FINDIT will search all subdirectories of the current, or a specified,
drive for files whose names match a supplied pattern. It is
significantly faster then WHEREIS2 and GSEE, and provides a slightly
improved implementation of the global characters "*" and "?". It was
written as a learning aid but seemed to contain enough desirable
features to share warrant sharing with others.

Syntax: FINDIT [drive:]filename[.[ext]] [/q]

Where
drive is an optional drive letter. Default is current drive.
filename is pattern for filename portion of file spec.
ext is pattern for file extension.
/q suppresses heading and trailer lines normally typed.

Special features and characteristics:

1. The DOS global characters (* and ?) are allowed, but extended to
operate as follows:

A "*" may appear anywhere and will match any character, 0 or
more times.

A "?" may appear anywhere and ALWAYS matches EXACTLY ONE character,
any character. This is as opposed to the DOS implementation which
matches imbedded "?"'s to one character, but trailing "?"'s to 0 or
1 characters.

2. A file extension of null can be specified by putting a period
at the end of the filename.

3. Pressing Ctrl-Break causes immediate, but graceful, termination.

Examples:

FilespecResultant action
------------------------
abcdFinds ABCD.* in all subdirectories.
abcd.Finds ABCD with no file extension in all subdirectories.
abcd.*Same as "abcd".
a*.comAll files beginning with "A" with extension of "COM".
a*x All files whose filename begins with "A" and ends
with "X"; all extensions.
a?x All files with 3-character names beginning with "A" and
ending with "X".
a?? All files with 3-character names beginning with "A".
(DOS DIR would find all 1-, 2-, & 3-character names
starting with "A").
*??aAll files with names that are at least 3-characters
long and end with "A".


Larry McMains