FFIND - Search for files
Purpose: Search for files by name or contents.
Format: FFIND [/A[:][[-]rhsda] /B /C /D[list ] /E /I /K /L /M
/O[[:][-]acdeginrsu] /P /R /S /T"xx" /V /X["xx xx ..."]
file...
list : A list of disk drive letters (without colons).
file : The file, directory, or list of files or directories
to display.
/A(ttribute select) /M (no footers)
/B(are) /O(rder)
/C(ase sensitive) /P(ause)
/D(rive) /R(everse)
/E (upper case display) /S(ubdirectories)
/I(gnore wildcards) /T"xx" (text search string)
/K (no headers) /V(erbose)
/L(ine numbers) /X["xx"] (hex display/search
string)
File Selection
Supports extended wildcards, ranges, multiple file names, and include
lists.
Usage
FFIND is a flexible search command that looks for files based on their
names and their contents. Depending on the options you choose, FFIND can
display filenames, matching text, or a combination of both in a variety
of formats.
If you want to search for files by name, FFIND works much like the DIR
command. For example, to generate a list of all the .BTM files in the
current directory, you could use the command:
[c:\] ffind *.btm
The output from this command is a list of full pathnames, followed by the
number of files found.
If you want to limit the output to a list of *.BTM files which contain
the string color, you could use this command instead:
[c:\] ffind /t"color" *.btm
The output from this command is a list of files that contain the string
color along with the first line in each file that contains that string.
By default, FFIND uses a case-insensitve search, so the command above
will include files that contain COLOR, Color, color, or any other
combination of upper-case and lower-case letters.
If you would rather see the last line of each file that contains the
search string, use the /R option, which forces FFIND to search from the
end of each file to the beginning. This option will also speed up
searches somewhat if you are looking for text that will normally be at
the end of a file, such as a signature line:
[c:\] ffind /r /t"Sincerely," *.txt
You can use extended wildcards in the search string to increase the
flexibility of FFIND's search. For example, the following command will
find .TXT files which contain either the string June or July. It will
also find Juny and Jule. The /C option makes the search case-sensitive:
[c:\] ffind /c /t"Ju[nl][ey]" *.txt
If you want to search for text that contains wildcard characters (*, ?,
[, or ]), you can use the /I option to force FFIND to interpret these as
normal characters instead of wildcards. The following command, for
example, finds all .TXT files that contain a question mark:
[c:\] ffind /i /t"?" *.txt
At times, you may need to search for data that cannot be represented by
ASCII characters. You can use FFIND's /X option to represent the search
string in hexadecimal format (this option also changes the output to show
hexadecimal offsets rather than text lines). With /X, the search must be
represented by pairs of hexadecimal digits separated by spaces; a search
of this type is always case-sensitive (in the example below, 41 63 65 is
the hex code for "Ace"):
[c:\] ffind /x"41 63 65" *.txt
You can use FFIND's other options to further specify the files for which
you are searching and to modify the way in which the output is displayed.
Options
/A: (Attribute select) Select only those files that have the
specified attribute(s) set. Preceding the attribute character
with a hyphen [-] will select files that do not have that
attribute set. The colon [:] after /A is optional. The
attributes are:
R Read-only
H Hidden
S System
D Subdirectory
A Archive
If no attributes are listed at all (e.g., FFIND /A ...), FFIND will
select all files and subdirectories including hidden and system files.
If attributes are combined, all the specified attributes must match for
a file to be selected. For example, /A:RHS will select only those files
with all three attributes set. /B:(Bare) Display file names only and omit
the text that matches the search. This option is only useful in
combination with /T or /X, which normally force FFIND to display file
names and matching text. /C:(Case sensitive) Perform a case-sensitive
search. This option is only valid with /T, which defaults to a
case-insensitive search. It is not needed with a /X hexadecimal search,
which is always case-sensitive. /D:(Drive) Search all files on one or
more drives. If you use /D without a list of drives, FFIND will search
the drives specified in the list of files. If no drive letters are
listed, FFIND will search all of the current drive. You can include a
list of drives or a range of drives to search as part of the /D option.
For example, to search drives C:, D:, E:, and G:, you can use either of
these commands:
[c:\] ffind /dcdeg ...
[c:\] ffind /dc-eg ...
Drive letters listed after /D will be ignored when processing file names
which also include a drive letter. For example, this command displays
all the .BTM files on C: and E:, but only the .BAT files on D:
[c:\] ffind /s /dce *.btm d:\*.bat
/E:Display filenames in the traditional upper case; also see SETDOS /U
and the UpperCase directive in CMD.INI. /I:(Ignore wildcards) Only
meaningful when used in conjunction with the /T"text" option. Suppresses
the recognition of wildcard characters in the search text. This option
is useful if you need to search for characters that would normally be
interpreted as wildcards: *, ?, [, and ]. /K:(No headers) Suppress the
display of the header or filename for each matching text line. /L:(Line
numbers) Include the line number for each text line displayed. FFIND
numbers lines beginning with 1, unless ListRowStart is set to 0 in
CMD.INI. A new line is counted for every CR or LF character (FFIND
determines automatically which character is used for line breaks in each
file), or when line length reaches 511 characters, whichever comes first.
/M:(No footers) Suppress the footer (the number of files and number of
matches) at the end of FFIND's display. /O:(Order) Set the sorting order.
You may use any combination of the following sorting options; if
multiple options are used, the listing will be sorted with the first sort
option as the primary key, the next as the secondary key, and so on:
- Reverse the sort order for the next option.
a Sort in ASCII order, not numerically, when there are
digits in the name.
d Sort by date and time (oldest first); for HPFS drives,
also see /T.
e Sort by extension.
g Group subdirectories first, then files.
i Sort by file description (ignored if /C or /O:c is
used).
n Sort by filename (this is the default).
r Reverse the sort order for all options.
s Sort by size.
u Unsorted.
/P:(Pause) Wait for a key to be pressed after each screen page before
continuing the display. Your options at the prompt are explained in
detail under Page and File Prompts. /R:(Reverse) Only meaningful when
used in conjuction with the /T"text" or /X options. Searches each file
from the end backwards to the beginning. This option is useful if you
want to display the last occurrence of the search string in each file
instead of the first (the default). It can also speed up searches for
information that is normally at the end of a file, such as a signature.
/S:(Subdirectories) Display matches from the current directory and all of
its subdirectories. /T"xx":(Text search) Specify the text search string.
/T must be followed by a text string in double quotes (e.g., /t"color").
FFIND will perform a case-insensitive search unless you also use the /C
option. For a hexadecimal search and/or hexadecimal display of the
location where the search string is found, see /X. You can specify a
search string with either /T or /X, but not both. /V:(Verbose) Show every
matching line. FFIND's default behavior is to show only the first
matching line then and then go on to the next file. This option is only
valid with /T or /X. /X:(Hexadecimal display / search) Specify
hexadecimal display and an optional hexadecimal search string.
If /X is followed by one or more pairs of hexadecimal digits in quotes
(e.g., /x"44 63 65"), FFIND will search for that exact sequence of
characters or data bytes without regard to the meaning of those bytes as
text. If those bytes are found, the offset is displayed (in both decimal
and hexadecimal). A search of this type will always be case-sensitive.
If /X is not followed by a hexadecimal search string it must be used in
conjunction with /T, and will change the output format to display offsets
(in both decimal and hexadecimal) rather than actual text lines when the
search string is found. For example, this command uses /T to display the
first line in each .BTM file containing the word hello:
[c:\] ffind /t"hello" *.btm
---- c:\test.btm:
echo hello
1 line in 1 file
If you use the same command with /X, the offset is displayed instead of
the text:
[c:\] ffind /t"hello" /x *.btm
---- c:\test.btm:
Offset: 26 (1Ah)
1 line in 1 file
You can specify a search string with either /T or /X, but not both.
Created using Inf-PHP v.2 (c) 2003 Yuri Prokushev
Created using Inf-HTML v.0.9b (c) 1995 Peter Childs