From: fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com   
      
   JJ wrote:   
   >   
   > Oh, I see. I didn't realize asterisk as a leading wildcard is   
   > supported for string replacement. That's indeed a faster way to find   
   > the substring offset. Thanks.   
   >   
   > Though, in a different topic but related to that asterisk wildcard...   
   > Although I haven't yet need to do it, is it possible to replace   
   > literal asterisk character itself excluding any characters preceeding   
   > it, using replace string substitution? I've tried escaping the   
   > asterisk and using double asterisks, but it doesn't work. For   
   > example, to replace `*` with `;`, so that e.g. `abc*def` would become   
   > `abc;def`.   
   >   
   >  @echo off   
   >  setlocal   
   >  call :repesc "abc*def" result   
   >  echo escape=%result%   
   >  call :repdbl "abc*def" result   
   >  echo double=%result%   
   >  goto :eof   
   >   
   >  :repesc   
   >  set "a=%~1"   
   >  set "%2=%a:^*=;%"   
   >  goto :eof   
   >   
   >  :repdbl   
   >  set "a=%~1"   
   >  set "%2=%a:**=;%"   
   >  goto :eof   
   >   
   > Here, the result are:   
   >   
   >  escape=abc*def   
   >  double=;def   
      
   I guess you could use ** to chop off the first part of the string, then   
   measure its length and then reassemble it, like   
      
   set x=abc*def   
   set y=%x:**=;%   
   [...get length of x and y and x-y...]   
   set /a prefix_len = x_len - y_len   
   call set z=%%x:~0,%prefix_len%%%%y%   
   set z   
   pause   
      
      
   But my first idea started in the wrong direction.   
   I thought of putting something before the asterisk like   
      
   set y=%x:c*=c;%   
      
   which would work if you know the letter before it is c.   
      
   To try every letter you have to use FIND to do the substitution at the   
   right time (or else it would change back when it got to the next   
   letter), like this, but it's much slower.   
      
   @echo off   
   set y=abc*def   
   set "z="   
   for %%a in (a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z) do (   
    echo %y% | find "%%a*" >nul   
    if not errorlevel 1 (   
     call set z=%%y:%%a*=%%a$%%   
    )   
   )   
   set y   
   set z   
   pause   
      
      
   --   
    Defund the Thought Police   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)