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RIR - Rock dIRectory
Purpose
Rock Directory (RIR) is a substitute command for DOS's
directory (DIR) with a multitude of additions. The syntax
and output of RIR is virtually identical to that of DOS's
"DIR" command, making it easy to learn; but for the power
user, the output can be tailored in many ways to make it just
the way you like it. RIR's important documentation is built
in (type RIR ?), but this text expands on that information.
Uses
RIR accepts the /W and /P parameters just as DOS's DIR
command does, as well as DOS 5.0's latest additions to DIR.
RIR is of great use to those who have a large number of
compressed files. Its automatic detection of compressed
files makes it easier to use than most methods of viewing the
contents of compressed files; it displays them along with a
directory's other files. It also shows additional
information on other file types, such as the dimensions of
GIF image files.
One of RIR's biggest advantages is the ability to tailor the
appearance of the directory listing (for example, making file
names appear in lower case letters), and saving your
"default" options in an environment variable, which can
automatically be set from an autoexec.bat file.
RIR also lets you give more precise "file specifications,"
for example RIR can show all files *not* ending in ".bak", or
all files starting with an A *or* B.
If your DOS version is earlier than 5.0, then you'll also
appreciate the DOS 5.0 DIR options included in RIR. DOS 5.0
includes the following options (in addition to the old /P and
/W): /? for help, /A to show hidden and other files, /O to
sort the order of the file list, /S to show files in the
specified directory and its subdirectories, and /B to list
files without any file information. All of these options,
along with the environment variable setting, are included in
RIR. As magazines begin to publish tips for DOS 5's DIR,
you'll be able to use the same tips with RIR. (I'm not sure
the /O syntax is exactly the same yet, but it's quite close).
Features
Some of the features RIR provides that DIR does not are:
A single key can be used to pause/restart the display,
and ESC can be used to halt the display, as with many of
the other Rock utilities.
RIR displays the contents of compressed files, such as
".ARC" and ".ZIP" files.
RIR can display directory listings with two to six files
per line if desired (/2 to /6 options).
RIR allows you to display files in lower case (/AL
option), display hidden files (/H option), show times in
24-hour format (/24 option), display file attributes (/FA
option) and more, if you prefer those settings.
RIR will display file descriptions created with Norton's
FI or 4-DOS's DESCRIBE programs.
RIR will also list the size & palette range of ".GIF" and
".PCX" image files. It can optionally list the memory
required to run .EXE files (/EC option).
RIR can display the names of erased files (works on most
non-networked disks; note that RIR cannot unerase the
files - such resurrection requires a separate program).
RIR accepts multiple "filespecs"; for example, you can
list all files matching *.COM and *.EXE in one command.
Files and directories can be displayed in different
colors, according to your color and file specifications.
RIR can translate its output (although not built-in help
or all error messages) to French, for folks who speak it,
folks learning it, or folks wanting a change of pace!
Some of the features from MS-DOS 5.0 that RIR duplicates:
Default parameters can be set through the RIRCMD
environment variable (see below for an explanation).
Directories can be "recursed", so that a single RIR
command can show the contents of a directory along with
the contents of all its subdirectories - you can list
every file on a disk with one command (use /S option).
Files can be listed one per line, without additional file
information, with the /B parameter. The full pathname of
the file is included. This is handy for finding files
anywhere on a disk with the /S parameter or for "piping"
filenames to the input of other programs.
Compressed Files
The compressed file formats that RIR can decipher are:
.ARC, .DWC, .LBR, .LZH, .LZS, .MD, .PKA, .PAK, .ZIP, .ZOO
Note that RIR does not decode self-extracting compressed
files, which end in .COM or .EXE.
What are compressed files?
Not everyone uses, or needs to use, compressed files. This
section is for those who are confused by what the term
"compressed file" means.
A compressed file is a single file created to store one or
more other files in a "compressed" format to save space. A
special compression/decompression program is required to do
this, such as "ARC" or "PKZIP," both available from most
shareware distribution sources or bulletin board systems.
Compression is used for several reasons; to save space with
old files that are rarely used, to fit a lot of data on
floppy disks, or to send file through telephone lines more
quickly. You might squeeze five 100K text files into a
single 200K compressed file, store it on a floppy, and when
you need it again, decompress it into the original five
files. Those who download files with modems usually receive
the files in a compressed form - it's faster to download
smaller files, and with some systems, time is money!
It's often convenient to view the contents of compressed
files without actually decompressing them. Most
decompression programs can show the contents of files
compressed in their own format, but each compression program
has its own file format. RIR shows you the contents of many
formats of compressed files.
Syntax
This section is rather long, and is not required reading; if
you're a new user, just skim the examples so you know RIR's
capabilities, and when you want to do those things, use this
section as a reference (or type RIR ? the same info).
RIR [d:][path][filespec] [options] [AND/BUT NOT filespec]
Options
/P Pause after each screen page of display
/W List files with up to five filenames on each line
/1 - /6 List 1 to 6 filenames on each line (default /1)
/S List files in the specified dir and all subdirs
/FR Traduis à le français - Translate output to French
/? Show RIR's built-in help information
/INFO Show information about the Rock utilities
/ORDER Output a Rock Utilities order form
Examples
rir Show current dir, with compressed files
rir /p Show current dir, pausing every screen
rir /w Show current directory, 5 files per line
rir c:\new\*.* Show files in the directory c:\new
rir a: /2 Show directory of A:, 2 files per line
rir ? > PRN Send the help screens to the printer
rir ? > file.txt Send the help screens to file "file.txt"
rir /order > PRN Print the Rock Utilities order form
Control Keys
ESC Stop the program immediately
Others Pause the program until next key pressed
Control Options
/A:att Show only files with the attributes specified
att can be R H S and/or A: ReadOnly, Hidden,
System, or Archive (e.g., /A:H shows just hidden)
/O:ord Displays files sorted in the specified order
ord can be N E S D and/or T: Name, Extension,
Size, Date, or Time (e.g., /O:N sorts by name)
append dash to to the letter to reverse the sort
(e.g. /O:D-T- sorts reverse chronologically)
/E Include Erased files/dirs (not w/all disks/DOS's)
/FA Show file attributes of all files/directories
[RHSDA]=ReadOnly/Hidden/System/Directory/Archive
/H Include Hidden files/directories in list
/1STnn Show only 1st nn files/dirs (/1ST20 shows 1st 20)
/ND /JD No Directories or Just Dirs shown
/NK No one-key pause/abort
/1K Enable one-key pause/abort even when redirected
/I Ignore RIRCMD environment variable (see below)
Output Options
/LJF Left-Justify Files ("fname.ext" not "fname ext")
/24 /12 Show times in 24- or 12-hour mode; USA default /12
/M /D /Y Show dates starting with month, day, or year
/AU /AL All Upper or All Lower case files and directories
/ALF All Lower case names for Files (not directories)
/SVS Show Volume serial number (for DOS 4.0+ disks)
/T Text lines only, e.g. <-- instead of <──
/JFS Just Free Space (only give bytes free at end)
/EC EXE comments; show required memory for EXE files
/NEC No Expansion of Compressed files
/NC No Comments (right half of 1-column listing)
/NFS No File Stats at all (no time/date, size)
/NCF No Compressed File comments (# & size of contents)
/N4D No 4-Dos comments (ignore 4-DOS file descriptions)
/NFI No FI comments (skip Norton FI file descriptions)
/NV /NT No Volume label or No program Title shown at top
/NH No header at top at all (no "RIR", volume, etc.)
/NF No footer at bottom at all (no files, free space)
/B Show just filenames with full paths, no other info
/BIOS Use slower BIOS output instead of direct writes
Yet More Examples!
rir not *.bak Show all except .BAK files
rir *.com and *.exe Show all .COM and .EXE files
rir *.exe but not r* Show .EXE files not starting with R
rir \*.bak /b /s Find all *.BAK files on current disk
rir \ /a:a /b /s >bu Log all files needing backup to "bu"
rir /o:d-t- /1st20 Show the most recent twenty files
rir /fr /d /24 French output w/European date & time
rir /nfs /nh /nf /nd Just files; no dirs or anything else
rir /e /h Show all files, even hidden & erased
rir /ljf /alf /nh Left-justified, lowercase, no header
Colorized Directory Listings
RIR has the ability to list files in different colors, for
example showing all *.EXE in red. To do this, a special
color definition file (example given below) tells what colors
to use, and the /C parameter (described below) tells RIR that
you want to use that special color file.
Color Options
/C"file" Color directory entries according to directions
in "file"
/CN Color name only, not file size, time, etc. (use
with above /C)
Examples
rir /C"c:\colors.rir" Show directory using defs in
c:\colors.rir
rir /C"d:\my.cls" /CN Same, but only colorizing file name
A sample color definition file is included with RIR (called
COLORS.RIR), and a smaller version is shown below:
default file lgray
default dir lblue
*.COM lred
*.EXE lred
*.BAK gray
*.DOC white
*.ARC lmagenta
*.ZIP lmagenta
You can edit or create your own color definition file with
any text editor. The lines beginning with "default file" and
"default dir" color tell RIR what colors to use if a file or
directory don't fall under any of the other file
specifications in the file (e.g., a file named "uh.oh" would
be colored light gray, because it does not fall under the
category *.com, *.pas, etc.)
The other lines tell what colors to use for other files, for
example all *.COM files will be shown in "lred", or light
red. Possible color names include:
Black Red Magenta Blue Green Cyan Brown LGray
Gray LRed LMagenta LBlue LGreen LCyan Yellow White
Blank lines or lines beginning with a semicolon are ignored
in the color definition file.
If you use RIR's color feature, the "environment variables"
section below will be very useful to you. By adding a
command such as SET RIRCMD /C"C:\COLORS.RIR" into your
autoexec.bat file, RIR will use display listings in color
automatically, without your having to type in the color file
name each time you run it.
Environment Variables
If you use certain options a lot, save typing with the RIRCMD
environment variable to set RIR's default parameters, for
example type "SET RIRCMD /P".
An environment variable is a piece of information you record
from the DOS command line to be used by various programs.
Each environment variable consists of a one-word name and an
associated value for the variable, generally a set of words
or symbols. If you type "SET" from the DOS command line,
you'll see your current environment variables. Common ones
include "prompt" and "path", usually set in an autoexec.bat
file. Most DOS handbooks contain a more in-depth discussion
of environment variables and their typical uses.
To set an environment variable, you type something like "SET
NAME=WHATEVER VALUE", creating a variable called "NAME" with
the associated value "WHATEVER VALUE", which resides in DOS
memory until you turn your machine off. If you type "SET"
now, DOS will list "NAME" along with any previously set
environment variables.
How does RIR use environment variables? If you use certain
options almost always, you can save typing by setting a
variable called "RIRCMD" with the options you typically use
with RIR. Every time you run RIR, it will first check the
RIRCMD variable to see if you set any options that you want
used every time you run RIR.
For example, type "SET RIRCMD /P /24" from the DOS command
line to have RIR use the /P and /24 options until you turn
the system off, or add it to your autoexec.bat to set the
parameters each time you boot your system, so RIR will always
use the /P and /24 options.
Customizing output
If you have several sets of default options that you like to
use with RIR, here are two suggestions. One is to have
separate batch files that run RIR with a particular set of
command-line options, for example "WDIR.BAT" might contain
the line "RIR %1 /W /P /AL". Another approach is to have
batch files that set the RIRCMD environment variable, for
example "WDIR.BAT" could similarly contain the line "SET
RIRCMD /W /P /AL", so that after you run wdir once, you can
just run RIR, and it will use those parameters.
File Attributes
If you use the /FA parameter, each file will be followed by a
pair of bracket with attribute codes between them, such as
"[RHSDA]". Only some of the letters will appear between
brackets for any particular file or directory. The letters
stand for the following:
R - Read only H - Hidden S - System
D - Directory A - Archive
Trouble-shooting
If you have problems displaying RIR's output, or get CGA
"snow", try using the /BIOS parameter. Some programs (like
FANSI, PC-Kwik, other TSRs, and many speech synthesizers)
require BIOS output to work properly.
Miscellaneous Tips
Tip for RAM disk users: To make RIR (or any program or batch
file) run faster, copy it to your RAM disk, then put the RAM
disk's path first in your PATH environment variable. For
example, if your RAM disk is D:, add to your autoexec.bat:
COPY C:\ROCK\RIR.EXE D:\
PATH D:\;C:\ROCK;C:\DOS;....
Tip for DOS 4.0+ users: To speed everything up, use DOS's
FASTOPEN program (it should be in your DOS directory). For
example type FASTOPEN C:=100 to speed up your C: drive. DOS
will then remember where the last 100 files it opened are
located, letting it open them faster. Don't use FASTOPEN
with other disk caches & optimizers!
Tip for 4DOS users: You can type DIR to run RIR! Type "ALIAS
DIR D:\RIR" (assuming RIR is in the root directory of D:), or
add the alias to your aliases file if you have one. If you
want to use 4DOS's built-in DIR after that, type *DIR instead
of DIR.
Ordering Information
Type "RIR /INFO" for information on the Rock Utils, or "RIR
/ORDER" for an order form. You can print the order form by
typing "RIR /ORDER >PRN", or route it to a file with "RIR
/ORDER >FILE.TXT", and then edit the file before printing. In
summary, for $22, you get a registered copy of the Rock
Utilities, a set of 30 programs which includes RIR. That
gets you a nice printed manual along with the latest copy of
the Rock Utilities. Remember to specify disk size! Mail a
check to Rock Systems at 101 N Main Street, Suite 150-125,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Your support is very appreciated!
Credits
RIR's compressed file directory routines came from several
sources, including Phil Burn's PIBCAT, a public domain disk
cataloging system, and Don Williams' Fast File Find program.
And thanks to everyone who's provided so many suggestions!!
Example - show current directory
The arrows following the extensions in the following examples
indicate that the file is contained within the compressed
file preceding it. In the example below, the file
"TTOOLS.ZIP" contains the files "TTOOLS.TPU", "TTOOLS.PAS",
and "READ.ME". Note that the default directory listing is
easier to read than the listings with two or five-files per
line. Two user-created file descriptions are listed in the
first example; creating them requires other programs. The
other three comments, to the right of the files, were created
by RIR based on information in the file, for example the
dimensions of the "GIF" image file. The last file listed is
an erased file, which is shown because of the /e option.
C:\DATA>rir /svs /e
RIR-Rock dIRectory 1.31, (C) 1991 Rock "RIR ?" for options
Volume in drive C is Devel
Volume Serial Number is 1515-15E1
Directory of C:*.*
. <DIR> 01-07-91 1:36a
.. <DIR> 01-07-91 1:36a
BART GIF 191529 12-15-90 10:33a 800x600 256 colors
BINOBJ EXE 11088 08-29-88 5:00a This comment made w/FI
PRINT TP5 2917 07-21-89 11:27a This one made w/4-DOS
FILEINFO FI 522 12-28-90 1:47a Contains 1 file comment
TPC EXE 61926 05-02-89 5:50a
TPUMOVER EXE 32784 08-29-88 5:00a
TURBO EXE 156321 05-02-89 5:50a
TURBO TPL 44352 05-02-89 5:50a
TTOOLS ZIP<╕ 26752 11-01-90 8:45p 3 files in 42974 bytes
ttools tpu─┤ 34426 12-31-86 6:46p
ttools pas─┤ 7309 12-31-86 6:42p
read me ─┘ 1239 12-30-86 9:31p
?RINT TP4 3104 07-21-89 5:50a Erased
12 File(s) 531295 bytes
6100992 bytes free
Example - show in wide mode, no header (normally 5 files/line)
C:\DATA>rir /w /nh /jfs
. .. BART GIF TEMP BAK
BINOBJ EXE FILEINFO FI PRINT TP5 TPC EXE
TPUMOVER EXE TURBO EXE TURBO TPL TTOOLS ZIP═══
ttools tpu──ttools pas──read me
11 File(s) 6100992 bytes free
Example - single column, left-justified filenames, all lowercase,
24-hour mode, no comments, no header, no footer, no expansion
of compressed files, and no directories listed. (First sets
the rircmd variable so won't have to retype it next time!)
C:\DATA>set rircmd /ljf /al /24 /nc /nh /nf /nec /nd
C:\DATA>rir
bart.gif 191529 12-15-90 10:33
binobj.exe 11088 08-29-88 5:00
print.tpf 2917 07-21-89 11:27
fileinfo.fi 522 12-28-90 1:47
tpc.exe 61926 05-02-89 5:50
tpumover.exe 32784 08-29-88 5:00
turbo.exe 156321 05-02-89 5:50
turbo.tpl 44352 05-02-89 5:50
ttools.zip 26752 11-01-90 20:45
Example - list the five most recent files. This example assumes
"rircmd" was as in the last example, and just adds two more
options to sort and to list the first five files.
C:\DATA>rir /o:d-t- /1st5
fileinfo.fi 522 12-28-90 1:47
bart.gif 191529 12-15-90 10:33
ttools.zip 26752 11-01-90 20:45
print.tpf 2917 07-21-89 11:27
tpc.exe 61926 05-02-89 5:50
Example - Same, but include hidden files and show the attributes.
The second file is hidden, indicated by the H at the right,
the first three have the archive bit set (meaning they
haven't been saved by a backup program since last modified),
and the last file is read-only, so it can't be erased
accidentally. See documentation for RFA (Rock File
Attributes) for a more complete discussion of the topic.
C:\DATA>rir /o:d-t- /1st5 /h /fa
fileinfo.fi 522 12-28-90 1:47 [ A]
secret.cod 12 12-18-90 14:23 [ H A]
bart.gif 191529 12-15-90 10:33 [ A]
ttools.zip 26752 11-01-90 20:45 [ ]
print.tpf 2917 07-21-89 11:27 [R ]