Microsoft KB Archive/37950

= Using Asterisk Wildcard Expansion with Trailing Characters =

Article ID: 37950

Article Last Modified on 5/12/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft MS-DOS 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 4.01 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0a
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.21 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q37950



SUMMARY
The asterisk (*) wildcard ignores any combination of trailing characters specified after the wildcard in either the filename or the extension. Thus, the following two MS-DOS commands have the same result, even though they have different file specifications:   DEL *.DAT DEL *h.DAT This is due to the definition of the &quot;*&quot; wildcard, and how it is expanded.

Please exercise caution when using the wildcard in destructive MS-DOS commands, such as DEL or ERASE. We strongly recommended that you use the exact wildcard combination in a DIR command first to examine the outcome prior to issuing any other command. This may alert you to any potential consequences of the command syntax prior to any destructive executions.

Additional query words: 6.22 4.00 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20

Keywords: KB37950

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