Mel Patrick wrote: >I'm reasonably sure that this was discussed not too long ago so humour my sleight of mind, but whats the fastest way to look through a drive(s) to locate a "given" filename (no pathname or fSpec) and then return all the matches? >i.e. do a find for a filename called "WheredMelLeaveIt" that was say created on a specific date (maybe even match a type and creator). >The date might be handy so I can sort them from newest to oldest. It would be nice to get either a pathname or fSpec back that I could open. >Anyone? Is this something that could be done by searching the desktop database? Or? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine solution to your problem called ' FN catSearch.BAS ' A recursive cat search for ' mini-runtime applications and/or ' code resources. written by ' by R.W. Lambert & Mel Patrick ' Copyright © 1995 ' Ariel Publishing, Inc. which has the advantage to also run under pre-OS 7 systems. You will find it on the FB^3 pre-release CD in the Folder "Function Libraries ƒ" which is in the Folder "FJ2" and I am sure you will find it on the actual Function Junction CD. The program works fine but is limited in speed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A post-OS 7 solution, that should be much faster, involves the use of the Apple Toolbox Call ToolBox FN PBCatSearchSync(long) = word `0x205F,0x7018,0xA260,0x3E80 that is contained in FB^3 Tlbx Standard.Incl. and is well described in InsideMacintosh/Files. There you will find a Pascal example of how to use this call. It is claimed to be more then 10 times faster than the explicit recursive algorithm. Presently, I struggle with the application of this call under FB II, especially with the variables in the HParamBlock that partially are of the byte type not directly supported under FB II. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am sure the search can also be performed by use of Sherlock. But I have no experience with it and, as far as I know, it is not available under OS 7.x. Good luck! Herbie ******************************** (H.Glunder@...)