LF -- LOCATE FILE (c)1990 William Pemberton Version 3.1
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Purpose: Finds a file on a hard disk system or network.

Format: LF [options] filespec [Command String]

Remarks: LF is similar to other file location utilities, except
LF looks across multiple drives and gives you the
ability to execute a command, on the files that are
located.

LF can be fully configured by the user. All command line
options can be written back to the .EXE so that they
then become the default options.

A given filespec is searched for on all the disks
starting with the default start drive.

[Options] may be any of the following:
(upper case is also allowed)

/s - Start Drive
/e - End Drive
/o - Only Drive
/i - Interactive
/y - Not Interactive
/a - Find only files with the given attribute(s).
/w - Write options back to .EXE

The Start Drive (/s) option specifies on which drive you
want LF to start its search. The letter of the drive
should be given following a '=' after the option
("/s=H" would start with the H: drive, for example). If
no "/s" option is given, LF will start at whatever
drive has been designated as the default starting
drive.

The End Drive (/e) option specifies the last drive that
you would like LF to look on for the file. If no
"/e" option is given, LF will stop it's search at
either the last drive that it can find or at the
default last drive that is specified in the .EXE,
whichever comes first.

The Only Drive (/o) option specifies that you want
LF to conduct a search of the given drive only.
This would be equivalent to giving the using the
"/s" and "/e" option to set the starting and ending
drive to the same drive. If the Writeback option
(/w) is used, both start and end drive will be set
to the same drive.

If the Interactive (/i) option is given, LF will ask
for confirmation before executing each command string.
The command string that LF intends to send to COMSPEC
will be printed on the screen followed by a ?. Pressing
Y will cause the command to be executed, pressing Q will
abort LF, pressing S will skip processing on the
current sub-directory an continue to the next
sub-directory in the tree, and pressing any other key will
cause LF to not execute the command on that file and
continue looking for the next file. If no command string
is given, the option is ignored.

The "/a" option is used to specify that you want LF to
only find files with the specified attribute set. The
format for the command is "/a [attribute list]" where
the attribute list may be any combination of the letters
"SHRA", but must be in uppercase! These letters stand for:

S - System
H - Hidden
R - Read Only
A - Archive

These options can be written to the .EXE. To unset
an options, use lowercase.

The /w option will write all parameters to the .EXE
file so that they become the defaults. Because of
the method used to perform this task, the /w option
probably will not work with DOS 2.XX.

Filespec is any valid file specification, the standard
DOS wild cards are accepted.

[Command String] is a command line to be executed on a
file once it is found. This may be anything that you
would normally type from the DOS prompt, a DOS
command, a program, a batchfile, whatever! You should
place the characters "%s" at the location that you desire
the full path name to appear. If the "%s" is omitted,
then one will automatically be appended to the end of
the command string.

If no command string is given, then LF will just
print the name of the found file(s). If any of the
special attributes are set (such as hidden), LF will
also display which ones are set.

While LF is working, you may press any key to pause it.
During the this pause, you will also be given a chance
to abort LF.

Typing LF with no parameters will give a short help
screen. The default value for each parameter will be
shown in this screen. Parameters that are ON or OFF
will have * by them if they are enabled. The start
drive and end drive parameters will show the actual
values.

Configuration: The first thing that you should do with LF is
customize the values of start drive and end drive to
your system. For most PC's, you really don't need
to do anything. As provided, LF will start it's
search at the C: drive and end at Z: (or the last
disk it can find). If your hard disk(s) start
somewhere other than C:, you should do:
lf /s=X /w

Where 'X' would be replaced with the letter of your
starting drive.

If you are using LF on a Novell network, you should set
both start drive and end drive to the appropriate
values for your network. If you do not do this, LF
will probably search the same physical drive several
times (due to the way Novell sets up the search
drive mappings).

Examples:

lf *.doc
- find all .doc files on the disk system.

lf foo.bar cdate foo %s 01-17-90
- find all files named foo.bar and run CDATE
on them (CDATE would then change their time/date
stamp so the date was 01-17-90).

lf /s=H /e=L *.txt type %s
- find all .txt files located between drives
H: and L:, LF will then execute a DOS type on
them.

lf /o=C *.tmp
- find all .tmp files on the C: drive.

lf /i *.bak del
- find all .bak files and ask, individually,
if you want to delete them (note the %s was not
needed).

lf /a=HS *.com
- find all .com files that are Hidden and System

lf /a=R *.doc chmod /r %s
- find all .doc files that are Read Only and run
CHMOD on them to make them not Read Only.

lf /i /w
- set up LF so that it always runs in interactive
mode.

Note: The command string can be a very powerful or a very
dangerous thing to use! I recommend ALWAYS using the
"/i" option when the command string could alter files
(like del), or better yet use the /w option to make
LF always work in interactive mode.

Remember! A command like:

lf *.* del
- DON'T try this one at home folks! It
deletes everything it can get its hands
on! This could really ruin your day.

Disclaimer: The author hereby disclaims all warranties relating to

this software, whether express or implied, including
without limitation any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The author will not be liable for any special,
incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages
due to loss of data or any other reason, even if the
author or an agent of the author has been advised of
the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the
author's liability for any damages ever exceed the
price paid for the license to use software, regardless
of the form of the claim. The person using the
software bears all risk as to the quality and
performance of the software.

Shareware: LF is distributed as Shareware. You are free to try
the utility and make copies for others (copies must
include this file). If you continue to use LF,
however, you are asked to make a donation to the author
of $10 or more to support continued development of this
and other software.

Distributors of "Public Domain", "Shareware", and/or
User Supported software may distribute LF only after
obtaining written permission from the author.

Please address any comments, suggestions, etc. to:

William Pemberton
PO Box 5754
Charlottesville, VA 22905

Internet: [email protected]