> "*" is wildcard. For DOS filenames it is everything after from the > * > to the extension, then if you use * on the extension, it is > everything > from that point on, so: Not any more :-) Which is why I started this thread. In "real" DOS it WAS indeed EVERYTHING after *. Now in a Windows DOS box it is "everything after the * until the string after the star matches something else in the filename Where the string after the star is either all the string or the string as far as another * whichever comes first. " and this is recursive (sort of) for any subsequent stars. eg Where DIR FRE*NERX.DOC would at one stage have matched FREDNERX.DOC and FREDFISH.DOC now it will only match the first of these. Which was the "wonderful discovery" that I made :-) And it's apparently been this way since Windows 95! I have never seen anything that describes this capability of DIR in a Windows DOS box and it's certainly not in the basic help. Which doesn't mean that many people haven't been using it for the last 10 years. RM -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist