The /, \, and ? formatting dcmds can also be used to write to the target's virtual address space, physical address space, or object file by specifying one of the following modifiers as the first format character, and then specifying a list of words that are either immediate values or expressions enclosed in square brackets preceded by a dollar sign ($[ ]).

The write modifiers are:

v	Write the lowest byte of the value of each expression to the target beginning at the location specified by dot
w	Write the lowest 2 bytes of the value of each expression to the target beginning at the location specified by dot
W	Write the lowest 4 bytes of the value of each expression to the target beginning at the location specified by dot
Z	Write the complete 8 bytes of the value of each expression to the target beginning at the location specified by dot

The /, \, and ? formatting dcmds can also be used to search for a particular integer value in the target's virtual address space, physical address space, and object file, respectively, by specifying one of the following modifiers as the first format character, then specifying a value and optional mask. The value and mask are each specified as either immediate values or expressions enclosed in square brackets preceded by a dollar sign.

If only a value is specified, MDB reads integers of the appropriate size and stops at the address containing the matching value. If a value V and mask M are specified, MDB reads integers of the appropriate size and stops at the address containing a value X where (X & M) == V. At the completion of the dcmd, dot is updated to the address containing the match. If no match is found, dot is left at the last address that was read.

The search modifiers are:

l	Search for the specified 2-byte value
L	Search for the specified 4-byte value
M	Search for the specified 8-byte value

For both user and kernel targets, an address space is typically composed of a set of discontiguous segments. It is not legal to read from an address that does not have a corresponding segment. If a search reaches a segment boundary without finding a match, it aborts when the read past the end of the segment boundary fails.