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- LIBRARY UTILITIES
- by Editor, KCUG Charleston, May 1987
-
- (A look at some NULU and LRUN)
-
- In the last Newsletter, I was discussing the features of NULU. I
- did not get around to pointing out that NULU also has a filesweep
- capability with command similar to NEWSWEEP. In the NULU command
- mode, recall that the one letter commands had to be prefixed with
- a "-" or hyphen. Enter the filesweep mode by typing:
-
- A>-F
-
- At that point, one only needs to enter the single letter commands
- to execute filesweep commands. The hyphen prefix is not
- required. A few notes about the file sweep mode are in order.
- If no library is open, you will receive the prompt "No library
- open." and only the L (Log new drive/user), O (Open new
- library), X (Exit Nulu), Y (Disk directory), Z (Return to NULU
- command mode) and ? (Display menu) commands will be available.
- When listing files in the filesweep mode, the file size in K is
- displayed. That file size is the size of the file if or when it
- is extracted.
-
- You may find the filesweep mode easier to use or less awkward
- since you don't have to bother with the hyphen prefix.
-
- If you decide not to library files because you feel it may be too
- much trouble to extract them, there are a few utilities that may
- change your mind. One called LDIR.COM allows you to look at the
- library directory without having to go through NULU. Issue the
- command "LDIR <FILENAME>". The .LBR extension is assumed.
- Another utility is LRUN.COM. This utility allows you to run COM
- type files in the library, that is without extracting them. For
- example, if you libraried the files STAT, PIP, SUBMIT, D and NS
- in a library called UTILS.LBR, you could issue the command
-
- LRUN UTILS d
-
- and the file d.com would execute as if it had been executed
- directly from the CP/M command prompt. Of course, there are some
- trade-offs. One, you cannot squeeze or crunch the individual
- file members if you plan to use LRUN with the library.
- Obviously, you cannot squeeze the library itself. It does
- require some more typing than having the files individually
- located on the disk. What it comes down to, is that you have to
- decide if the trade offs are worth the extra trouble. I have
- found that many text files, like letters, are good candidates for
- libraries. Once they have been written, they are seldom, if
- ever, looked at again. I frequently library notes, tips, hint,
- etc. that I collect from bulletin boards and magazines. It
- saves having a lot of loose papers around and keeps those items
- in one place. Occasionally, I will break out the library and
- browse through it.