Wildcard with dir function

[KGee]

I'm trying to use the dir function to get a list of files that meet a specific naming format. The format is file_name.#, where # represents a single numeric digit.

I've tried using the "#" as a wildcard but it doesn't work unless I have the syntax wrong. Any suggestions?

 

[GlennUK]

It's * for multiple characters and ? for a single character wildcard.

 

[antaeusguy]

I'm trying to use the dir function to get a list of files that meet a specific naming format. The format is file_name.#, where # represents a single numeric digit.

I've tried using the "#" as a wildcard but it doesn't work unless I have the syntax wrong. Any suggestions?

Hi KGee, I know you want to get a list of files with this naming format: file_name.#

However, what type of files you're looking for? .xlsx?

You could use this code:

Just replace the fpath with the folder you want to search in, and change the file format ".xlsx" to the one you wanna look for, e.g. ".docx" or ".pptx"

Sub getfile()
    Dim fname As String, fpath As String
 
    fpath = "C:\Users\John Smith\Desktop\Folder 1\"
    fname = Dir(fpath & "file_name.?" & ".xlsx", vbDirectory)
 
    Do While Len(fname) > 0
        Debug.Print fname
        fname = Dir
    Loop
 
End Sub

 

[KGee]

GlennUK: I will use the "?" to limit to a single character if there is no way to further specify that the single character is a number.

antaeusguy: The files are temporary and created by one of our applications. They are named file_name.1, file_name.2, etc. There can be up to seven in total and they are not always created in sequential order.