Re: info inconsistency about "Shell Commands in Dired"

[Richard Stallman]

    Bind * to insert a text-propertied (and thus recognizable and
    copy&pastable) x character with the display property of "<filename>".
    If people really need * itself, they can insert it using C-q *.

That is an interesting idea--simple to remember.  Would someone like
to implement it so people can try it out?

    That would make inserting wildcards, a very common operation, too 
cumbersome.

This particular command is not a very common operation.  And most uses
of the command don't involve wildcards.  So use of wildcards in this
command is quite infrequent as a part of Emacs use.

(I go for months without doing it.)