Identifying file type by name
The SDL software uses the name of a file to identify the file's file type. (For XML files, the software additionally uses rules about the file contents.) You can specify the file names with a wildcard specification or a regular expression. You provide these rules in the File Type Information page of the Create File Wizard.
Wildcard Specification
This is the most common method used to specify file names. It is similar to the file association technique that Microsoft uses to identify file types.
For example, as in Windows, you probably want all files of the form*.html to be identified as HTML files. When you specify the file name using wildcards, you can use the standard wildcard characters, * and ?:
| * | Signifies any number of any characters. |
| ? | Signifies any one character |
Use a semicolon to separate specifications. This means you cannot use a semicolon within a specification.
In addition, Microsoft Windows restrictions apply, so you cannot use any of the following characters in the specification:
/ \ : < > " |
The rule for the Microsoft Word 2003 file types specifies:
*.doc; *.dot;
This matches any presented file that has a file name extension of *.doc or *.dot.
The following file name specification is more specific:
a* .do?
This matches any file name that starts with a and has a three letter file name extension that starts with do.
Regular Expression Specification
For more information, see the topics describing regular expressions.