| Bill Jonas on Mon, 4 Nov 2002 19:23:20 -0500 |
|
On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 06:30:04PM -0500, Paul wrote:
> Yes, DOS can handle wildcards.
*In the shell*. *In the shell*. Note:
> gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> >If DOS does wildcard expansions in the shell, but I don't think
^^^^^^^^^^^^
DOS would be an even poorer operating system if it didn't have wildcards
at all, but it doesn't handle wildcards *in the shell*. From looking at
some DOS/Windows code (to port it to Linux), I think that programs have
to call functions named findfirst() and findnext() in order to process
wildcarded filename specifications.
(Incidentally, this is why you can say something like 'ren *.foo *.bak'
and actually have it work, whereas in a *nix-based system you would have
to use a for loop. This, IMO, is the *only* redeeming feature of not
having the shell process the wildcards.)
--
Bill Jonas * bill@billjonas.com * http://www.billjonas.com/
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
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