TITLE: SuperSCAN ver 3.0
PURPOSE: Scan a disk file for ASCII text, with configurability
DATE: 2-19-89
AUTHOR: Thomas A. Lundin
Graphics Unlimited Inc.
3000 2nd St. N.
Minneapolis, MN 55411
(612) 588-7571

DESCRIPTION: SuperSCAN displays all sequences of contiguous ASCII
characters from any disk file -- fast. The program displays
all ASCII strings of 3 or more characters, although you can
change this from the command line. The scan can be written to a
disk file, printed, or displayed on the screen. You can also
skip into the file any number of characters before beginning
the scan. Each ASCII string is terminated with a hex AE
(European left quote mark), although you can change this from
the command line. You can also define any characters you wish
to be considered NON-ASCII.

The program accepts either a filespec with wild cards or a
directory list file -- a file that is composed of a
redirected DIR command (e.g., DIR *.DOC >DIRLIST).

OPERATION: The command line invocation is:

sscan filespec ext [-c### -s### -t## -n##,...## -od:path]
-or-
sscan @dirlist ext [-c### -s### -t## -n##,...## -od:path]

1. "filespec" can be preceded by a drive letter and a path
name. It can also contain wild cards.

2. "dirlist" is the name of a directory list file, i.e., a
file that has been created from a redirected DIR command.
For example, the DOS command

dir *.txt >dirfile

will create a disk file named "dirfile" which contains a
directory of all files with a ".TXT" extension.

3. "ext" is the extension the output file name will have. If
you don't specify an extension name, CON (the screen
console) will be used. You may also use the device names
PRN, NUL, and AUX, in which case the output will be sent
to one of those devices.

Example:
C>sscan hgi.com str -t00
...will scan HGI.COM for strings consisting of three or
more consecutive ASCII characters and write them to a file
named HGI.STR with no terminator character (except for
carriage return/line feed).

4. The -c### option sets the minimum number of ASCII
characters in a row to display. The default is 3.
Values can range from 0 to 32767. For example, -c2 will
display all ASCII strings of 2 or more characters.

5. The -s### option indicates the number of characters in
the file to skip before scanning starts. The default is
0. Values can range from 0 to 2,000,000,000. For
example, -s55000 will skip over 55,000 characters
before looking for ASCII strings. If the value you
enter is larger than the file size, SuperSCAN will
consider that to be the same as the end of file.

6. The -t## option defines a hex value for the line
terminator character (which precedes a carriage
return/line feed). The default is AE. Values can range
from 00 to FF. -t00 will disable the terminator character
and use only the CRLF. A visible terminator character is
useful when an ASCII string contains trailing spaces.

7. The -n##,...## option establishes the hex values of
characters you want to define as NON-ASCII types (even if
they are valid ASCII characters). Each hex value is
separated by a comma; you can enter as many hex values as
you wish. SuperSCAN normally considers character values
in the range of hex 20 (space) through hex 7E (tilde) to
be valid ASCII characters, but you might wish to remove
certain punctuation from consideration as ASCII
characters.

Example:
C>sscan hgi.com -n40,21,3c,3e,5e
...will display on screen the ASCII strings in the file
HGI.COM, but the characters @,!,<,>, and ^ will be
considered NON-ASCII.

8. The -od:path option will create the output file on the
specified drive and directory.

Example:
C>sscan hgi.com str -t00 -od:\data
...will perform the same scan as the earlier example,
except it will write the output file HGI.STR to drive D:
in subdirectory \DATA.

CTRL-NumLock (or Pause) will stop and start the program; CTRL-C
will cancel it.

NOTES: A single ASCII string has a limit of 16,384 characters. Strings
longer than this will be displayed separately.

The program was written in Lattice C 3.1.

MACHINE: The program will run on any MS-DOS compatible computer using
MS-DOS 2.x or higher, with a minimum of 128K RAM.

DISCLAIMER: This program is distributed as user-supported software. Use
it, copy it, give it to your friends. No warranties, either
expressed or implied, are given by the author or distributor of
the program, and the user accepts all risk of damage arising
out of the application and use of the program.

BEG: If you find this program to be of value, contributions in any
amount ($10 suggested) will be gratefully accepted. If you
decide not to contribute, at least upload this file to as many
BBSes as you can log on to.

Send comments/bug reports/contributions to:


Thomas A. Lundin
Graphics Unlimited, Inc.
3000 Second Street North
Minneapolis, MN 55411
(612) 588-7571


You can also reach me at my BBS home base:

PC-ROCKLAND BBS
If you can't find a program here,
it probably doesn't exist!
(914) 353-2538
(Leave msg. for "Tom Lundin")

Thank you for using SuperSCAN.


CATALOG: Other shareware programs I've distributed:

SBREAK.EXE: SuperBreaker
What I call the world's best file splitting program -- splits
files by size, string match, line count; converts fixed-length
data files to CRLF-terminated text files; can split files to
floppy diskettes; splits binary or text files; files split to
size can also be split at the next nearest user-definable
string (e.g. CRLF); other features. You can use this program to
split a really big .ARC file onto multiple floppies and then
easily reconstruct it on a different computer.

COPPY.EXE
This program copies files from the hard disk to multiple
floppies, stuffing each floppy with the largest files that will
fit in the remaining space. Works with any density diskette.
The program tells you how many diskettes you'll need to
complete the copy. You can also copy files in original,
unsorted order; other options allow the target disk to be
erased before file transfer begins, and the source file can be
deleted from the hard disk after it is copied to the floppy.
You can use this program to move (copy-and-delete) files
between drives and subdirectories on your hard disk, too.

MOPP.EXE
This program copies from source to destination, except it will
only overwrite existing files if the source file date is more
recent than the destination file date. This prevents old
versions of programs, documents, etc. from accidentally wiping
out more recent ones. Options let you force a prompt for each
overwrite, or to overwrite unconditionally.

SNR.EXE: Search-N-Replace
This is a multi-string, global file search-and-replace program.
It allows you to create up to 50 search-and-replace equations
of up to 140 characters each. You can search for and replace
all text and binary characters (except NULL). All translations
occur in a single pass. This program is very handy for making
fast, easy, global changes to the contents of a disk file (or
group of files).

CCUR.EXE: The Counting Cursor
This program uses your cursor as a counting device, allowing
you to count the number of characters between two points on the
screen simply by moving the cursor. These width counts can be
written to a disk file for use in other programs. CCUR will
also record row-column screen coordinates if you choose. The
HEX and ASCII decimal values of the character under the cursor
are displayed, giving you a fast way to identify those control
and graphic characters by code value. An on-demand screen
blanker is built-in. A screen capture command is provided,
allowing you to capture the display to any disk file or DOS
device (yes, the printer, too). This is a handy program for you
database file hackers.

If you are interested in any of these programs, check your
local BBS or call me or drop me a note at my work address.