Filters

The top component of the file browser shown in the introduction contained a Filter component. This consists of a text entry window containing a string of the form directory_name/file_pattern.

Some dialogues may not have a Filter component. In these cases the file_pattern is taken to be "*". Hence all files will be listed. The directory_name is the directory that the current list of files are contained within. The file_pattern is used to specify which of the files within this directory should be listed in the file list. The pattern uses the same form as UNIX shell wild card matching. To summarise this see the following table of simple examples.

*

Every filename

xb*

Every filename starting in "xb"

a*b

Every filename starting with "a" and ending with "b"

a?b

Every three letter filename with "a" as the first letter and "b" as the last letter.

*scf

Every filename ending in "scf"

*[sS]cf

Every filename ending with "scf" or "Scf".

*{scf,SCF}

Every filename ending with "scf" or "SCF".

Some file browsers also include a Formats component. This is used to select the input or output format of the selected file. Updating the format will typically also update the filter.