16:35  12/01/94

MTS 1.3 - Multiple Text Search; Michael J Synnott; CIS 100317,2605; Jan 1994

MTS <pathname> <[!]Text1> [[!]Text2 ... [!]TextN] [/C] [/L] [/N]

        pathname  Name of files to be searched - May contain wildcards
        TextN     Text to search for in each line
                  Each item of text may be prefixed with '!' to indicate
                  that it must NOT occur in the line being searched

        /C        Make the search case sensitive
        /L        Format output for logging to printer or file
        /N        Suppress display of matching lines

Pressing [Esc] will stop the search once the current file is processed

Freeware - Distribute Freely and unmodified, please


MTS is a multiple text search facility which allows you to search text files
for lines on which several specified words exist. It is also possible to search
for lines on which specified words do NOT exist. Taking that a stage further,
it is possible to combine the two and search for lines on which certain words
exist and certain other words do not.

Here's an example:

Let's say you wish to search all of your .TXT files for lines on which the
words 'AARDVARK', 'PLATYPUS' and 'KANGAROO' occur but on which, the words
'PADDY', 'MICK' or 'IGNATIUS' do not. To achieve this you would enter:

    MTS *.txt aardvark platypus kangaroo !paddy !mick !ignatius


That's about all there is to it.



PARAMETERS:

pathname:
The path name specifies the files that you wish to search. It may include a
drive and path specifier and may include wild cards.

Text:
The words you wish to search for may be entered in any order, regardless of
the order in which they may be found on a line in a file being searched. They
may be entered in upper or lower case unless, of course, you are doing a case-
sensitive search. There is no limit to the number of words that can be
searched for.

Modifying parameters:
There are three parameters which modify the default behaviour of MTS. They
must be prefixed with a slash (/) and may be entered in upper or lower case.

/C
To make the search case-sensitive, include the parameter '/C'.

/L
MTS displays the name of each file as it searches it, by default. To suppress
this 'rolling' display, so you can redirect the output to a printer or file,
include the parameter '/L'.

/N
To suppress the output of matching lines, include the 'N' parameter.



Release History.

1.0   5 January 1994

1.1   7 January 1994

      Fixes:
      1. MTS was leaving the last searched filename on the screen when
         terminating

      2. If the user specified a path other than the current directory, MTS
         would FIND all matching files but would not OPEN them.


1.2   10 January 1994

      Fixes:
      1. MTS was not processing the entire chunk that it read from the file.
         Consequently, certain lines that should have been matched were not.


1.3   12 January 1994

      Fixes:
      1.   I rewrote the searching and buffering algorithm so MTS is now
         significantly faster than in previous versions.


About the author:
My name is Michael J Synnott - 'Mick' to all and sundry. I am 28 years of age
and employed as Software Development Manager at a London software house.
Believe it or not, I still enjoy programming as a hobby and NO!, I do NOT wear
bobble-hats and sit on the embankment at Clapham Junction with a notebook and
binoculars!

My philosophy towards utilities such as MTS is that they only take a few hours
to write so why shouldn't everyone benefit from them? I wrote MTS because my
programming team and I needed a facility to search our Clipper source files
for specific occurrences of word combinations. It's working well for us so I
hope you find it useful too.

If you have any queries, suggestions or bug reports concerning MTS, DEBIN, MBE
or any of my other utilities contact me on CompuServe at 100317,2605 or at my
home address:

    7 Winders Road
    Battersea
    London SW11 3HE
    England.

    +44 (0)71 924 2354

If you like good Rock Music, look out for the band 'STONE-BIRD' which is
enjoying a modicum of success on the London original music scene at the
moment. I'll be the bloke behind the Bass Guitar (No Bassist jokes, please!)

Thank you and goodnight.
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