
                             C o u n t e r  V1.6

                              by John Augustine

  "Counter" was written in Assembly for Dos systems, but it "Runs" in
Windows too.  Requires Color Graphics CGA or better, doesn't need much memory,
and no "installation" is required.

  WINDOWS 3.1/95/98/ME/XP:

  No installation is required.  Simply copy "COUNTER.EXE" into a directory
(folder) of your choice (example: "UTILS").  Click on "Start" (Windows 3.1,
"File") and "Run".  Type (example): "C:\UTILS\COUNTER" and press Enter or
click "Ok" to launch COUNTER.

  PLEASE NOTE:

  This is NOT a "free" program. See "CONCLUSION" near the end of this document
for details on making a small "donation" and becoming a "donor".

  Please read, "IMPROVE.TXT" (use "HELP.EXE") for improvement information.

  Did you ever want to know how many times a text pattern/s occurs in a
file/s?  Did you ever want to know if a file is a 100% text file?

  "Counter" will count the number of times a text (or... see below) pattern
(single character, word, phrase, etc.) occurs in a single file, a select group
of files, or all the files in the directory/folder.  Tip: Count the number of
times each letter of the alphabet occurs in a document.

  WILDCARD (*) IN THE PATTERN OPTION:

  You can use "Wildcards" (*) in the pattern.  If a "*" is detected in the
pattern, you will be asked if this is a Wildcard in case you are actually
looking for a pattern with a "*" in it.

  "EXCLUSIVE" PATTERN OPTION:

  If you count the number of times "ram" (example) occurs in a file/s, words
such as (I capitalized RAM for emphasis): progRAM, progRAMmer, fRAMework,
paRAMeter, gRAMmar, fRAMe, etc., will also be counted.  "Exclusive" mode
avoids this problem.

  IMPORTANT "EXCLUSIVE" NOTES:

  "Exclusive" pattern search and count checks to make sure that the
"character" immediately before and after the pattern found in the file, is not
a letter (part of a larger word).

  Do NOT use "Exclusive" if you are counting a model number/s (example).  It
is possible that the number may also have a letter suffix (example: HR-D865,
HR-D865A).  I recommend using "Exclusive" for a word search/count only.

  To avoid missing a plural of an "Exclusive" pattern, example "arts", I
recommend that you enter both words, "art" and "arts" in a "List of Patterns".
The number of times each pattern was found will be displayed.  Note: "Art" can
be part of a larger word such as "part", "partial", etc.

  LIST OF PATTERNS:

  You can enter (type) a list of patterns within "Counter" or use an ascii
text editor or Dos's "COPY CON" command to create a file (list).  If the list
is short and will be used only once, I recommend entering the list within
"Counter".  If the list of patterns will be used over again in the future, I
recommend that you compose the list using an ascii text editor (or "COPY CON")
so it can be saved as a file.

  Here is an example of a list of patterns:

modem
modems
printer
printers
graphic
graphics         IMPORTANT: Each pattern MUST end with a carriage return and
lcd monitor                 line feed (usually does).
text utility
software
keyboard
game
games


  "ALL COUNT" FEATURE:

   With this feature, you can count how many times each byte from 0 to 255
occurs in a file.  Note: A "byte" (8 bits) has a range from 0 to 255 (decimal).
One use for this feature is to see if a file is 100% "text".  Example: If you
see a count of 0 for every byte except "009" (tab), "010" (line feed), "013"
(carriage return), and from "032" to "126" (text characters), then this file
is 100% "text".  Also, this feature can be used to check if a file contains a
certain byte/s, see differences in graphics or sound files, etc.

  COUNT SINGLE PATTERN REPORT:

  You will see a list of all the files plus the number of times the pattern
occurred in each file, including files that had no occurrences (0).  "Counter"
will count to 9,999,999,999 (almost 10 billion!) for each file.

  LIST OF PATTERNS REPORT:

  You will see a list of all the patterns, followed by the number of times
each pattern occurred (up to almost 4.3 billion for each pattern!) in each
file.  By pressing the Enter key at any time, the next file will be searched
and the patterns counted (if more than one file is involved).

  REPORT TO A FILE OPTION (V1.4 feature):

  If you want to save the report to a file (text), you will be presented with
that option when you view the report, then press Esc to exit, or Enter for the
next file (list of patterns).  If you are using the list of patterns function
for more than one file (wildcard ("*") is part of the filename), the first
time you press Enter for the next file, you will be presented with the option
to create a report file.  IMPORTANT NOTE: You must press Enter for each file
to add the report to the file.  If you abort (Esc) before all the files have
been "counted", the file you viewed when you pressed Esc will be the last one
in the report file.

  F.Y.I.

  If you try to count the number of characters in a file/s (and compare it to
the file length (bytes) in the directory) by using a single "*" for Wildcard,
if the file is a non-text file, the count will probably come up short due to
"screening", rejecting non-text characters.  On a pure ascii file with an EOF
character, the results will be one short because the EOF marker is screened
out.

  "Counter" also includes a file/s viewer which allows you to view (in text
mode) one, many, of all the files (in the current directory) in a single pass.

  GETTING STARTED:

    ("FILENAME" represents the name of a file)

  Type (without quotes) "COUNTER FILENAME" and press Enter (sets a default
filename).

  or

  Type "COUNTER" and press Enter (you can enter the filename later).

  CONCLUSION:

  This is NOT a "free" program.  A one time donation is expected.  You choose
the amount ($5.00 minimum).  For your donation, you will become a "donor".
Your name, etc. will be added to the "donors" list.  As a "donor" (one time
donation), you can select (ask for) one or more programs to receive FREE such
as "Tree Restore", etc.  See (use "VIEW-DOC") "OTH-PGMS.DOC" for information
about other programs.  Please include your e-mail address with your donation,
and the name/s of the other program/s you want (if any).  I will tell you in
the email message about the attachment (programs.zip) so you know it is safe
to open.  As a "donor", you will be entitled to receive all improved and new
programs (at your request) developed in the future (sent to you by e-mail).
As a "donor", you may request (from time to time) the latest list of programs
from which you can select to receive FREE.  If you know another shareware
author with a better offer, please let me know.

  The donation will motivate me to develop more programs and make improvements
in existing programs (add new features).

  Comments or complaints are always welcomed via email.  If you use "snail
mail" and expect a reply, please include a S.A.S.E.

  If you are overseas, the local bank charges a $10.00 service fee for checks
outside of U.S. I recommend that you send U.S. cash instead.

  Send $5.00 (or more) check, money order, or cash (put in foil for security)
to:

                     John Augustine N3AOF
                     3129 Earl St.
                     Laureldale, Pa 19605

            E-Mail:  jaugust@bellatlantic.net

