Directory name change

[Tony D'Andrea]

I have a little problem that I can't figure out. I need to
delete files from a computer each time it is booted up. I've
figured out how to delete the files from "8.3" directories with
no problem, and have used the long file name files I've found
in other Power Basic forums questions. I need to delete files
in the client's "C:\Progra~1\Netscape\Users\Somename\Cache".
Where my problem occurs is that not all my clients have the
same "Somename" directory under their Users directory. Some are
"Default" others, well you get the idea. I'm using PB3.5 for
DOS. Is there any way I can pull the unknown directory from
Users and then put that directory in my DIR$ so the files can be
deleted?

Again the following does work if "default" is the directory
between "Users" and "Cache":

Caches$=DIR$("C:\Progra~1\Netscape\Users\DEFAULT\Cache\*.*")
if Caches$ <> "" then Kill Caches$

I just need to know how to find out and replace the "DEFAULT"
directory (or whatever the name of the directory is) in my
program line. Any help will be appreciated.


Tony D'Andrea


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[Matthias Kuhn]

Hi Tony,

under dos I´ve testet:

shell "dir /s default. > yourfile"

The /s option seaches all subdirectories too.

The '.' point after Your directory is very important;
it searches only for directories.

In 'yourfile' you may extract the whole path.

Hope this help´s.

Regards

Matthias Kuhn

Germany

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[Mel Bishop]

The period works only if your sub-directorys don't have an
extension. Most don't but some do.

Also, you can use the /b (bare) switch, making /s/b. This
deletes all unnecessary entries, giving only the names / paths
specified in the search criteria.


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[Lance Edmonds]

One word... "Ugh"! I consider this kind of technique of obtaining a directory listing to be very antiquated.

That is, once you get the initial directory listing in a file, you have to read the content of the file and decypher it. The format of the content will also depend on the O/S and LOCALE information, etc, so your code will have to be tested on a lot of platforms to ensure your code will work reliably.

You also have to examine each entry to determine if it is a directory or a file and repeat the SHELL operation for each child directory found. This means a lot of inefficient SHELLing and file reading (read: slow operation), and will require a certain amount of free memory be available for the repetitive SHELL operation to be accomplished by the command interpreter.

A better way is to enumerate the directories using DIR$("*.*",16).

In the EXAMPLE folder installed with PB/DOS you should find a file that uses recursive calling to enumerate a list of files. (I think it's called PBFIND.BAS or FILEFIND.BAS or similar)

To me, this would provide a better way of controlling your file and directory enumeration that is an order or magnitude more efficient aand considerably faster. Additionally, you code can delete the files it finds as it goes, and delete empty directories too.

Anyway, that is my $0.02 on this topic...

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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Mel Bishop]

Hi Lance. Just as a matter of clarification, my version of
PB/DOS doesn't support finding lower level sub-directories. If
I just go DIR$ ("C:\*.*,16), in my version, it will find files
and sub-directories in just the root directory. Will the
latest version of PB/DOS find lower level subs? (AKA tree)
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[This message has been edited by Mel Bishop (edited March 07, 2001).]

[Lance Edmonds]

All versions of PowerBASIC support it [indirectly]. I'm not aware of any language that returns a directory or file name below the level specified in the filespec parameter.

The concept of enumerating a directory tree is performed like this:

Starting with a given directory level (say, "C:\*.*"), you read (enumerate) the returned names and test whether they are directories or files. If you encounter a directory, you build that directory name into the the next DIR$() call (ie, if you find a directory called "DOS", you would then enumerate "C:\DOS\*.*").

This process keeps repeating until no further sub directories can be located for a given directory name. WHile the coding for this may seem to be complicated at first, using a recursive function call makes this a breeze, although writing bug-free recursive function can be difficult, since sorting out variable scope gets complicated, and you have to ensure you do not overflow the stack frame with deep recursion.

A "basic" example of a recursive function is the Factorial example noted in the PB User Guide.

For a more intricate example, please study the file I previously mentioned... fully understanding how it works is a good test to see how well your brain operates first thing in the morning without first drinking a couple of cups of strong coffee.

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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Dave Stanton]

This code is extracted from my tool chest.
You may find it of use.

Dave

    $IF 0

        A recursive file finder

        Various bits of this code were pinched from
        a wide range other people -  thanks to them

        Dave Stanton 8/03/2001

    $ENDIF

    DIM DYNAMIC Fils$(1:1)
    Filemask$="PB*.EXE"
    Rootpath$="C:\"
    F??= Whereis(Filemask$,Rootpath$,Fils$())
    PRINT Fils$(1)
    FOR Q?? = 2 TO F??
      PRINT Fils$(Q??)
    NEXT Q??
    PRINT USING$("###### Files",F??)


     FUNCTION Whereis(Filemask$,Rootpath$,Fils$()) PUBLIC AS WORD
         LOCAL D$(),Fptr??,Dptr??
         DIM D$(0:100)
         Fptr??=0
         Dptr??=0
         D$(0)=Rootpath$
         Whereinbranch Filemask$,Fils$(),Fptr??,D$(),Dptr??
         IF Fptr?? THEN
            REDIM PRESERVE Fils$(1:Fptr??)
         ELSE
            Fils$(1)="No matching files for "+Filemask$
         END IF
         FUNCTION=Fptr??
     END FUNCTION

    SUB Whereinbranch(Filemask$,Fils$(),Fptr??,D$(),Dptr??)
        SHARED Dmax??
        LOCAL Z$(),Q??,Newsize??,Chunk?
        DIM Z$(1:10)
        Chunk?=25 'Extra room in Fils$()
        Lpath$=RTRIM$(D$(Dptr??))
        IF RIGHT$(Lpath$,1)<>"\" THEN Lpath$=Lpath$+"\"
        Q??=Getfilenames(Lpath$+Filemask$,Z$(),0)'Files
        IF Fptr??+Q??>UBOUND(Fils$) THEN
           Newsize??=Fptr??+Q??+Chunk?
           REDIM PRESERVE Fils$(1:Newsize??)
        END IF
        FOR P??=1 TO Q??
            INCR Fptr??
            Fils$(Fptr??)=Lpath$+Z$(P??)
        NEXT P??
        Q??=Getfilenames(Lpath$+"*.*",Z$(),1)'Subdir
        FOR P??=1 TO Q??
            INCR Dptr??
            D$(Dptr??)=Lpath$+Z$(P??)
            Whereinbranch Filemask$,Fils$(),Fptr??,D$(),Dptr??
        NEXT P??
        Dmax??=MAX(Dmax??,Dptr??)
        Dptr??=Dptr??-Q??
    END SUB

     FUNCTION Getfilenames(Fmask$,Z$(),Flag?)  PUBLIC AS WORD
         LOCAL Filname$,Q$,Q1$,Attr?
         Q$=""
         IF Flag?=0 THEN Attr?=0  ' Normal files
         IF Flag?=1 THEN Attr?=16 ' Sub directories
         Filname$=DIR$(Fmask$,Attr?)
         DO UNTIL Filname$=""
            Readdta Filn$,Fsize???,Fattr?,Tim$,Dat$
            IF (Fattr? AND Attr?)=Attr? THEN
                Q1$=SPACE$(12)
                MID$(Q1$,1,12)=Filname$
                Q$=Q$+Q1$
            END IF
            Filname$=DIR$
         LOOP
         Alen??=LEN(Q$)/12
         IF Alen?? THEN
            REDIM Z$(1:Alen??)
            FOR Q??= 1 TO Alen??
               Z$(Q??)=MID$(Q$,Q??*12-11,12)
            NEXT Q??
         ELSE
            Z$(1)="" 'No matching files
         END IF
         FUNCTION=Alen??
     END FUNCTION


    SUB Readdta(Filname$,Fsize???,Fattr?,Tim$,Dat$)  PUBLIC
        LOCAL Dtaseg??,Dtaoff?,Temp?
        Getdta Dtaseg??,Dtaoff??
        DEF SEG = Dtaseg??
        Fattr?=PEEK(Dtaoff?? + &H15)
        Temp??=BITS??(PEEKI(Dtaoff??+&H16))
        Secs?=2*(Temp?? AND &H1F)
        SHIFT RIGHT Temp??,5
        Mins?=Temp?? AND &H3F
        SHIFT RIGHT Temp??,6
        Hour?=Temp?? AND &H1F
        Tim$= Zpad$(Hour?)+":"+Zpad$(Mins?)+":"+Zpad$(Secs?)
        Temp??=BITS??(PEEKI(Dtaoff??+&H18))
        Day?= Temp?? AND &H1F
        SHIFT RIGHT Temp??,5
        Mon?= Temp?? AND &H0F
        SHIFT RIGHT Temp??,4
        Year?=80+(Temp?? AND &H7F)
        Dat$= Zpad$(Day?)+"/"+Zpad$(Mon?)+"/"+Zpad$(Year?)
        Fsize???=BITS???(PEEKL(Dtaoff??+&H1A))
        Filname$=PEEK$(Dtaoff??+&H1E,13)
        DEF SEG
     END SUB


     SUB Getdta(Dtaseg??,Dtaoff??)   PUBLIC
         ! push ds
         ! push si
         ! mov  ax,&H2F00
         ! int &h21
         ! lds si,Dtaseg??
         ! mov ds:[si],es
         ! lds si,Dtaoff??
         ! mov ds:[si],bx
         ! pop si
         ! pop ds
     END SUB

     FUNCTION Zpad$(BYVAL N)    PUBLIC
         FUNCTION=Charpad$(N,2,48)
     END FUNCTION

     FUNCTION Charpad$(BYVAL N,BYVAL Siz?,BYVAL Pchar?)  PUBLIC
         LOCAL Temp$
         Temp$=STRING$(Siz?,Pchar?)+Ltrim$(STR$(N))
         FUNCTION=RIGHT$(Temp$,Siz?)
     END FUNCTION

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[Tony D'Andrea]

I would like to take a moment and thank everyone for helping
me with this project. In time I hope I can help someone using
PB products. TIA



Tony D'Andrea
[email protected]


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