key selection in batch decryptions

[John A. Wallace]

While I am using gpg 2.0.17 on a Windows OS, I often have instances where I
need to decrypt a few random messages from a large batch of messages.
Normally, I can pipe the passphrase, symmetric or public key, to the gpg
command, and it will attempt to match the passphrase with the keys on my key
ring for each message.  if a message does not correspond to the key after
trying each key, the process simply skips the file and moves to the next one
to try again.  If there are several keys on my key ring, but I am interested
in trying only one of them, or if the passphrase is for symmetric encryption
instead of for a key, it takes extra time for the process to try each of the
keys in turn.  Is there a way to tell gpg to use just one of the keys if
any?  I have tried specifying this as one of the options "-u userID", but it
seems to ignore my specification and it always tries to use a different key
from the one I intend.  Thanks.

 

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