Arbortext Command Language > Using the Arbortext Command Language > Special Characters in Menu Paths
  
Special Characters in Menu Paths
A number of special characters can be used in the menu path to specify patterns, providing a compact way of expressing complex menu names.
As with regular expressions, most special characters can be preceded by a back slash (\) when you do not want them to be treated as special characters.
The special characters are listed below:
Special Characters In Menu Paths
.
Separates components of menu names. If it is the first character, it is an absolute path to a menu or item within the menu bar of the current window.
:
When the first character, refers to a shortcut menu.
*
Matches 0 or more characters. For example, file* matches file, filename, and file_pattern , among other things.
?
Matches any single character. For example, f?nd matches fend, find, fond, and fund, among other things.
[...]
Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, f[ie]nd matches find and fend, but not fond, fund, or fiend. You can use a hyphen within the brackets to indicate a range, such as 0-9, a-z, or A-z (for all letters, uppercase and lowercase).
_
Matches a space or an underscore when specifying a destination with the menu_add and menu_delete commands.
Related Topics
Modifying the default menus
Menu paths
Shortcut menus