Working with Wildcards, Spaces in Filenames, and More

These topics are are all related to specifying filenames in C-Kermit. Let’s dive in.

Quoting a filename that contains a space

Kermit treats a bare space as the end of a filename. To include a space in a filename, wrap the whole name in one of two delimiters:

• Braces: {a file.txt}
• Quotation marks (double quotes): "a file.txt"

Both work the same way in any command that takes a filename. Braces are always available. Double quote wrapping can be turned off with SET COMMAND DOUBLEQUOTING OFF, but is on by default.

Single quotes (apostrophes) don’t help. 'a file.txt' is read as two separate words.

A backslash alone doesn’t protect a space. a\ file.txt still splits into two words. Braces or double quotes are the only way to include a space in a filename.

To give several names with spaces to one MGET or MSEND command, wrap each one separately:

mget {file one.txt} {file two.txt}

Including a literal brace or quote character in a filename

If the filename itself contains a {, }, or " character, you need to escape it with a backslash according to these rules:

• A double quote inside a name wrapped in braces needs no escaping: {a "quoted" file.txt} works fine.
• A double quote inside a name wrapped in double quotes must be escaped: "a \"quoted\" file.txt".
• A balanced pair of literal braces inside a name wrapped in braces normally does not need escaping, except for the specific commands described below.

Numeric character codes

A backslash followed by a number inserts a single character by its numeric code. This applie anywhere Kermit interprets backslash codes, such as ECHO or an ASK prompt.

• Decimal (the default): \101 inserts the character whose decimal code is 101. You can also write it explicitly as \d101 or \D101.
• Octal: \o101 or \O101 inserts the character 101 octal (65 decimal).
• Hexadecimal: \x41 or \X41 inserts the character 41 hex (65 decimal). Hex always takes exactly two digits.

Decimal and octal read up to three digits, stopping early if a fourth digit would push the value past 255. \1015 reads as character 101 followed by a literal 5.

Where digit boundaries are ambiguous, wrap the number in braces. \{10}1 is character 10 followed by a literal 1, while \101 is character 101. Braces also apply to letter prefixes: \{o101}, \{x41}, \{d101}.

Differences in Embedded Braces by Command

Whether a literal { or } in a filename must be escaped (\{, \}) or left bare ({, }) depends on which command you’re using:

Examples for a file named file{one}.txt:

send file\{one\}.txt
get file{one}.txt
remote delete file{one}.txt

The general rule is to try the bare form first for GET-family and REMOTE commands, and the escaped form for everything else.

Known Limitations

These date back many years in C-Kermit, and haven’t yet been adjusted in the C-Kermit 11 series due to the invasiveness of the fix or other considerstations, though may be fixed in the future.

1. Renaming a file with a brace in its name directly to another specific name (rename file\{one\}.txt newname.txt) does not currently work, even though the name is unambiguous. Rename into a directory instead, keeping the same base name (rename file\{one\}.txt somedir), which works correctly.

2. MGET cannot currently receive a name that needs an escaped, embedded double quote when double quotes are used as the outer delimiter (e.g. mget "file\"one\".txt"). Use braces as the outer delimiter for such a name instead (mget {file"one".txt}), which works.

Wildcards

A wildcard pattern can matche multiple filenames. Most commands that take a filename also accept a wildcards.

Kermit may use its built-in wildcard engine, your shell’s wildcard engine, or wildcards can be disabled. This is governed by SET WILDCARD-EXPANSION.

For more on how wildcards work and what they match, see the information under HELP WILDCARD (or in the help-reference manual) for more details. They are similar to Unix shell conventions.

To match wildcard characters literally, precede them with a backslash. For instance, [a\-z] matches the letter a, a literal hyphen, or z. You can instead turn wildcard matching off entirely with SET WILDCARD-EXPANSION OFF.

Because { and } are both wildcard and quoting syntax, they can be ambiguous. Refer to the command table above for proper handling.