1.$ START: $ FILE = F$SEARCH("SYS$SYSTEM:*.EXE") $ IF FILE .EQS. "" THEN EXIT $ SHOW SYMBOL FILE $ GOTO START This command procedure displays the file specifications of the latest version of all .EXE files in the SYS$SYSTEM directory. (Only the latest version is returned because an asterisk (*) wildcard character is not used as the version number.) The filespec argument SYS$SYSTEM:*.EXE is surrounded by quotation marks (" ") because it is a character string expression. Because no stream-id argument is specified, the F$SEARCH function uses a single search stream. Each subsequent F$SEARCH call uses the same filespec argument to return the next file specification of an .EXE file from SYS$SYSTEM:. After the latest version of each .EXE file has been displayed, the F$SEARCH function returns a null string ("") and the procedure exits. 2.$ START: $ COM = F$SEARCH ("*.COM;*",1) $ DAT = F$SEARCH ("*.DAT;*",2) $ SHOW SYMBOL COM $ SHOW SYMBOL DAT $ IF (COM.EQS. "") .AND. (DAT.EQS. "") THEN EXIT $ GOTO START This command procedure searches the default disk and directory for both .COM and .DAT files. Note that the stream-id argument is specified for each F$SEARCH call so that the context for each search is maintained. The first F$SEARCH call starts searching from the top of the directory file for a file with a type .COM. When it finds a .COM file, a pointer is set to maintain the search context. When the F$SEARCH function is used the second time, it again starts searching from the top of the directory file for a file with a type .DAT. When the procedure loops back to the label START, the stream-id argument allows F$SEARCH to start searching in the correct place in the directory file. After all versions of .COM and .DAT files are returned, the procedure exits. 3.$ FILESPEC = F$SEARCH("TRNTO""SMITH SALLY""::DKA1:[PROD]*.DAT") $ SHOW SYMBOL FILESPEC FILESPEC = "TRNTO"smith password"::DKA1:[PROD]CARS.DAT" This example uses the F$SEARCH function to return a file specification for a file at a remote node. The access control string is enclosed in quotation marks because it is part of a character string expression when it is an argument for the F$SEARCH function. To include quotation marks in a character string expression, you must use two sets of quotation marks. Note that, when the F$SEARCH function returns a node name containing an access control string, it substitutes the word "password" for the actual user password.