Filter

This command scans lines of text in a window or file and if any of them contain matchtext, they are written out to another window or file which you can then use.

/filter [-asdfkwxnpriocteubglLz] [n-n2] [c s] <infile | dialog id> <outfile | dialog id | alias> [alias] <matchtext>

The explanation of all switches at first:

Switch	Meaning
a	sorts filtered lines by calling the optional [alias]. The alias is passed two lines in $1 and $2, it must compare these and return -1, 0, or 1 to indicate relative sort order of these lines to each other.
s	makes the status window the infile.
d	makes the single message window the infile.
f	tells mIRC that the infile is actually a file.
k	indicates that you have specified an <alias> as the output instead of a window name. The alias will be called with the result of each filtered line.
w	tells mIRC that the infile is actually a window.
x	excludes matching lines.
n	prefixes lines with a line number.
p	wraps the text output in a custom window.
r	specifies the range of lines n to n2 for filtering.
i	indicates that you have provided a [dialog id] custom dialog control as the input.
o	indicates that you have provided a [dialog id] custom dialog control as the output.
c	clears the output window/file before writing to it.
t	sorts the output based on [c s], column C using character S as the columns separator.
e	specifies a descending sort.
u	specifies a numeric sort.
b	strips BURK codes when matching text.
g	indicates that matchtext is a regular expression.
l	filters from the side-listbox in the first window.
L	filters from the side-listbox in the second window
z	retains line colors when filtering between custom windows.

Note that you can filter blank lines by specifying $crlf for the matchtext.

The $filtered identifier is filled with the number of matches found, if any.

Some important facts about /filter:

• If you specify an window as output, it has to be created first. mIRC will not create one. Contrary to that, mIRC will create files, if they do not exist.
• If no matchtext is specified, all lines with be copied.
• The specied windows / files must be in the correct order (-fw copies from file to window, -wf from window to file).

Example

For some of the examples, you will need:

• a custom window. Open it with /window -e @filtertest
• a text file. Make a blank one with /write -c filtertest.txt

Example 1: Simple copying

; This will copy your entire mIRC.ini in the @filtertest window.
filter -fw mIRC.ini @filtertest
; creates another window called @filtertest2, then copies only lines from @filtertest that begin with a open square bracket [.
window @filtertest2 | filter -ww @filtertest @filtertest2 [*

; Copies the entire versions.txt to your filtertest window, with clearing it before.
filter -cfw versions.txt @filtertest
; Copies all lines with change in it to @filtertest, with clearing it before again.
filter -cww @filtertest @filtertest *change*