How to find/get the FULL path from a path with pattern recognition???

If I provide these paths:

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\
C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\
C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\

....I would like to retreive

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\

....in all cases?

Apparrently DIR() only give the last folder, and only if the middle folder
doesn't contain a pattern char!
FileSystemObject won't return and full path if given a pattern path!
API 'GetLongPathName' fails completely if using pattern chars!

What am I missing?!?

...and if I'm putting in the short name extender (~) everything goes south


How to get the FULL path, no matter what pattern chars I have included in
the path???


Thanks,

CE

Not sure where you get the idea Dir only gives the last folder. Dir works in
two ways, you can check if a particular folder (or file) exists, or you can
loop (typically Do-While) an entire folder to return all its folders and
subfolders until Dir returns empty. In the loop you can check for your
pattern match, if it matches (eg with the Like operator) recursively call
the same routine passing the found folder as the parent folder for the next
call, and so on. Also pass the folder level incrementing with +1 (be sure to
do that ByVal) and say a string array for each of your folder generations to
compare with in the given "level".

Also I don't follow what you mean or your objective when you say you
"provide these paths". In the second example would
"C:\FoDder1\Folder2\Folder3\" be correct or incorrect, and if incorrect why.
What are you actually trying to do.

You might also use FSO which is perhaps more intuitive, though generally I
prefer Dir.

Regards,
Peter T


"Charlotte E." wrote in message
...
How to find/get the FULL path from a path with pattern recognition???

If I provide these paths:

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\
C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\
C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\

...I would like to retreive

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\

...in all cases?

Apparrently DIR() only give the last folder, and only if the middle folder
doesn't contain a pattern char!
FileSystemObject won't return and full path if given a pattern path!
API 'GetLongPathName' fails completely if using pattern chars!

What am I missing?!?

..and if I'm putting in the short name extender (~) everything goes south


How to get the FULL path, no matter what pattern chars I have included in
the path???


Thanks,

CE

What are you actually trying to do.

I need to know what full path a given pattern actually finds...
...no matter which or how many or where pattern chars are included.

CE


"Peter T" wrote in message
...
Not sure where you get the idea Dir only gives the last folder. Dir works
in two ways, you can check if a particular folder (or file) exists, or you
can loop (typically Do-While) an entire folder to return all its folders
and subfolders until Dir returns empty. In the loop you can check for your
pattern match, if it matches (eg with the Like operator) recursively call
the same routine passing the found folder as the parent folder for the
next call, and so on. Also pass the folder level incrementing with +1 (be
sure to do that ByVal) and say a string array for each of your folder
generations to compare with in the given "level".

Also I don't follow what you mean or your objective when you say you
"provide these paths". In the second example would
"C:\FoDder1\Folder2\Folder3\" be correct or incorrect, and if incorrect
why. What are you actually trying to do.

You might also use FSO which is perhaps more intuitive, though generally I
prefer Dir.

Regards,
Peter T


"Charlotte E." wrote in message
...
How to find/get the FULL path from a path with pattern recognition???

If I provide these paths:

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\
C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\
C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\

...I would like to retreive

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\

...in all cases?

Apparrently DIR() only give the last folder, and only if the middle
folder doesn't contain a pattern char!
FileSystemObject won't return and full path if given a pattern path!
API 'GetLongPathName' fails completely if using pattern chars!

What am I missing?!?

..and if I'm putting in the short name extender (~) everything goes south


How to get the FULL path, no matter what pattern chars I have included in
the path???


Thanks,

CE

I agree with Peter that using the 'Like' operator in a 'drill-down'
loop is probably the easiest way to go! Perhaps you may find Karl's
'DirDrill' example worth modifying to that end, so it only returns
Dirs...

http://vb.mvps.org/samples/DirDrill/

I also have a FSO version of this if you're interested!

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

Only lightly tested

Sub test()
Dim i As Long, j As Long
Dim cnt As Long
Dim arrS(1 To 6), aPath
Dim ac(1 To 6) As Collection

arrS(1) = "C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\"
arrS(2) = "C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\"
arrS(3) = "C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\"
arrS(4) = "C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\"
arrS(5) = "C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\"
arrS(6) = "C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\"

For i = 1 To 6
aPath = arrS(i)
aPath = Split(aPath, "\")
cnt = UBound(aPath)
Set ac(i) = New Collection
If Len(aPath(UBound(aPath))) = 0 Then cnt = cnt - 1
recDirTest aPath(0), aPath, ac(i), 1, cnt
Next

For i = 1 To 6
For j = 1 To ac(i).Count
Debug.Print i; j, ac(i)(j)
Next
Next

End Sub

Sub recDirTest(sPath, arrPath, col As Collection, _
ByVal level As Long, last As Long)
Dim i As Long
Dim nAttr As Long
Dim sFF As String
Dim cPaths As Collection

Call Dir("nul")
If Right$(sPath, 1) < "\" Then sPath = sPath & "\"
sFF = Dir$(sPath, vbDirectory)

Do While Len(sFF)
nAttr = GetAttr(sPath & sFF)
If (nAttr And vbDirectory) = vbDirectory Then
If sFF Like arrPath(level) Then
If level = last Then
col.Add sPath & sFF
ElseIf level < last Then
If cPaths Is Nothing Then Set cPaths = New Collection
cPaths.Add sPath & sFF
End If
End If
End If
sFF = Dir$(, vbDirectory)
Loop

If Not cPaths Is Nothing Then
For i = 1 To cPaths.Count
recDirTest cPaths(i), arrPath, col, level + 1, last
Next
End If

End Sub

BTW, you can't return C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\ from your 6th string

Regards,
Peter T


"Charlotte E." wrote in message
...
What are you actually trying to do.

I need to know what full path a given pattern actually finds...
..no matter which or how many or where pattern chars are included.

CE


"Peter T" wrote in message
...
Not sure where you get the idea Dir only gives the last folder. Dir works
in two ways, you can check if a particular folder (or file) exists, or
you can loop (typically Do-While) an entire folder to return all its
folders and subfolders until Dir returns empty. In the loop you can check
for your pattern match, if it matches (eg with the Like operator)
recursively call the same routine passing the found folder as the parent
folder for the next call, and so on. Also pass the folder level
incrementing with +1 (be sure to do that ByVal) and say a string array
for each of your folder generations to compare with in the given "level".

Also I don't follow what you mean or your objective when you say you
"provide these paths". In the second example would
"C:\FoDder1\Folder2\Folder3\" be correct or incorrect, and if incorrect
why. What are you actually trying to do.

You might also use FSO which is perhaps more intuitive, though generally
I prefer Dir.

Regards,
Peter T


"Charlotte E." wrote in message
...
How to find/get the FULL path from a path with pattern recognition???

If I provide these paths:

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\
C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\
C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\

...I would like to retreive

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\

...in all cases?

Apparrently DIR() only give the last folder, and only if the middle
folder doesn't contain a pattern char!
FileSystemObject won't return and full path if given a pattern path!
API 'GetLongPathName' fails completely if using pattern chars!

What am I missing?!?

..and if I'm putting in the short name extender (~) everything goes
south


How to get the FULL path, no matter what pattern chars I have included
in the path???


Thanks,

CE

Hi Peter and Garry,


Thanks to both of you for your input and code examples -and you're
absolutely right: A loop down the path is the way to go...
....I just didn't think of this because, I was so focused on a method to
return the path in one quick function.

Sometimes you cannot see the forest because of all them trees :-)

I got it working, so thank you to both of you...


CE




"Charlotte E." wrote in message
...
How to find/get the FULL path from a path with pattern recognition???

If I provide these paths:

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Fo?der1\Folder2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Fol*der2\Folder3\
C:\Folder1\Folde?2\?older3\
C:\Fol?er1\Fo*der2\Fo*der3\
C:\Fol*der1\Folder2\Fold?er3\

...I would like to retreive

C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\

...in all cases?

Apparrently DIR() only give the last folder, and only if the middle folder
doesn't contain a pattern char!
FileSystemObject won't return and full path if given a pattern path!
API 'GetLongPathName' fails completely if using pattern chars!

What am I missing?!?

..and if I'm putting in the short name extender (~) everything goes south


How to get the FULL path, no matter what pattern chars I have included in
the path???


Thanks,

CE

Hi Peter and Garry,


Thanks to both of you for your input and code examples -and you're
absolutely right: A loop down the path is the way to go...
...I just didn't think of this because, I was so focused on a method
to return the path in one quick function.

Sometimes you cannot see the forest because of all them trees :-)

I got it working, so thank you to both of you...


CE

That's great! Thanks for the feedback...

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion