Bob Schwier on Tue, 5 Nov 2002 17:00:05 -0500


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Re: [PLUG] split & cat


Okay,
DOS does wildcards but not as politely as Linux.  In a Linux or Unix
environment, I can type ls w*.txt and get results.  DOS only permits me to
type either dir word.* or *.txt to get results.
bs


On Mon, 4 Nov 2002, Bill Jonas wrote:

> 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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