INT 21,4E - Find First Matching File

AH = 4E

CX = attribute used during search (see ~FILE ATTRIBUTES~)

DS:DX = pointer to ASCIIZ filespec, including wildcards

on return:

AX = error code if CF set (see ~DOS ERROR CODE~)

~DTA~ = data returned from call in the format:

% Offset Size Description

00 byte attribute of search (undocumented)

byte drive letter used in search (DOS 3.1-4.x, undocumented)

01 byte drive letter used in search (undocumented)

11bytes search name used (DOS 3.1-4.x, undocumented)

02 11bytes search name used (undocumented)

0C byte attribute of search (DOS 3.1-4.x, undocumented)

0D word directory entry number (0 based, undocumented)

0F word starting cluster number of current directory; zero

for root directory (DOS 3.2+, undocumented)

dword pointer to DTA (DOS 2.x-3.1, undocumented)

11 word reserved

13 word starting cluster number of current directory; zero

for root directory (DOS 2.x+, undocumented)

15 byte attribute of matching file

16 word file time (see ~FILE ATTRIBUTES~)

18 word file date (see FILE ATTRIBUTES)

1A word file size

1E 13bytes ASCIIZ filename and extension in the form NAME.EXT

with blanks stripped

- returns information on first file matching specifications

- use ~INT 21,4F~ to retrieve following file matches

- DOS 2.x cannot find . and .. entries, while DOS 3.x can unless

they represent the root directory

- character devices return a zero for size, time and date in DOS 2.x,

while DOS 3.0 returns a 40h attribute and current time and date.

- multiple calls to this function with a character device will

result in unpredictable results

- normal files are always included along with files that match the

requested attributes except when the LABEL attribute is requested.

DOS 2.x returns all normal files when label is specified but 3.x

doesn't. It's up to the programmer to determine which actually

match the requested attributes.

- bit 8 of CX (file attributes) indicates Novell Netware shareable

- see INT 21,1A