨────┘ * Member *
Patri-Soft
(714) 352-2820 (Voice)
(714) 352-2825 (BBS)
(714) 352-1527 (FAX)
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 by Patri-Soft
Registering The Utilities
-------------------------
PSEARCH is distributed under the Shareware concept. This allows
users to evaluate software for a short time to determine if it
is useful to them. If you decide the software is of value to
you and decide to keep and use, you are required to register it.
This concept allows for quality software to be distributed at a
reasonable cost. Hundreds of hours of my time has been invested
in PSEARCH. Continued registration will justify the continued
upgrading of this utility to insure it remains up to date with
current technology. In any case, I do greatly appreciate all
users that care enough to register. I try to provide the best
possible software for all you faithful supporting users.
You may use the order form in ORDER.FRM when registering.
Send registration requests to:
Patri-Soft
5225 Canyon Crest Drive
Suite 71-358
Riverside, CA 92507
The registration charge is a one time fee that entitles you to
all future versions of the product. These may either be
obtained from normal Shareware sources or from me. I do not
automatically send product updates to registered users. It is
impossible to provide automatic upgrades at the low costs of
these utilities. If you would like to receive the next version
of the software, add an additional $15 to your order and
indicate on the order form you wish to receive the next update
version. You will be sent the next version along with an
optional order form to request subsequent releases.
Site licensing plans for one or more Patriquin utilities:
---------------------------------------------------------
Contact Patri-Soft for information
VISA / Mastercard / Telephone Registration
------------------------------------------
You may place a telephone order for the utilities using your credit
card by calling Nelson Ford's Public (Software) Library.
Telephone orders: 800-242-4775 or 713-665-7017
The PSL supplies Shareware software at a nominal cost to its
customers. Consider them for all your Shareware needs.
---- OR ------
You may call the Patri-Soft BBS and register online. The number
is (714) 352-2825 1200/14000 8-N-1. Fill out script 2 to place
your order. Credit card orders are also accepted through U.S. Mail.
REGISTRATION
------------
Patri-Soft provides full support to users, both registered and
non-registered. We provide support through several different way:
U.S. Mail - You may send us problem reports through
the mail. Any extended information that
you can provide is greatly appreciated.
(i.e. screen shots, the actual problem
file, etc).
Telephone - You may contact us at (714) 352-2820 to
discuss problems. However, extended
telephone support may be limited as the
circumstances require.
CIS - You may contact us on CompuServe
(76347,2477). This is usually the
fastest way.
FAX - You may FAX us problem reports and
orders at (714) 352-1527.
A BBS is in operation 24 hours a day to take your enhancement
requests and problem reports. The number for this is (714)
352-2825. (1200/14000 8-N-1). Extended access is provided to
registered users of the utilities.
Patri-Soft offers a money back guarrentee if you are not
satisfied with the software. Simply contact us with the reasons
of your dissatisfaction, and we will gladly refund your money.
We at Patri-Soft pride ourself on our user support. If for some
reason you feel that you have not gotten the service you
deserve, PLEASE let us know. We try to respond to ALL users
quickly and politely.
PSEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
PSEARCH Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Implementing PSEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PSEARCH Menu Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Main Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Text Search Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
File Name Search Option . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PSEARCH Output Data Display . . . . . . . . . 9
PSEARCH Command Line Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PSEARCH Command and Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Flex Filename Searching Control Characters . . . . 11
Exclude File . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Examples of /EX Parameter . . . . . 15
Examples of /X Parameter . . . . . . 20
PSEARCH Color and Monitor Support . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Pausing the Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
PSEARCH
PSEARCH is a generalized search facility for all PC users.
PSEARCH can search the current directory or all directories of an
hard disk for files or text in files. PSEARCH is not just
another search type command. It works with normal DOS command
parameters or with menus. This ensures that PSEARCH can be used
by anyone that uses a PC.
PSEARCH goes much further than just searching for data. Once
files are found, you can include file names in DOS commands which
can either be executed or placed in command files. This turns
PSEARCH into a very useful utility that can aid in many different
situations. For instance, if you want to print a selected group
of files based on how old they are, you can issue a print command
for each file using PSEARCH. Any DOS command may be generated and
executed based on the files identified in the search process. The
only limit to the use of this facility is your imagination.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
PSEARCH Features
List all files on a hard disk that match a wildcard
specification.
Show the names of any files containing specified text.
Replace found text with user-specified replacement text
Show text lines of any file containing a specified string.
Look for word "Mrs." in any file and preserve the case
during the search.
Find 123 files containing the word BUDGET and print their
name.
Compile all C programs that refer to the RECDESC.H include
file.
Find a word processing document containing the name
"Wiffle".
Delete any *.DOC files containing "To: Mr. Johnson".
Locate all READONLY files on a disk.
List all files updated today.
Build a DOS command to archive manually selected files from
one or more directories.
Search multiple drives attached to the system for text or a
file name.
Search for a file name, even if it has been archived into
.ZIP, .ARC or .LZH formats.
Limit text search to words, prefixes or suffixes. This
greatly enhances the search by returning only the data you
want.
Exclude files from the search process to greatly improve
search performance.
Implementing PSEARCH
PSEARCH may be executed directly from the DOS command line or you
may use menus to guide you through the process of entering search
specifications. Both modes use the same PS command name. PSEARCH
determines the difference in modes by the presence or absence of
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
command line parameters. When no command parameters are used,
the menu mode is used.
PSEARCH Menu Mode
To start PSEARCH using the menu mode, enter the PS command at the
DOS prompt and press <ENTER>. The following menu will be
displayed.
PSEARCH Main Menu
Select a menu option by positioning a highlight bar over the menu
item you want. Use the cursor arrow keys to move the highlight
bar, then press <ENTER> to start the action. Or you may select a
menu item by pressing the key corresponding to the first
character of the menu option. For example, press <F> to start a
file name search.
Main Menu Options
Text Search
Activates PSEARCH's text search facility. A menu will
be presented allowing you to enter specifications for
PSEARCH to use to search for data.
This option searches within files to find specific
text. It allows you to automatically scan you system's
disks to locate files containing specific data
contents. For example, you can find all files on the
system that contain the name "Jones".
Change Text
PSEARCH can locate text in files and replace with user-
specified text.
This option allows you to search multiple files for a
specific word, and substitute anther word in its place.
For example, you could search for "Mr. Jones" and
replace it with "Mr. Smith."
File Find
This option searches files on your system by the
contents of their file names.
The DIR command provided with DOS allows you to locate
files on your system only within a single directory.
When you have many directories and perhaps even
multiple hard disks, it becomes impractical to use the
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
DIR command to locate a file when you don't know what
directory it exists in.
PSEARCH Name Search can automatically search all
directories and all disk devices to find a specific or
pattern file name.
View
PSEARCH maintains a file which contains the information
found in the previous search. This file can be
reviewed by using the View facility. Scrolling through
the data shows the last 500 lines of the previous
search.
Help This option provides several pages of scrollable HELP
information. When you exit the help, you will be returned
to PSEARCH's Main Menu.
Exit to DOS
You may exit the PSEARCH menu mode by either selecting
this menu option or by simply pressing the <ESCAPE> key
from menu mode.
Upon exiting, PSEARCH will display how long it has been
active and provide a summary of its results.
Register
When you register the software with Patri-Soft, we will
send you codes which will register this version of
PSEARCH. Enter the information EXACTLY as Patri-Soft
has provided it to you.
Text Search Option
When you select the Text Search option from PSEARCH's Main Menu,
the Text Search panel is displayed, allowing you to enter
specifications indicating the data PSEARCH is to search for.
PSEARCH Text Search Entry Panel
See the PSEARCH command parameters section for a description of
all the parameters you may specify on this panel.
Enter the text strings as desired. PSEARCH will search for the
text exactly as you specify them. For example, if you want to
find the string "foo bar", enter that on text line 1. PSEARCH
will only display files that have the text "foo bar" appearing
exactly as it is now. If you wanted to find the word "foo"
and/or "bar", then you would enter "foo" in Text 1 and "bar" on
text 2.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
AND/OR logic may be toggled by pressing F7. Any combination of
AND/ORs may be used to find the text. For example, you can
search for:
Foo
-and-
bar
-or-
foz
You may specify how each search string must appear in the file.
If you would like to make sure that the case of the match exactly
matches what you have typed in, press F5. This alternates the
case sensitivity on and off.
You may also specify WHERE the string must be found in relation
to the word in which it appears. Press F6 to rotate among
"Word," "Prefix," "Suffix," or "normal." If you specify:
Word: The string must be found as a COMPLETE word.
Prefix: The string must be found at the beginning of
a word.
Suffix: The string must be found at the END of word.
Normal: The string may be found anywhere in a word.
Other Options:
Press Right Arrow and Left Arrow to rotate between choices.
Directories: Enter where you want PSEARCH to look for text.
Available options are:
Path & Subdirectories: Search the specified path and
all subordinate directories
(tree).
Current directory: Search only the files in the
specified directory.
All files: Search all files on all
specified drives (System)
Display Mode: This option controls how PSEARCH displays the
found information. Available options:
Don't display text: Suppress all found-text display.
Show only the filenames of matching
files.
Show 1st match: Show only the very first match, and
immediately continue to the next
file. This can be faster since it
finds only the first match and does
not continue to search the whole
file.
Related text: Show approximately 5 lines on
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
either side of the matching text.
Show all matching text: PSEARCH will display each line
which contains the relevant matches
Scroll Mode: This option controls how the text is displayed.
Two choices are available:
Continuous: Show found text continuously.
Stop when full: Pause when screen is full.
Exclude: PSEARCH has the capability to exclude certain files
from searches. The available options are:
Ignore excludes: Do not exclude any files from search.
Use exclude list: Do exclude the files listed in
PSEARCHT.EXC.
Miscellaneous options:
Line numbers: Yes, show the approximate line numbers where
the found text.
Pause mode: Yes, Pause on every found match. No, display
continuously.
Letters of drives to search: Enter extra drives to
search.
Once you have entered all the information required on this panel,
you may start the search immediately by pressing <F10>. You may
also press <F9> to go to another panel to specify advanced search
options (described below).
Press <F3> to temporarily exit to a PSEARCH window to execute DOS
commands. You may enter any DOS command in this window.
The <F10> key is valid from any position on this panel. If you
press <ENTER> to proceed through each item on the panel, pressing
<ENTER> on the last item will also begin the search.
All specifications you enter in this panel (except for pathname
and search text) are maintained in a special PSEARCH control
file. This file (PSEARCH.DAT) is created the first time you run
PSEARCH and is placed in the same directory as the PSEARCH
program file (PS.EXE). This control file allows PSEARCH to
retain your last search specifications for the next time you use
the utility.
Change text: Follow the same procedure as for text searching,
but enter the text to replace in the specified field. All other
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
options are the same. Press F10 to begin the search and replace
option.
File Name Search Option
When you select the Name Search option from PSEARCH's Main Menu,
the File Name Search panel is displayed, allowing you to enter
specifications indicating the files PSEARCH is to search for.
PSEARCH File Name Search Entry Panel
This panel functions like the Text Search Entry panel shown
earlier. See the previous section for an explanation for the
options listed here.
Advanced Options
When you press <F9> from PSEARCH's Text Search or File Name
Search panels, the Advanced Options panel is displayed, allowing
you to enter further specifications for text or file name
searches. These advanced options are not necessary for PSEARCH
to function and may be ignored if desired.
PSEARCH Advanced Options Panel
Print results: PSEARCH will print to the PRN if this options is
on.
Logging: Log the results to PSEARCH.LOG
Attributes: Enter R to search Read-only, H for hidden, S
for system, A for archives. PSEARCH will
only search files matching those
specifications.
See the PSEARCH command parameters section for a description of
the /X. Once all specifications are entered, begin the search by
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
pressing <F10>, or by pressing <ENTER> from the last entry field
on the panel.
PSEARCH Output Data Display
When you begin a search, the PSEARCH Output Data panel is
displayed, allowing you to see the results of the search. The
panel below illustrates a search.
PSEARCH Output Display Panel
The top and bottom portion of the panel display statistics to
keep you aware of what PSEARCH is searching during processing.
The center portion of the display shows the data found that
matches the search specifications.
For each text match found, PSEARCH displays the file name and
data matching the search criteria. The file name is shown on a
line before the matching text, along with the date and time the
file was last updated or created and the size of the file (in
characters). If DOS attributes are present in the DOS directory
entry for the file, they are also shown.
The Scroll Back
At any time during the search, you may press any key to
pause the search. At this time, you may press F3 to access
DOS, or Up Arrow to view the lines that have scrolled off
the screen.
In this scroll back, you may define 5 macros, which when
pressed, will activate another application.
Defining a Macro
In the scroll back, press F4. A screen displays which
contains 5 separate groups of macro definition. Fill in the
information as follows:
Key: This is the key that you will press to
activate the application
Description: This is for your own reference. Enter a
brief description containing the general
purpose of this key
Action: Return or Exit. If you select Return,
PSEARCH will return to the after performing
the desired command. You must have enough
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
memory to run both applications at once using
this method. If you select Exit, PSEARCH
will leave memory and automatically invoke
the specified application and will NOT return
to PSEARCH after completion. You will have
all the available memory dedicated to the
selected application.
Command: Command to execute. Enter the name of the
application and substitute in the '&' or the
'#' as appropriate. If the application is
not in the DOS PATH, PSEARCH will not be able
to find the application and will fail. If
you want to invoke a .BAT file in 'EXIT'
mode, you MUST include "COMMAND /C" in front
of the .BAT file name.
After defining keys in the scroll back, simply press the key
while in the scroll back and PSEARCH will invoke the desired
application.
PSEARCH Command Line Mode
The Command Line mode allows you to enter the PS command and
parameters at the DOS prompt. In this mode, PSEARCH works just
like all the other Patri-Soft Utilities. Although more difficult
to master, the command line mode is the easiest and fastest to
use once you become more familiar with PSEARCH.
PSEARCH Command and Parameters
PSEARCH allows you to specify many command parameters to
customize the printing process. All these parameters are
optional. The command format and parameters are described below.
The command for PSEARCH is PS.
PS [fspec]
/T:text /CT:text /F /S /E /A /D /M /C /P /PR /PF /MO
/O:nn /N:nn /X[F][P]:cmd /AT:c /FW /FP /FS /DR:xxx /SO
/AR /AO /FX /SK
[fspec] Enter the DOS file specification for the directory and
file names to be searched. If no directory name is
specified, PSEARCH will search the current directory.
Note: If the /A parameter is specified, the directory
name portion of this parameter is not used. The /A
parameter is described below.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
Flex Filename Searching Control Characters
The filename specification may contain a full DOS pathname
including standard DOS wildcard characters * and ?. In addition,
the special characters '~', '!', or ';' may be placed immediately
before the filename to specify more flexible filename search
criteria.
~ Soundex
Select any filename that sounds like the specified
name. For example,
~WORD
would select:
WORD WOOORD WRD WOOD WORLD
; No Vowel
Select equal filenames but ignore vowels AEIOU in
filename. For example,
!WOORD
would select:
WoRD WoooRD WieRD WRD
! Characters
Select any filenames that contain the characters
entered. For example,
!WD
would select:
WorD.dat WilDone.dat lstWorD.x
SPECIFY A LIST OF FILES TO BE SEARCHED
As an alternative, a file containing a list of input files may be
supplied. Create a file containing lines with a filename or
complete pathname on each line. Provide this filename as the
source filename to PSEARCH and add an @ character before the
name. The list of files will be processed as if they were all
specified on the input command line.
For file list processing, PSEARCH understands the output of the
DOS DIR command. You may use the DOS redirection feature to
direct DIR output to a file, edit the file to add or remove
entries, and then provide this to PSEARCH as input. For example:
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
DIR \TURBOC\C\*.C > FILE.LST
PSEARCH @FILE.LST /T:TEXT
/AO Archive Only. If you have files on your system that are
compressed into archive files with DOS extension names of
.ZIP, .ARC, or .LZH, PSEARCH is to search only these files.
This parameter is valid only for file name searches.
PSEARCH does not decompress these file contents for text
search requests.
When supplied, the /AO parameter specifies that all
archive files are to be searched internally for file
names compressed in them that meet the file name
specification.
Note: Do not specify .ARC, .ZIP, or .LZH in the
PSEARCH file specification. PSEARCH will automatically
find and search these files.
/AR ARchive files as well as regular files. PSEARCH will search
both archive files and non-archive files for matching file
name specifications. Valid only for file name searches.
(See also the /AO parameter).
/AT:c ATtributes. PSEARCH is to search for files having one
or more of the attributes specified by the /AT:
parameter, as follows:
U Updated. The DOS ARCHIVE flag is on to indicate
the file has been updated since the last backup.
R Read Only. The DOS READONLY flag is on.
H Hidden. The DOS HIDDEN flag is on.
S System. The DOS SYSTEM flag is on.
For example, specify /AT:U to locate all files that
have been updated since your last backup was done. Use
/AT:H to determine what hidden files exist on your
disks.
/C Case
Indicates that text search requests are to be case
sensitive; i.e., exact upper/lower case matches must
occur. Normally it is easier to let PSEARCH find text
data regardless of its case. This allows you to find
all possible matches.
Case sensitive search is useful when you know the text
is specified in an exact way. It reduces the number of
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
false matches that may be encountered during the
search.
/CT: Change Text. If you would like PSEARCH to search and
replace, use a /CT parameter for every /T: parameter. The
/CT applies to the preceeding /T: paramter. An example of
the usage would be:
PS *.BAT /T:CD\WP50 /CT:CD\WP51
/DR: DRive list. If the drive is not specified in the main
pathname, PSEARCH will search the current disk device. /DR:
specifies one or more drives on which to perform the search.
The /DR: parameter is useful for systems equipped with
multiple hard disks.
The following example indicates the search is to be
done on drives C and D.
/DR:cd
Note: Specify this parameter in the PSEARCH DOS
environment variable to force it to be in effect for
all command line executions of PSEARCH.
/DS Directory path search. Normally PSEARCH will search only
the current directory, or the entire disk if /S is also
specified. The /DS parameter indicates PSEARCH is to search
the specified or current directory and all of its
subordinate directories for file names.
This parameter is useful for system that have well
structured hard disk directories. For example, PSEARCH
can easily search all word processing directories if
all these directories are subordinate to a single high-
level directory name.
For example, if you have a directory structure like the
following:
C:\ Root directory
C:\WPSYS\ Word processing system
C:\WP\ Word processing data
C:\WP\PLANNING\ Planning documents
C:\WP\MEMOS\ Memos
C:\WP\STANDARD\ Policies and Procedures
Use the following PSEARCH command to search for all
documents containing the text "emergency"...
PS C:\WP\*.*/t:emergency/ds
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
Only the word processing document files will be
searched. All other directories on your hard disk will
be ignored.
/EX Exclude files. The exclude facility allows you to provide a
list of pathname and filename specifications that are to be
excluded from processing. See below.
The PSEARCH Exclude Facility The PSEARCH Exclude Facility
Searching through data on your hard disk requires
extensive processing and disk read time, so excluding
files from the process will save time and will reduce
the number of false matches encountered.
The most common files to exclude from text search
processing are product program and control files.
These files constitute a large portion of your hard
disk's used space and unnecessarily lengthen the time
it takes searches to locate the desired data.
Exclude File
If you want to use different exclude criteria for Text
Searches and File Name Searches, you may create
separate files, using the following names:
PSEARCHF.EXC
File Name Search exclude specifications
PSEARCHT.EXC
Text Search exclude specifications
These files may be created using a standard word
processor or text editor, or you may use the EDLIN text
editor provided with your DOS system. Place these
exclude files in the same directory the PS.EXE file is
located in. The file (or files) will contain the names
of all the files and paths to be excluded. You may
specify DOS pattern names to exclude groups of files
with a single specification.
Like DOS, an '*' indicates the last part of a filename
or filename extension may be any set of characters.
Also like DOS, the '?' indicates that any single
position of a filename may be any character.
Two additional pattern features are available that are
not used with DOS. You may place an '*' anywhere in
the filename to indicate any set of characters may
exist in this point in the name. For pathnames, you
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
may place two '**' at the end of a directory path
specification to indicate the specification applies to
the specified directory and all subordinate
directories. Using '**', you can exclude an entire
path with a single specification.
The exclude facility is implemented with two actions.
First, the /EX parameter must be specified. Second,
you must have a valid exclude file or files, or PSEARCH
will not continue.
Note: If you wish the Exclude facility to be active
during all executions, specify /EX as part of the
PSEARCH= DOS environment variable.
Examples of /EX Parameter
1. Exclude all filenames with the extension .EXE from
processing.
*.EXE
2. Exclude all filenames ending with extension .COM.
*.COM
3. Exclude all filenames beginning with the letters
"TEST" from processing.
TEST*.*
4. Exclude all filenames having the characters "TEST"
anywhere in the first portion of the filename.
*TEST*.*
5. Exclude files having "DO" as the first two
characters of the filename, and "FIX" as the 4th,
5th, and 6th characters. The third character of
the filename may be any character.
DO?FIX.*
6. Exclude file names beginning with the two
characters "PC" and where the first portion of the
filename ends with the characters "XX". Any
characters, 0 to 4 in number, may exist between
the "PC" and "XX" in the first portion of the
filename.
PC*XX.*
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
7. Exclude all files from the DOS directory on drive
C:.
C:\DOS\*.*
8. Exclude all files from the TEST directory existing
on any drive searched.
\TEST\*.*
9. Exclude all files from the D:\GAMES\ directory and
also exclude all files and directories subordinate
to the GAMES directory.
D:\GAMES**\*.*
/F Find File in the current directory. Normally PSEARCH
will search all directories to find a file. Use the /F
parameter to have PSEARCH only search the specified or
current directory.
/FP Find Prefix. Indicates that matching text must be at the
end of an existing word (use with /T:). Designed primarily
for word searches, this parameter qualifies the search to
help you find exactly the match you want.
/FS Find Suffix. Indicates that matching text must be at
the beginning of an existing word (use with /T:).
/FW Find Word. Indicates that matching text must be a word (use
with /T:). A word is defined as any string of characters
and numbers that does not begin or end with other characters
or numbers. For example, in "This", "This" is a word, but
"is" is not a word.
The command:
PS *.*/t:is/fw
will match for the word "is" but will not match on the
"is" characters in the word "this".
/L Line numbers. When you are searching DOS text files
for specific text (/T: parm used), use the /L parameter
to cause PSEARCH to determine and display the number of
the line associated with the text displayed.
DOS text files are those files that have a carriage
return and line feed at the end of each line of text.
A good example of these is DOS batch command files
(*.BAT). Word processing files often do not use this
format, so line number specifications are not often
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
useful for them.
/MO MOre. Stops screen scrolling when the end of each screen
page is reached. After the display stops, you may press
<ESCAPE> to terminate processing, <C> to disable /MO and
display without stopping again, or press any other key to
display another page of the display and stop again.
/N:nnn
Newdays. Indicates that only files created or updated
within the last nnn days are to be selected for
processing. /N:1 causes any files updated within the
last day to be selected. To match only those files
updated on the current date, specify /N:0.
/ND No Display. For text searches, PSEARCH normally displays
the text when a match is found. If you only want the file
names shown, use the /ND parameter to deactivate the text
display.
/NM No Multiples. For text search specifications, causes
PSEARCH to only search for a single occurrence of matching
text in any file and display it. Other matches may exist in
the file.
Use the /NM parameter to shorten your display of output
and improve search performance by stopping the search
of a file after a single match is shown.
/NP Suppress all PSEARCH displays. This is designed to be used
when PSEARCH is invoked by other applications to build a
list of files found matching the search criteria.
/NW No Windows. PSEARCH normally operates in full screen window
mode. To deactivate this feature and display all output in
normal DOS line mode, specify this parameter.
The /NW parameter causes PSEARCH to use BIOS type
screen writes to display output. The /NW parameter may
be useful when you have special devices or TSRs active
that screen or capture output going through these
interfaces.
/O:nnn
Olddays. Indicates that only files older than nnn days
are to be selected for processing. Specify /O:365 to
select files over one year old.
/P Pause. PSEARCH will pause whenever a match of filename
or text in a file is found. You may terminate the
search or continue by pressing any key.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
/PF Print to File. To direct print to an output file, enter
/PR. The file PSPRINT.DAT will be created in the current
directory. The resulting file may be edited or viewed using
a word processor, text editor, or the DOS TYPE command.
/PR PRint. Direct screen output also to the output printer
device. This allows you to have a printed record of PSEARCH
results.
/R:nnn
Near. Use when you specify multiple /T: parameters.
Specifies the number of characters that may exist
between two sets of text characters to be searched. In
other words, the text will only be considered a match
if it is within n characters of the other text
specified.
The /R parameter lets you find values you know are
related to one another and know the values will exist
within close proximity of each other in the file. For
example, the following command will search files for
the name "Jones" and will also help identify a letter
to this person by indicating the search is only to
match the name "Jones" when it exists near the letter
salutation "Dear". The /R:50 value indicates the two
values must be within 50 characters of each other in
the file.
PS *.*/t:jones/t:dear/r:50/ta
/S System. All directories on the drives specified are to
be searched. If not specified, only the current or
specified directory is searched.
/SO Sound Off. Turns the sound off at the beginning of a
PSEARCH execution. It may be turned back on at any time by
using the sound PF key.
/T:text to be searched
Specifies the text to be found for text search
requests. The text string may contain any characters.
A terminating command line or the following slash
character will signal the end of the text to be
searched. If this is the last parameter on the
command, any trailing spaces will not be included in
the search. To include trailing spaces, terminate the
string with an ending slash character.
Text may be specified in upper or lower case. Unless
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
the /C parameter is specified to force exact case
matches, the search will be made for any text match
regardless of case.
Strings may also be single or double quoted. This
allows for special characters to be included in the
search string, such as "/" characters. For example,
/T:BUDGET /T:Budget /T:Mr. Jones/
/T:"01/01/88"
Note: To include a trailing space as part of search
text, you must follow the search text by another /
command parameter. For example:
PS *.C/T: SMITH /TA
Up to five /T: parameter specifications may be included
for text search requests. This allows PSEARCH to
search for five different texts in a single pass of a
disk or directory. When multiple text is specified,
consider the use of the /TA parameter (described below)
to force PSEARCH to find all text in a single file
before considering the file a match.
The presence of the /T: parameter indicates the search
is to be for text in a file or for file names. Any
command line mode execution of PSEARCH without the /T:
parameter will cause PSEARCH to assume the request is
to locate files by name only.
/TA Text AND. Used when multiple /T: parameters are specified
to indicate that all text strings specified on the command
must be found in the file to be considered a match. Without
/TA specified, any matching text from any /T: parameter
specification on the command will be considered a match.
/X:xxx
eXecute. This parameter causes PSEARCH to build and
execute a DOS command whenever a filename match or a
text match is found. The DOS command to be executed is
specified by "xxx".
The command may either be a standard DOS command or the
name of a DOS batch command file. The command will be
executed with a second copy of COMMAND.COM. The command
data may contain the following special characters to
allow for substitution values:
# Always replaced with the selected filename.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
& Always replaced with the selected path/filename.
! Always replaced with the filename without
extension.
@ Replaced with a slash to allow for command
parameters to be specified in executed commands.
Examples of /X Parameter
1. To delete selected files:
/X:ERASE &
2. To use ARC utility to archive file
/X:ARC A OLD123.ARC #
3. To type the file:
/X:TYPE &
4. Start 123 for the file:
/X:LOTUS
/XF:xxx eXecute File. Works like the /X parameter, except the
command is generated and placed in a DOS batch command
file named PSCMDS.BAT in the current directory. This
file may be edited before it is executed.
/XP:xxx eXecute with Pause. Works like the /X parameter except
you are asked to confirm that the command is to be
executed for each file selected in a match.
PSEARCH Color and Monitor Support
PSEARCH checks the DOS equipment flags to determine what type of
monitor you have on your system. This is usually always correct
except for one specific occasion. If you are running a composite
monitor with a color graphics card, the screens may not be
displayed correctly. If this occurs, use the DOS MODE command to
set your environment to black and white. This can be done at
system startup or just before starting PSEARCH. Be aware that
some applications incorrectly reset the environment and it may
need to be reset before again running PSEARCH.
The following sample DOS MODE command shows how to set the
environment to black and white.
PSEARCH User's Guide Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft
MODE BW80
See the DOS Reference Manual for more information about setting
the monitor with the MODE command.
Pausing the Search
Regardless of whether or not the Pause parameter is specified,
you may pause PSEARCH processing at any time by pressing any key
on the keyboard. At the end of the next process PSEARCH will
pause, and you will have the option to continue the search, use a
function key, or exit from PSEARCH.
Program Maintenance History
---------------------------
There is an ongoing commitment to improve PSEARCH as long as there
is expressed need by PSEARCH users. I do respond to your requests.
The enhancements below reflect both user requests and my own ideas.
Please let me know of your needs, maybe they can appear on this
list in the future.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 1.0 March 1, 1986
-- PSEARCH Version 1.0 was released in March 1st, 1986
Version 2.0 April 8, 1986
PSEARCH Version 2.0 was released April 8th, 1986. It
upgraded version 1 with the following new features.
-- Ability to search in .ARC files for filenames /AR /AO
-- Find text by WORD, PREFIX, or SUFFIX /FW /FP /FS
-- Returns back to menus after search is complete
-- Extract data to file implemented
-- Fix to show found text un upper/lower case
-- /SO to turn sound off
-- Ability to exclude .COM and .EXE files from search
-- Ability to search all drives attached to system /DR:abc
Version 3.0 September 7, 1986
PSEARCH Version 3.0 was released Sept. 7th, 1986. It upgraded
version 2 with the following new features.
-- Sound alike and other new filespec wildcards (! ; ~).
-- More menu options on the Peak menu.
-- Correction to retrieve proper environment string to be used
when executing DOS commands.
Version 3.3 July 5, 1987
-- Change registration so there is no longer a need to have
the PSEARCH.REG file exist in the root directory.
-- Text searches will not attempt to search .ARC files. Since
these files are compressed it makes no sense to search them
for text.
-- Use environment field PS= to specify default command
parameters.
PSEARCH Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1992 Patri-Soft Page 28
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 3.4 September 16, 1987
-- Ignore ~ ! and ; filename search characters unless they are
in the first position of the filename. Previous versions
file searches would fail if these characters were found in
any position but the first.
-- Correct filename matching. If file XXX would not be found
if pattern name of XXX.* was specified.
-- When print option was used with menus, when processing
completed, menu text was printed to the printer. Corrected.
Version 3.8 March 1, 1988
-- Add ability to accept " or ' quoted strings in text search
input command data. This is for the /T: parameter only.
Version 4.0 February 22,1990
This version is essentially a rewrite of the original PSEARCH
facility. All the changes are too numerous to mention.
Following is a list of the most significant changes.
Enhancements...
-- Add ability to search up to 5 text strings
-- AND/OR capability on text strings
-- New exclude file allows user to specify file names
-- New menu structure
-- Near parameter to force multiple text matches to be within
n characters of each other.
-- /NW implements no window mode for those that need or prefer
DOS style displays.
-- /DS parameter allows a single directory path including all
subordinate directories to be searched.
-- The limit of the number of directories that can be searched
greatly enhanced. The maximum number of directories is
related to the amount of free memory available to PSEARCH.
Items removed...
-- The Peak feature has been removed.
-- The 5 text strings replaces the ability to specify a ?
in the text search string.
-- The exclude file replaces the /SK command to skip
.COM and .EXE files.
PSEARCH Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1992 Patri-Soft Page 29
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 4.1 February 26, 1990
-- System lockup during speaker beeps. Also improper beeps.
-- Set sounds off as default
-- Set pause at full screen (more) as default in command mode
Version 4.2 March 9, 1990
-- Added /RT parm to show related text
-- Added field edit capabilities.
-- Removed more line from display after user pressed a key
-- Replaced /MO with /NO. More was made default.
Version 4.3 May 4, 1990
-- Corrected errors encountered when processing .ZIP files
containing directory names as well as filenames.
-- Corrected problem where PSEARCH ignored the drive
specification for the path to be searched.
-- Added directory name to filename display on search display
-- Added a screen of condensed help.
-- Improved screen I/O performance
-- Removed requirement to place quotes around text to be
searched for in command line. You may now search for
data containing spaces.
PS *.TXT/T:Joe Doe
-- File find now searches all hard disk drives unless a
specific drive is specified.
-- /S parameter causes all hard disk drives to be scanned
unless a specific drive is specified in the supplied
pathname.
Version 4.4a July 11, 1990
-- When PS *.exe/DS used. The same directory was searched
3 times. This only happened when directory had no
subdirectories. PS was fixed to scan the directory once.
-- For network operation -- added auto skipping of any files
DOS denied access to. A message is printed for each file
that is bypassed.
-- Detect bad exclude file specifications and stop processing.
Processing used to continue but not select any files.
-- PSEARCH was searching all directories for a file even when
a specific pathname was specified. The search is now
limited to just the specified pathname.
-- Support multiple drive parameter (/DR:) when directory name
specified. Allows multiple drives to be searched for a
single directory name.
-- PS *.* /AT:u stopped displaying output when readonly,
hidden, system, updated file displayed.
-- Added [=blank and ]=\ to /X: command substitution
PSEARCH Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1992 Patri-Soft Page 30
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 4.4c December 17, 1990
-- Added capability to specify a list of files to be searched
on the command line using the "@" symbol.
-- Added the /NP (No Print) parameter
-- Enhanced the .EXC file to be able to process SELect and EXClude
statements.
Version 4.4D
-- Fixed problem with registration info not displayed.
Version 4.4E
-- When PSEARCH.DAT found during file search IN ARCHIVES,
program locked up.
-- /X: parm did not work in /NW mode. DOS returned Bad command
or filename.
-- A couple little comsmetics.
-- If a corrupted .ZIP file was encounterd, PS crashed. Now skips
the file.
Version 5.0
-- Added /PA to append to the PSPRINT.DAT
-- Added scroll back feature
-- Added View feature to menu. View prev scroll back
-- Added text and WordPerfect file viewers. Press enter
when scroll bar is within a file on the scroll display.
-- Added evaluation day message pregmsg() in pmregis.c
-- Allow empty search strings for batch file use
Can have command PS /T:word/T:/T:
-- \ characters was not considered printable. Added \\.
-- Change PSEARCH.DAT to PS.DAT
-- Default to "more" off in menus. Due to scroll back option
-- Added /HA parameter to display hi-ascii chars
-- Directories now searched in alphabetical order
-- You may now specify incomplete pathnames such as C\*.*
It is assumed C is a directory subordinate to the current
directory.
Version 5.1
-- When using the /R parameter, PSEARCH will only display the
parts of the file that actually matches, and not the entire
file.
-- PS will now remove trailing spaces on /T: specifications.
-- /TA is now assumed when /R is specified.
-- Show number of word matches
-- When searching for text, 0 byte files would eventually
cause PS to encounter DOS error 4.
-- Scroll back counter was incorrect, often showing high
values.
-- /HA can be specified to display High Ascii even when
searching from the menu.