DOCUMENT:Q68268 17-DEC-2000 [msdos] TITLE :Simulating Wildcards PRODUCT :Microsoft Disk Operating System PROD/VER:MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22 OPER/SYS: KEYWORDS: ====================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 3.1, 3.2, 3.21, 3.3, 3.3a, 4.0, 4.01, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY ======= You can simulate wildcards with the FOR command for those commands in MS-DOS that do not allow wildcards. The structure of the command is as follows for %p in (set) do (command) %p where %p is a variable used by the FOR command, (set) is a set of filenames that command will be applied to, and command is the command to be carried out. For example: for %p in (*.txt) do type %p -or- for %p in (*.txt) do find "CONFIG" %p MORE INFORMATION ================ You may want to create a batch file for this command because it will be much shorter. However, unlike the command-line version of the FOR command, the batch-file version uses two percent signs (%). The following are two batch-file examples: for %%p in (%1) do type %%p -or- for %%p in (%1) do find "%2" %%p Using the second batch-file example, the following command typed at the MS-DOS prompt finds every file ending with the .TXT extension that has the string "CONFIG" in it. The quotation marks ("%2") are specific to the FIND command and not necessarily part of the FOR command syntax. If the second example is in a batch file called FF.BAT, to invoking the batch-file command, type: ff *.txt CONFIG" Additional query words: 6.22 3.x 4.00 4.01 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20 wild card ====================================================================== Keywords : Technology : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS321 kbMSDOS400 kbMSDOS320 kbMSDOS330a kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600 kbMSDOS310 kbMSDOS500 kbMSDOS330 kbMSDOS401 kbMSDOS500a Version : MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22 ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2000.