Z Zippy Directory Scan
This command enables you to search through the file descriptions in various file directories for the text that you specify.
Subcommands
| [directory#] | Directory number to search. | PCBoard scans for the indicated text in this directory. When using the Zippy Directory Scan command, you must specify a directory or range of directories that PCBoard should search for the file specification. You may list a single directory, a range of directories in the format #-# or a list of directories in a #;#;# format. There are two letters that you may use as a directory number. If you use A for the directory number, it tells PCBoard to search all file directories in the current conference. Likewise, if you use U for the directory number, the upload directory of the current conference will be searched. |
| [search text] | Text to search for. | This is the text you wish to search for in the directory listings. If you wish to search for an imbedded space (e.g., “TEST ”), you will need to imbed that part of the string in quotes as shown above. Since you cannot enter quote characters on the command line you would not be able to enter the above example on the command line. This search string may also make use of Boolean operands if you wish to further qualify your search. NOTE: The search is not case-sensitive. This means that if you search for the word TEXT then it is the same as if you had searched for word Text. In other words, capitalization of your search text does not matter. |
| D | Each file found with the specified text is flagged for download. | The system does not immediately download the files, but waits until the D or DB user commands. |
| N | This subcommand enables you to include the minimum file date from which the scan should search for. This is identical to the N user command but you can use it in conjunction with a zippy scan to help restrict the file descriptions that you search. | |
| NS | Screen output is displayed in non-stop or continuous mode. |
Description
This command scans the file directories to find a specified text string. If you do not specify the text to search for on the command line, you will be prompted to enter the text you wish to search for. Possibly one of PCBoard's most powerful time-saving features, the Zippy directory scan command will locate text in both the file name field and the descriptions. Like other PCBoard searching features, the zippy directory scan command utilizes Boolean operands (AND, OR, and NOT).
How To Make Your Search More Specific
Quite often you may notice that your search found too many matches. Rather than wading through all of the matches to find what you were really after, let PCBoard help you make your search more specific so that you can save some additional time.
Perhaps the easiest way to restrict your search is to use Boolean operands. As an example, let's say that you scanned all file directories in the current conference for the word DISK. After a couple of screenfulls, you realized that you did not make your search specific. At this point, you realize what you are really after is a utility which will format a floppy disk. You could enter “Format a disk” in the text to search for. However, you are pretty sure that all of the descriptions of the utilities that format disks would not contain “Format a disk” in the description.
What you would need to use in this example is the Boolean AND operator. In the text to search for, tell PCBoard that you want to search for DISK & FORMAT. The & character signifies to PCBoard that you want to search for both words in the description but you do not care if they are right next to each other in the description. Instead, you just want them to be anywhere in the file description.
If you searched for DISK & FORMAT and it still turned up too many matches, you may need to restrict your search even further. You notice that some of the matches were dated back in 1989 and may not be compatible with your current system. Therefore, you want to display only utilities that are dated 01-01-90 or older. What you could do, is use the N subcommand as described above. You would type the following for this final search:
Z N 010190 DISK & FORMAT A
You will notice that this tells PCBoard to zippy scan all file directories but only display those files that are newer than 01-01-90 and that have the words DISK and FORMAT in the description.
How To Make Your Searches Less Specific
Sometimes you may want to make your searches less specific. You may be wondering why you want to make your searches less specific. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is with an example.
If you were searching for all hard drive utilities you may enter HARD DRIVE as your search text. However, some people may call them hard disks instead of hard drives. You are now faced with a small dilemma. You either have to run two searches, or you have to find a way to search for either HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK. To specify that you want to search for either phrase you use the Boolean OR operator. You use the ⇒ character to denote the Boolean OR operator. If you will recall, we were going to search for HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK. If you simply replace the word or with the ⇒ character that will make the search string correct.
Now, when you search, you will be searching for HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK anywhere in the description. You could get fancy with Boolean operators and consolidate this just a little more by searching for HARD & (DRIVE ⇒ DISK). Since you are going to be looking for HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK, you can just say search for the word HARD and either the word DISK or DRIVE.
Examples
Perhaps the simplest example would be to search for a single word in all file directories in the current conference. If you wanted to search for the word VGA then you would enter the following at the conference command prompt.
Z VGA A
Obviously, this would probably turn up quite a few matches, so you may want to define your search better. If you were only interested in games that supported VGA then you may want to modify so that you search for the words VGA and GAME. You would enter the following at the conference command prompt:
Z VGA & GAME A
Since you are searching for the words VGA and GAME, it does not matter what order you put the words in. For example, you would perform the exact same search if you typed the following:
Z GAME & VGA A