Substitution Wildcards

Reference:        Wildcard Toolbar
                        Wildcard Definitions
                        Alphabetical Commands List
                        Topical Commands List

There are three types of substitution wildcards:

            %U                                                       Add unique suffix

            %’<variable>’                                        Insert variable value

.           %[<section name>,<parameter>]            Insert value from wildcard file.

The %U wildcard can occur anywhere in the target file name.  When resolved, it always adds a unique suffix when a file with the target name already exists.  This is particularly useful when combined with the ToOne variant of the From command.

The %’ wildcard looks up the <variable> in the current list.  This variable must be one of the pre-assigned variables, a variable from a previous While Next command, or a variable from a previous Assign command.

Finally, the %[ wildcard reads a value from the wildcard file and places it into the script.  Like all wildcard actions, this takes place at run-time when the script line is processed.

Wildcard files are structured like .ini files, with sections and parameters.  The <section name> is enclosed in square brackets “[]” and <parameter>s simply follow the section.  Variable names may be used for both the <section name> and <parameter>.  This allows you to dynamically control the values being retrieved.  The entire construct is replaced with the parameter value, if any.  For example, if the file contained the following:

            [Date values]
            Yesterday=05/10/2000

and the wildcard was specified as follows:

            :From: c:\test\File-%[Date values,Yesterday].txt
            :To    : c:\temp\Thename.txt

the resulting transfer would copy the file c:\test\file-05/10/2000.txt.