T'was a good thought, but not so

P:\>dir "<P:\test\.bak"
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
[download]

As this shows, '<' is acting exactly the same way as '*'

P:\test>dir "<.<"
 Volume in drive P is Winnt
 Volume Serial Number is D822-5AE5

 Directory of P:\test

19/09/03  13:29         <DIR>          .
19/09/03  13:29         <DIR>          ..
20/04/03  19:48                  1,193 237671.pl8
20/04/03  19:28                    729 242776.pl8
20/04/03  19:33                    624 243366.pl8
21/04/03  03:13                    456 250383.pl8
20/04/03  19:56                  1,574 250495.pl8
...

P:\test>dir "2<.bak"
 Volume in drive P is Winnt
 Volume Serial Number is D822-5AE5

 Directory of P:\test

27/08/03  00:47                    608 286744.pl8.bak
28/08/03  20:20                    801 287272.pl8.bak
31/08/03  12:42                    729 287900-2.pl8.bak
31/08/03  09:58                  1,056 287900.pl8.bak
05/09/03  15:37                  2,015 289016-2.pl8.bak
05/09/03  09:56                  1,092 289106.pl8.bak
05/09/03  17:26                  1,165 289250.pl8.bak
               7 File(s)          7,466 bytes
                            978,853,888 bytes free
[download]

This behaviour is completely undocumented in both the latest XP CMD docs and the online API docs for FindFirstFile/FindNextFile, which are also affected.

Even a fairly extensive google has failed to turn up any trace of it as either a bug or a feature, which amazes me even more. Could be that DaveH has found a completely new bug that affects Win32 going all the way back to something like 1995 and has gone undiscovered? Seems unlikely but...