HP Search/XL User's Guide

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4 Specifying Parameters
This chapter describes the specifiers for file names, search patterns, and options in HP Search.
File Name Parameters
HP Search treats every parameter on the command line before the keyword FOR as a file name specifier.
You can specify multiple file names in the command line by delimiting each file name with commas or
spaces.
A specified file must meet three criteria before it is searched:
1 The file must be in ASCII format.
2 The file must have record lengths measured in bytes.
3 You must have read access to the file.
An indirect file, that is, a file containing file names, may be specified by typing ^filename (where filename
is the name of a file containing one file specifier per line). Any file name specifier valid in the command
line is also valid in an indirect file, including a reference to another indirect file. However, indirect files
may only be nested eleven deep.
A set of files may be specified together using the MPE LISTF wildcard characters: "@", "#", and "?". These
LISTF file-matching wildcards are given in Table 3-1 below.
To specify a file named "FOR", "WITH" or "HELP" in the INFO string, precede the file name with a
backslash ("\").
If a file exists in both the permanent and temporary file domains, HP Search only looks for files in the
permanent domain.
Pattern Parameters
A pattern is a string of text that HP Search attempts to locate in the various files you specify. Any
parameters listed in the HP Search command line after FOR but before WITH are treated as patterns. On
the command line, you may specify that multiple patterns be searched by delimiting each pattern with
blank spaces or commas. On the command line, if you want to specify a space in your pattern, your pattern
must be enclosed in single quotation marks. If you want to specify multiple patterns at the pattern
prompt, you must enter them one pattern per line.
Another way to have HP Search look for multiple patterns is to specify one file containing many patterns.
You can specify such a file in HP Search just like you would a single pattern: simply type ^filename where
filename is the name of a file containing one pattern per line. If you want one or more blanks to precede a
Table 1: LISTF Wildcard Characters
Wildcard Matches
@ Any number of alphanumeric charaters
# A single digit.
? A single alphanumeric character