Subj : Re: "On the Fly" Hex-numb conversion ... ???
To   : Gerald.Miller@xspamp0.f512.n342.z1.
From : Steve
Date : Sun Mar 03 2002 04:12 pm

From: "E. S. (Steve) Fabian" <ESFabian@BellAtlantic.net>

Gerald.Miller@xspamp0.f512.n342.z1.fidonet.org wrote:
>
> I don't
> believe that the extra percent symbol does any "harm" (other than
> adding another byte to the filesize for every extra %.  ???)...
>
> Your advice about the extraneous percent symbol is gratefully
> received and will be exercised should the filesize reach the
> critical boundary - 64K.

When you try to concatenate the values of two (or more) variables, your schem 
would have

        %a%%b%%c%

which is ambiguous - %% is also the representation of a literal %; the JP 
scheme

        %[a]%[b]%c

is unambiguous.

>  S> Are you sure that if 0000FE05.* is matched, no other files
>  S> can match "0000????.*" ? Because if it is possible, you have
>  S> to use move elaborate techniques, including
>  S> >>%inc\income.dat, etc.
>
> You have raised a very valid point and this gave me cause for
> concern....  The purpose of the snippet was to devise a method by
> which Squish (mail tosser) could handle mail packets
> (hex_number.* - where "*" would deal with the Fidonet naming
> convention of .SU# [# is a range of 0 to 9] {same for .MO#, .TU#,
> etc.}) coming from (so far) two different systems.
>
> I suppose I could create a list of file extensions that I wish to
> EXCEPT and apply the except command before the:
>
>     iff exist %INC%\0000????.* then
>
> command, but doing so could possibly create a very large list of
> valid file extensions to exclude (and then, there is always a
> possibility that some will be missed)...
>
> The other alternative (that I can think of) would be to create a
> list of valid file extensions to include and replace the "*" with
> a pointer to that file...  ???
>
> I just checked my %INC directory and the only file that came
> "close" to violating 0000????.* was 00GLOBAL.ZIP, so I guess that
> I have to consider the possibility of receiving a 0000WHAT.*,
> 0000EVER.*, or 0000TEXT.* file (etc.)....
>
> What is (are) your recommendation(s)???
>
> And, before I forget...  Why append the INCOME.DAT file?  The
> purpose was to do a (one-time) directory listing (sorted by
> date/time) of any "hex" files because when Squish has completed
> processing these files, they no longer exist - Squish deletes
> them when all the *.PKT files have been extracted (Squish then
> tosses the *.PKT files to their respective area_tag_name and then
> deletes the *.PKT files).
>
>            Thanks ... Gerald
>
> ---
>  * Origin: achieved through a ceremony... to summon the spirits. (1:342/512)


--
E. S. "Steve" Fabian               ESFabian@BellAtlantic.net
POB 1540, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034    Telephone: 856-354-1752
EMPIRE Consultants, Inc.           Director, Software Development
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