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------------------------------------------------------------------------ SD: MS-DOS Sorted Directory Utility Program Version 5.4 (C) 01-Feb-87 by John F. Stetson 42 Tivoli Lake Ct., Silver Spring, Md. 20906 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ System Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SD.COM is a sorted directory utility program which operates under the Microsoft Disk Operating System Version 2.0 and above. There are versions of the program tailored for the following types of systems: IBM-PC Systems and Compatibles (SDPC.COM) Zenith Z-100 Series Systems (SD100.COM) Generic MS-DOS Systems (SDGEN.COM) These files, together with this documentation file, are distributed in the form of an archive file called SD54.ARC which can be found on a variety of Computer Bulletin Board systems or obtained directly from the author, as described below. The appropriate .COM file should be renamed to SD.COM and placed in the root directory of the system disk, for normal use. This version of the program requires less than 8k bytes of disk space and about 16-24k bytes of memory during execution, depending on the number of files in the directories being processed. Support is provided for IBM-PC compatible monochrome monitors, and both CGA and EGA color monitors. Support is provided for both monochrome and color Z-100 monitors. Current program limitations are 100 total directories when processing global subdirectories and about 2000 files per directory. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Design Philosophy ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SD provides more information than the resident MS-DOS DIR command about the files on a disk, and allows the user to select, sort, format, and display the information in a variety of ways. This is accomplished by specifying a pattern name to select the desired files and by specifying any of a variety of command lines "switches" which allow you to modify the behavior of the program. The switch names have been selected using letters, as much as possible, so that it is easier to associate the function of a switch with its name. In addition, the default switch values have been carefully chosen to reflect their most common use, and for compatibility with the standard DIR command. Although the program is relatively small, it is possible to use it in an almost infinite variety of ways by using the switches in different combinations. A significant amount of effort has gone into optimizing the performance of the program, due to the number of times it is typically used. The program is designed to be as transparent as possible in normal operation, and does not impose itself between the user and the operating system. This allows both novice and sophisticated users to use it in the way that best meets their needs. The program defaults to using the BIOS (rather than DOS) for console output, which results in noticeably faster displays. Command output can still be redirected to an output file by using a special switch. Maximum possible use is made of the horizontal dimension of the screen to minimize the loss of previously displayed data by screen scrolling. Support is provided for a variety of file selection attributes. Support is provided for a variety of screen display formats with varying amounts of detailed file information displayed. A variety of user customizable command line switches and screen field display colors are also supported. Every effort has been made to keep the size of the program to a minimum, for efficient use on floppy disk based systems. However, many of the capabilities of both MS-DOS and this program are only fully realized when using large hard (fixed) disks with hierarchical directory structures to organize files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modes of Operation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SD is a versatile program that can be used in a variety of ways: The most common use is to simply display information about files (and subdirectories) in a single (usually the current) directory. Most of the sort field switches are used in this mode. The program can be used to search or scan all (or a subset) of the directories on a disk for one or more files or directories which meet the specified criteria. The /g switch is used in this mode. The program can be used to display detailed information about the structure of a disk and about the location of files on the disk. The /i or /p and /1 switches are used in this mode. The program can be used to create an output file by redirecting console output which may be subsequently used as input to another program. The /r switch is used in this mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Command Line Syntax ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The complete form of the DOS command line to run the program is: D>sd [drive:][path][filespec] [/switches] [>[>]device/file] In most cases, only one or two parameters are specified, so the command syntax isn't as formidable as it may appear at first. Each of the command line parameters is optional (as the [] characters indicate) and may be used together in any combination or order. Spaces may also be freely used at any point to improve readability. The various command line parameters are described below: [drive:] This parameter specifies the name of the disk drive to be processed. Typical drive letters are A: or B: for floppy disks and C: for a hard disk on the IBM-PC/XT or E: on the Zenith Z-100. RAM (memory) disks installed as device drivers may also be specified, and typically have the highest drive letter currently in use by the system assigned to them. If no drive letter is specified, the currently logged-in drive (shown in the DOS prompt) is used. [path] This parameter specifies the path through the hierarchical directory structure to the desired directory which contains the files to be processed. The general form of the path parameter is shown below: [path] = [\][directory][\directory]...[\directory][\] The path name may simply be the name of the root directory (\), or the same of a subdirectory in the root directory. The standard DOS . and .. directory names may be used to refer to the current and parent directories, respectively. If a path is not specified, the current directory on the specified disk drive is used. [filespec] This parameter specifies which file names are to be selected for processing from the previously specified directory (if any). A complete (unambiguous) file name may be specified, or an ambiguous file name, containing 'wildcard' characters (? or *) may be specified to select several files. Either the file name (first 8 characters) or the file extension (last 3 characters) or both may be completely omitted. In these cases, wildcard characters are automatically used to match all possible file names in the selected directory. You may specify leading characters of the file names you wish to match, omitting the trailing characters of the name, the period delimiter, and the file extension. In this respect, SD processes file specifications differently than DIR. For example: sd abc is equivalent to: dir abc*.* [/switches] This parameter specifies one or more 'switch' or option values which modify the operation of the command. All switches are optional and may be specified before the drive, path, and filespec, after them, or both before and after. An almost infinite variety of different processing modes may be selected by combining the various switches together in different combinations. Each switch has a default value, which has been carefully selected to represent the most frequently used option, for most users. Specifying a switch overrides or 'toggles' the value of that command option. A special 'patch' area has been provided at the beginning of the SD.COM file so that sophisticated users can tailor the default switch settings to their needs. If a default switch value is modified, specification of that option will toggle the option back to its original state, if appropriate. Detailed descriptions of all switches are given below. [>[>]device/file] This parameter is actually a standard feature of DOS called redirection of output to the 'standard output' (STDOUT) device. This allows the console output generated by the program to be transmitted to either another device (usually the printer device: PRN), or to a disk file. By redirecting the output of the command to a file, you can later use the file as input to a word processor, disk catalog system, etc. If this parameter is specified, the /r switch must also be specified so that the program will know to use the standard DOS console output services instead of those in the BIOS, which cannot be redirected. Console output may be paused by typing any character and is restarted when another character is typed. If /q (or /r) is not specified, output is paused every time the screen fills. Pressing ESCAPE (preferred), Control-C, or Control-Break will terminate the program immediately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Command Line Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If a switch value other than those described below (//, for example) is specified, a message is displayed and the user is given the choice of exiting back to DOS by pressing the ESCAPE key, or receiving a screen of help information, if any other key is pressed. The preferred method of displaying command help information is by means of the /? switch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File Attribute Selection Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Syntax: /s[attr-switch]...[attr-switch] /s - Select all directories and files /sd - Select only Directories (no files) /sf - Select only Files (no directories) /sa - Select files with the Archive attribute /sr - Select files with the Read/Only attribute /sh - Select files with the Hidden attribute /ss - Select files with the System attribute These switches are used to further restrict which files are selected (in addition to any filespec) based on the attributes of the files. If a /s switch is not specified, the default is to select all of the subdirectories and files in the specified directory, except those with either the Hidden or System attribute. This includes files with no special attributes, the Archive attribute, and/or the Read/Only attribute. This is the same method of attribute selection used by the DIR command, except that the . (current) and .. (parent) directory entries which occur in all directories other than the root directory are not displayed. If /s is specified with no other attribute switch, Hidden and System files are also selected, thus providing the most information. If /sd is specified, all and only the subdirectories in the specified directory are selected. If /sf is specified, all and only the files with no attributes, the Archive attribute and/or the Read/Only attribute are selected. The /sh and/or /ss switches may be added to /sf, if desired. If a /sa, /sr, /sh, or /ss switch is specified by itself, all and only the files with the specified attribute are selected. These switches may also be combined in any order and the intervening /s switch(es) omitted: D>sd c:\dir/sa/sr - OR - D>sd c:\dir/sar When multiple /s switches are specified, the effect is 'additive'; i.e. for the example above, all files with either the Archive or Read/Only attribute will be selected from the specified directory. Specification of any /s switch(es) other than /sd causes an additional 'totals' line to be displayed which summaries the number of files which have each of the requested attributes. One difference between SD and CHKDSK is that CHKDSK considers a disk volume label to be a "hidden file", whereas SD does not. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Description of File Attributes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Archive attribute is automatically set by DOS when a file is created or updated, and is reset by the BACKUP program and other similar programs when the file is backed up from a hard disk to a floppy disk. The Read/Only attribute is supposedly used to mark a file as being "Read/Only"; it cannot be written to by standard MS-DOS system functions. However, DOS V2 allowed FCB style writes to files with the Read/Only attribute; only Handle style writes were precluded. This oversight was apparently corrected starting with DOS V3. The ATTRIB command introduced in DOS V3 allows the Archive and Read/Only file attributes to be set and reset from the DOS command level. The Hidden attribute "hides" a file from normal directory searches (such as the DIR command) and is sometimes used by copy protection schemes. However, any program which is capable of issuing the proper DOS system call can find any "hidden" files, just as SD does. The System attribute identifies a "system" file and also precludes the file from being found by normal directory searches. The standard DOS System files are the BIOS and DOS .COM files which are always the first two files on a bootable system disk. COMMAND.COM is not identified as a system file, since many programs need to be able to locate it in order to execute it as a "child process". Although not provided as an intrinsic part of DOS, there are a variety of utility programs available which can set and reset any of the file attributes mentioned above. This is normally done using the DOS INT 21H function 43H to change a file's attributes. It is also possible (and more risky!) to directly modify the disk sector containing the file's directory information, using DEBUG or other sector level disk editing utility programs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File Selection By Date ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Syntax: /@[+/-][days][+/-] The /@ switch is used to select files based on their age (the date the file was created or last updated). Since dates are specified relative to the current system date (normally set by the DATE command or real time clock at boot time), it is essential that the system date be set correctly in order for this feature to work properly. Files may be selected which are exactly the specified number of days old, or either newer (+) or older (-) than the specified number of days. The number of days specified may range from 0 to 9999, syntactically, but cannot be so large as to pre-date January 1, 1980, which is when the universe was created (according to DOS!). Think of the date specification process in two steps: go back the specified number of days and then find the files written before (-), on, or after (+) that date. For example: /@ select files written today (days=0) /@1+ select files written during last 2 days /@7 select files written exactly one week ago /@+30 select files written during the past month /@-365 select files written more than a year ago The +/- may be specified either before or after the number of days. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sort Field Selection Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Syntax: /sort-switch[+/-] /a - Sort by file Allocation unit (cluster #) /b - Sort by file size in Bytes /d - Sort by (1) file Date and (2) time /e - Sort by (1) file Extension and (2) name /f - Sort by (1) File Name and (2) extension /n - No sort - display entries in directory order These switches specify which fields are to be used as sort 'keys' when formatting the output information. These switches are all mutually exclusive; i.e. only one sort switch should be specified. If no sort switch is specified, the default is by file name and extension (/f). Sort switches may optionally followed by a + for an ascending sort or a - for a descending sort. The default sort direction is ascending for all sort switches except /d, which is descending. The /a switch sorts the file entries by the first allocation unit number (starting cluster number) of the file. This is simply the absolute location on the disk where the file is located. Although not normally used, this switch can be used to determine the actual order of the files on the disk, which is independent of their order in the disk directory, especially on a disk whose space has become "fragmented" by the creation and deletion of many files with differing sizes. The /b switch is used to find either the smallest or largest files on a disk, or to discover which file(s) have sizes which lie in a given range. This can be helpful when it is known that a file of a given size is missing from a disk, and it desired to find out its identity by examining the contents of another disk which does contain the file. The /d switch is a frequently used sorting option, especially when combined with the /2 or /1 switch. This allows either the newest or oldest files on a disk to be easily identified. Of course, the validity of this information is once again dependent on the correct setting of the system date at the time the files were written. The /e switch is helpful in identifying which, if any, files have "strange" file name extensions. Since most standard files have one of only a few possible types (extensions), such as .BAT, .COM, .EXE, etc. using this switch will separate out any non-standard file names. The /f switch simply sorts the selected directory entries by file name and extension, which is perhaps the most used sorting sequence. Once again, any "strange" file names will tend to collect at the beginning and end of the list, where they can be easily identified. The /n switch bypasses the sort process with the result that the file entries are displayed in the order they occur in the disk directory. This is helpful when examining a bootable disk to insure that the order of files is optimal (in the order they are needed during the boot sequence, and by frequence of use after boot-up). This is the same order of file names as that displayed by the DIR command. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Output Format Control Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Syntax: /output-switch ... /output-switch These switches are used to specify the appearance and format of the generated output and other miscellaneous functions. The switches fall into several categories which are described separately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Help Information Switch ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The /? switch causes program help information to be displayed. This includes a summary of the command line syntax and available switches. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Output Column Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The /1, /2, /4, and /6 switches specify the number of output columns and, inversely, the amount of file information displayed: /1 - 1 column - path, file name, size, date, time, starting cluster, starting sector (with /p), and attributes /2 - 2 columns - file name, size, date and time /4 - 4 columns - file name and size /6 - 6 columns - file name only A larger number of columns allows more files to be displayed on the console screen at one time, at the cost of losing some of the detailed file information. A smaller number of columns allows more detailed file information to be displayed, at the cost of only being able to display a limited number of files. All of these switches are mutually exclusive; only one should be specified. The default switch is /4. If the /1 switch is specified, the output information begins with the specified path name. This can be useful when used as input to a disk catalog program (when used with the /v switch to get the volume label). Subdirectory entries (normally found in the root directory) are shown with special screen attributes, for emphasis. This is especially helpful when using the /6 switch, since there isn't room for the <Dir> indicator (directory names may be up to 11 characters long, just like file names). The time a file was last written to is only accurate to a resolution of 2 seconds; all values will have an even number of seconds. Files created with early versions of DOS may not have either a date or time stamp. In this case, these fields will appear as periods. Each file attribute (if any) is denoted by a letter: A - Archive R - Read/Only H - Hidden S - System ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Output Toggle Switches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next group of switches are all 'toggles'; i.e. their default state is 'off' and they are toggled 'on' when specified. These may be used together in many different combinations. /c - Clear the console screen before displaying output /g - Perform Global subdirectory processing /h - Display output sorted Horizontally /i - Display Information summary /k - Display memory and disk space in Kbytes /l - Generate file name List /m - Display system version and Memory information /p - Display disk Parameter information /q - Quick output (no pauses when the console screen fills) /r - Generate output which is suitable for Redirection /t - Display only the Totals output lines /v - Display disk Volume label and creation date & time The /c switch causes the console display screen to be cleared before any output is displayed. The /g switch requests global subdirectory processing. All other switches operate as usual. After the specified target directory (usually, but not necessarily, a root directory) is processed, all subdirectories below that directory are processed in alphabetic order. After all directories have been processed, a grand totals line for all of the directories and files is displayed, followed by a grand totals line for file attributes (if a /s switch was specified). The /g switch has a variety of uses. It can be used to simply display the total number of directories, files, etc. on a disk, when combined with the /t switch. It can be used to locate any and all occurrences of a file anywhere on a disk with a complex directory structure by simply specifying a file name. However, if a fully qualified (unambiguous) file name is specified and you have a resident "data path" type utility program installed, you may see spurious copies of the specified file in all directories! This can occur because these types of programs intercept the DOS directory search functions and redrive them using additional directory paths. In this case, simply make the file name ambiguous by inserting one or more * or ? characters. Another interesting use is to specify the /sd switch, which will display all of the directories on the disk below the specified directory. The /h switch causes the file entries to be displayed horizontally rather than vertically (according to the sort option specified). This is handy when more than a screen's worth of output is generated, so that the sequence of file entries is continuous after the screen scrolls. The /i switch causes a summary of information about the specified disk to be displayed. This is equivalent to specifying the /m/v/p/s/t switches. The only other switches which make sense with /i are /c, /g, /k, /q, and /r. The /k switch requests that system memory and disk space information be displayed in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes), rather than the default units of bytes. In addition, these values are rounded upward, taking into account the allocation unit (cluster) size for the specified disk. System memory values are simply rounded to the next higher kilobyte. Use of the /k switch will reveal the actual amount of disk space used by each file, rather than the normal file size, which may be much less. For disks with a cluster size less than 1024 bytes (primarily RAMDISKs), specifying the /k switch may cause the displayed number of bytes used to actually exceed the total space used on the disk. This is due to the cumulative effect of adding a series of rounded values. The /l switch will cause a list of file names (only) to be generated. All other output (file information and totals lines) is suppressed. This switch is normally used with the /sf switch (to suppress any directories), and the /r switch to redirect the output to a file for processing by another program. /l can also be combined with the digit switches to simply cause the suppression of the totals lines. Since any embedded spaces are removed, the file names are ready to be operated on by copy commands which might be generated automatically by another program. The /h, /i, /k, /m, /p, /t, and /v switches are not normally used with the /l switch. The /m switch will display the DOS system version and system memory usage: System Memory Used, Free, and the Total Available. The /p switch will display a variety of disk parameters from the BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) in the disk boot sector (if available), and other parameters obtained directly from DOS. The first line of BPB disk parameters contains: OEM Info - This field usually contains the Original Equipment Manufacturer's name (IBM, ZDS, etc.) and the DOS version used to format the disk (2.1, 3.2, etc.). Sectors/FAT - The number of sectors per File Allocation Table. Root Dir Size - The maximum number of entries in the disk's root directory. Total Sectors - The total number of sectors on the disk, including the Boot sector(s), FAT sectors, Root Directory sectors, and Data sectors. The second line of BPB disk parameters contains: FATs - The number of File Allocation Tables (usually 2). Reserved Sectors - The number of sectors reserved at the beginning of the disk for the boot sector, partition tables, etc. Sectors/Track - The number of sectors per track on the disk. Heads - The number of heads on a hard or floppy disk. Some RAMDISKs may have too many heads for their own good! Hidden Sectors - The number of sectors on a hard disk hidden from use by DOS when processing the current disk partition. This area on the disk may either contain partition information, or the data in another partition, depending on the partitioning scheme used. The line of DOS disk parameters contains: Media Byte - The media descriptor byte is used to describe the size and format of the disk media (Number of sides, Number of Tracks, Number of Sectors per Track). Some typical PC media bytes are: Media Byte Sides Tracks Sectors/Track Disk Type ---------- ----- ------ ------------- --------- FFH 2 8 40 5" floppy FEH 1 8 40 5" floppy FDH 2 9 40 5" floppy FCH 1 9 40 5" floppy F9H 2 15 80 5" floppy F8H - -- -- Hard Disk Although the media byte is used by the BIOS to determine the disk characteristics in certain cases, not all MS-DOS BIOS implementations use exactly the same media bytes for the same disk types. Two examples are the media bytes used for 8" floppy disks and 5.25" 96 TPI 80 Track 8/9 Sector/Track floppy disks, which are not uniformly supported with the same media byte in all BIOS or Device Driver implementations. Bytes/Sector - The number of bytes per sector on the disk. Sectors/Cluster - The number of sectors per cluster on the disk. Clusters - The total number of data clusters on the disk. This does not include the boot sector, FATs, or root directory. DOS uses 16 bit FAT entries if a disk has more than 4085 data clusters. This is indicated by the notation (16) after the number of clusters. Most MS-DOS and PC-DOS V1 disks do not have a BPB in the disk boot sector, so the BPB information isn't displayed in this case. Also, some RAMDISKs may not have a "boot sector" at all! Zenith Z-100 disks contain a partial BPB in the boot sector, so the second line of BPB information isn't displayed for these disks. If both /1 and /p are specified, both the starting cluster number and starting sector number for each file are displayed. See the section on Disk Space Allocation below for more information. The /q switch suppresses the console reads which normally occur when output information is about to scroll off the screen. The /r switch causes console output to go through DOS, rather than the BIOS. Although this usually slows down the output and suppresses the screen attributes (colors) normally used, this is necessary when the need arises to redirect the output to a file or device (printer) for subsequent processing. /r must be specified when either the DOS command line redirection symbol (>) is used or the Control-P printer echo function is used. The program normally displays a graphics vertical bar symbol to separate adjacent columns of output information. This is changed to the standard ASCII (|) character if redirection is requested. Specification of the /r switch causes the /q switch to be turned on automatically. The /t switch suppresses the display of detailed information for individual files and directories and only displays the directory and disk space totals lines. The directory totals line includes the target directory path, the number of subdirectories, the number of files selected, and the total number of bytes in the selected files. The disk space totals line includes the space used, percent used, space free, and total space on the disk. The /t switch is used when you wish to compare the total number or size of files on two different disks or directories. If a difference is detected, other switches (such as /b or /d) can be used to determine which files are missing (or different). Another difference between SD and DIR is that SD counts directories and files separately; DIR includes both in its 'file' count. The /v switch causes the disk volume label (if any), and the volume creation date and time to be displayed. In addition, the current day of the week, date, and time are displayed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DOS Disk Space Allocation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disk space for files is allocated in units called clusters which are composed of one or more physical disk sectors. Typical values of cluster sizes for standard disk types are shown below: Disk Type Sectors/Track Capacity Cluster Size FAT Size --------- ------------- -------- ------------ -------- SS 48 TPI 8 160k 512 12 SS 48 TPI 9 180k 512 12 DS 48 TPI 8 320k 1024 12 DS 48 TPI 9 360k 1024 12 DS 96 TPI 8 640k 2048 12 DS 96 TPI 9 720k 2048 12 DS 96 TPI 15 1.2m 2048 12 Hard Disk 17 10m 4096 12 Hard Disk 17 20m 2048 16 Hard Disk 17 30m 2048 16 Most DOS disks use 512 bytes per sector, and with the 12 bit File Allocation Table entries prior to DOS V3 (4096 clusters), this requires that progressively greater cluster sizes be used to support larger storage devices. This can result in a substantial amount of wasted space for large capacity hard disks with many relatively small files. DOS V3 added support for 16 bit FAT entries which allows 65536 clusters to be used, thus allowing a much smaller cluster size to be used with a corresponding better utilization of disk space. The starting cluster number of a file is an index into the disk's File Allocation Table (FAT) which contains another index for the next cluster for the file, etc. until an end of file entry is reached. This technique allows disk space to be dynamically allocated and deallocated in an efficient manner. Therefore, the FAT contains the cluster-level information for each file, with the initial FAT index contained in the directory entry for the file. A somewhat more useful, although complex, entity is the starting logical sector number of a file. This is the absolute disk sector number where the file starts, and can be used as input to the DEBUG program to read and write absolute disk sectors for a file. This value can be calculated from the starting cluster number for the file using information contained in the BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) which is located in the disk boot sector (the first sector on the disk). Specifying the /p switch causes the boot sector to be read and if the /1 switch is also specified, the starting sector number for each file is displayed after the starting cluster number. Each MS-DOS disk contains the following data areas: Reserved (Boot) Sector(s) - usually 1 sector File Allocation Table(s) - usually 2 copies Root Directory Area - variable size, 32 bytes/entry Disk Data Area - space for files and subdirectories In order to calculate the starting sector number of a file, we must first calculate the sector number of the Disk Data Area: Logical Sector number of the Disk data area (LSD) = (Number of Reserved Sectors) + (Number of FATs) * (Sectors/FAT) + (32 * (Number of Root Dir. Entries) + Bytes/Sector - 1) / (Bytes/Sector) Starting Logical Sector number of a File (LSF) = LSD + (Starting Cluster Number - 2) * (Sectors/Cluster) Using the information displayed by the /p and /1 switches and the DEBUG program, it is relatively easy to examine (and change!) the information in the data areas described above, as well as any of the files on a disk. This should not normally be necessary, and is not recommended under normal circumstances. However, it can be educational and even helpful when attempting to recover data from a damaged disk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IBM-PC EGA Switches and Support ------------------------------------------------------------------------ /25 - Display 25 lines on EGA (PC's only) /43 - Display 43 lines on EGA (PC's only) The /25 and /43 switches change to the specified number of lines on the screen when using an EGA on a PC compatible system. The screen is automatically cleared and the screen remains set to this size when the program terminates. If an EGA is in use and the number of screen lines has already been changed to a value other than the default of 25, the program will use that value. If /c is specified, the entire screen is cleared using the current number of lines, which may be more or less than the standard 25. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modifying the Default Switch Values ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The default switch values may be altered by using the DEBUG program to modify the following bytes in the SD.COM file: Offset Switch Default Possible Value(s) ------ ------ ------- ----------------- 0102 Sort 'F' 'A', 'B', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'N' 0103 Cols '4' '1', '2', '4', '6' 0104 /c 0 0, 1=Clear display screen 0105 /g 0 0, 1=Global subdirectories 0106 /h 0 0, 1=Horizontal output display 0107 /i 0 0, 1=Display Info summary 0108 /k 0 0, 1=Display space in Kbytes 0109 /l 0 0, 1=Generate file name List 010A /m 0 0, 1=Display system Memory usage 010B /p 0 0, 1=Display disk Parameters 010C /q 0 0, 1=Quick output (no pauses) 010D /r 0 0, 1=Allow output Redirection 010E /t 0 0, 1=Totals output lines only 010F /v 0 0, 1=Volume label information For example: D>DEBUG SD.COM (Load SD.COM into memory using DEBUG.COM) -E103 '2' (Change the default number of columns to 2) -E10F 01 (Display the volume label info as a default) -W (Write the modified file back to disk) -Q (Exit to DOS from DEBUG) D>sd (Execute the modified version of SD.COM) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Screen Color Selection ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The default foreground and background colors (screen attributes) used for the following displayed output fields may be changed with DEBUG: File colors apply to individual disk file entries. Directory colors apply to individual directory entries. Separator colors apply to the separator characters which are used to divide the entry columns vertically. Text colors apply to the leading and trailing text lines. Normal colors apply to the normal state of the screen before and after SD.COM is executed. These colors should be changed to match the standard screen colors used, if they are other than white on black. For the IBM-PC: Offset Field Attribute Default Description ------ --------------- ------- ----------- 0110 File Fore/Back Colors 7+16*1 White on Blue 0111 Directory Fore/Back Colors 0+16*2 Black on Green 0112 Separator Fore/Back Colors 4+16*0 Red on Black 0113 Text Fore/Back Colors 6+16*0 Brown on Black 0114 Normal Fore/Back Colors 7+16*0 White on Black 0115 File Mono Attributes 7+16*0 Normal Video 0116 Directory Mono Attributes 0+16*7 Reverse Video 0117 Separator Mono Attributes 7+16*0 Normal Video 0118 Text Mono Attributes 7+16*0 Normal Video 0119 Normal Mono Attributes 7+16*0 Normal Video 0 = Black, 1 = Blue, 2 = Green, 3 = Cyan 4 = Red, 5 = Magenta, 6 = Brown, 7 = White The PC version of SD.COM uses either the color or monochrome attributes specified at the offsets in the table above, based on the type of monitor being used. Once the desired foreground and background colors (attributes) have been selected for an output field, compute the field attribute byte using the formula: ATTRIBUTE = FCOLOR+16*BCOLOR, where FCOLOR and BCOLOR are the foreground and background colors (attributes), respectively. Intensified foreground colors corresponding to the 8 standard colors may be selected by adding 8 to the foreground color number. For example, specify foreground color (6+8)=14 to get a foreground yellow color instead of the unintensified brown. The blinking attribute may be selected by adding 8 to the background color number. However, use of this attribute is not recommended, since it may be distracting. For a monochrome monitor, selecting Blue on Black (1+16*0) will cause the output field to be underlined. For the Z-100: Offset Field Color Def.(Color) Def.(Mono) ------ ----------- ----------- ---------- 0110 File Fore Color '7' White '7' White 0111 File Back Color '1' Blue '0' Black 0112 Directory Fore Color '0' Black '0' Black 0113 Directory Back Color '4' Green '6' Yellow 0114 Separator Fore Color '2' Red '7' White 0115 Separator Back Color '0' Black '0' Black 0116 Text Fore Color '6' Yellow '7' White 0117 Text Back Color '0' Black '0' Black 0118 Normal Fore Color '7' White '7' White 0119 Normal Back Color '0' Black '0' Black '0' = Black, '1' = Blue, '2' = Red, '3' = Magenta '4' = Green, '5' = Cyan, '6' = Yellow, '7' = White Two different sets of default colors are shown in the table above for color and monochrome monitors. As supplied, the Z-100 version of SD.COM is configured for a color monitor. For proper operation on the Z-100, an ALTCHAR.SYS file must exist in the root directory of the boot disk, and the file must contain the standard Z-100 graphics font symbols (or the graphics vertical bar separator will appear as a grave accent). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Generic MS-DOS Version ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The generic MS-DOS version of the program should work on any computer system capable of running MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. Most of the standard features of the program are available with the following exceptions: The /c switch simply prints two blank lines, since there isn't a generic method of clearing the console screen. The /r switch is defaulted, since there is no generic method of sending data to the console through the BIOS. The console display screen is assumed to consist of 24 lines. There is no patch area for screen attributes (colors). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ System Return Codes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following return codes are set and may be checked for using the IF ERRORLEVEL statement in a .BAT file: 0 - One or more matching files were found. 1 - No matching files were found. 2 - Bad drive (doesn't exist or syntax error). 3 - Bad path (doesn't exist or syntax error). 4 - Bad file specification (syntax error). 5 - Bad date (too large or syntax error). 6 - Bad boot sector (too large or bad sector). 7 - Too many directories (when /g specified). For example: ECHO OFF sd %1 /r >nul IF ERRORLEVEL 2 ECHO Drive does not exist! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Examples of Use ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A>sd Display the current directory of drive A. C>sd /? Display program help information. B>sd/d/6 Display the current directory of drive B, sorted by descending date and time, using the six column format (file names only). D>sd c:\/ss/2 Display only the system files in the root directory of drive C, using the two column output format. C>sd b:/t Display the totals information for the current directory of drive B. A>sd c:\/sd Display all of the subdirectories in the root directory of drive C. A>sd c:\/l/sf/r >files.dat Create a file called "a:files.dat" which contains a sorted list of all files (no directories) in the root directory of drive C. A>sd *.asm/b- Display all files having an extension of "asm" in the current directory of drive A and sort the output by descending file size. D>sd/v/n/1/r Display volume label information and all files in the current directory of drive D, do not sort the file entries, use one output column, do not pause when the console screen fills, and allow output redirection. This combination of switches causes SD to behave similarly to DIR. B>sd \/s/n/2 Select all files in the root directory of drive B, including those with the hidden and/or system attribute, do not sort the file entries, and display the output using the two column format. B>sd/r temp.* >c:temp.dir Select all files having a name of "temp" in the current directory of drive B, and redirect the console output to file "c:temp.dir". B>sd/r/1 c:\*.com >>c:temp.dir Select all files with an extension of "com" in the root directory of drive C, format using one output column, and redirect the console output, appending to the file "c:temp.dir". D>sd a:/v/p/1 Display volume label information, disk parameter information, and all file information for the current directory of drive A. B>sd e:/m/k Display DOS system version and memory information and the current directory of drive E, rounding the space values to kbytes. C>sd /h/2 Display all files and directories in the current directory on drive C sorted and displayed from left to right, using the two column format. C>sd \/i Display system information for the disk in drive C and its root directory. A>sd t/c/k/q Select all files in the current directory of drive A whose names begin with "t", clear the screen before displaying output, display file size and disk space values in kilobytes and do not pause the console output. C>sd \/e Display all files in the root directory of drive C sorted by file extension and by file name. B>sd temp If temp is an existing subdirectory in the current directory of drive B, then select all of the files in that directory. Otherwise, select all files in the current directory of drive B whose names begin with "temp". B>sd temp*.* Display all directories and files in the current directory of drive B whose names begin with "temp". A>sd ../sar Display all files in the parent directory of the current directory of drive A with either the archive or read/only attribute. A>sd c:/d/2/@+30 Display all files in the current directory of drive C which were created during the past month sorted by date and time, using two output columns. C>sd \/m/v/p/s/g/1 Display system version and memory information, disk volume information, disk parameter information, and all information for all files in all directories of drive C. C>sd \/g/t Display totals information only for all directories on drive C. C>sd d:\test/g Display information for files and directories at and below the "test" directory level of drive D. A>sd c:\*.exe/g Display information for all .exe files in all directories on drive C. A>sd c:\/g/sd Display all directory names on drive C. B>sd ..\*.a?m/d+/4 Display all files in the parent directory of the current directory of drive B whose extensions begin with "a" and end with "m" and sort the output by ascending date and time using the four column output format. C>sd/r/v/1 b:\dir1\dir2\dir3\*.doc/d >prn Select all files having an extension of "doc" in the directory "\dir1\dir2\dir3" of drive B. Sort the output by date and time. Use the one column output format and include volume label information. Redirect the console output to the printer. A>sd b:/r (Type Control-P/RETURN) (console output is duplicated on the printer) A> (Type Control-P/RETURN for PC's, Control-N/RETURN for Z-100) Display the current directory of drive B and duplicate the console output on the printer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 01-Feb-87 ... V5.4 (Major Rewrite) Created generic MS-DOS version of program. Corrected intermittent looping condition on 80286's. Added /? switch to directly display help information. Allow help information to be bypassed, if bad switch. Terminate program if either ESCAPE or CTRL-C is typed. Changed exit from INT 20H to INT 21H function 4CH and added return codes for ERRORLEVEL testing by .BAT files. Changed 'No files found' message to 'No matching files'. Always output values in kbytes if /k switch specified. Always display fully qualified path name on totals line. Changed /r console output function from OUTCHR to DCIO for better performance and to prevent Control-C aborts. Added /h switch for horizontal column sorting. Added /l switch for output of file names only. Added /i switch which is equivalent to /m/v/p/s/t. Added /sf switch to select file entries only (no dirs). Added /@ switch for file selection before, on, after date. Changed /a switch to sort by file allocation unit. Added +/- to switches to specify ascending/descending sort. Changed /p display from Bytes/Cluster to Sectors/Cluster. Identify 16 bit FATs with the notation (16) after Clusters. Display starting cluster number of files if /1 specified. Read boot sector and display BPB information for /p or /i. If /1/p specified, display file starting sector numbers. Added support for EGA cards with more than 25 lines. Added /25 and /43 switches to switch EGA video modes. Added /g switch for global subdirectory processing. 14-Oct-86 ... V5.3 Display message if no matching files found. Added DOS version number to /m switch output. Added user patchable foreground and background colors. Save registers across call to Z-100 MTR-100 ROM BIOS console output routine - fixes system hangs with ROM V2.5. 26-May-86 ... V5.2 Moved day, date and time to volume information line. Added total disk space used to last totals line. Added percent of total disk space used to totals line. 17-May-86 ... V5.1 Fixed parsing bug: sd filename/s -> Bad filespec. Display directory entries in reverse video if no /r. Added /m switch to display system memory utilization. Added /p switch to display disk parms (instead of /v/t). 12-Feb-86 ... V5.0 (Major Rewrite) Added /1/2/4/6 output column switches and removed /l switch. Changed default output format from 2 to 4 column display. Added display of seconds to time information for files. Added directory path display to output information. Added number of directories and file types to output. Added total disk space to output information. Added /f sort by filename switch (default sort type). Changed /e switch to sort by both file extension and name. Added patch area to allow switch defaults to be changed. Changed parsing to allow switches before and after filespec. Fixed several miscellaneous path/filespec parsing bugs. Changed path detection from CHMOD to CHDIR system call. Added graphics vertical bar character for IBM-PC. Suppressed display of . and .. subdirectories. Changed display to 25 output lines for IBM-PC. Suppressed trailing delimiter if only one output line. Added bad filespec message instead of syntax message. Added /k switch to display disk space in rounded kbytes. Expanded /s switch with d,a,h,r,s file selection values. Added display of disk parameters if both /v and /t specified. Removed support for operation under MS-DOS V1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miscellaneous Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Possible Future Modifications Option to read FAT to display file clusters & bad sectors. Write directly to Video RAM for faster screen output. Support full screen operation - forward/backward scrolling. Allow options to be changed dynamically & program cloned or implement a separate configuration program to clone program. Modify to terminate and stay resident. Add file management capabilities. Distribution Policy The SD54.ARC file may be freely copied and distributed as long as the only charge is for media and reproduction costs, etc. Under no conditions should the program either be sold for a profit or distributed in modified form without the permission of the author. If you would like to receive the latest version of the program on disk, including the 8088 assembly language source code and several other handy utilities, send a check to the author at the address below for $20.00. If you wish to contact me with bug reports, suggestions for improvements, and/or especially large financial donations, I can be reached using the information provided below: John F. Stetson 42 Tivoli Lake Court Silver Spring, Md. 20906 (Home) (301) 946-5615 (after 7 PM) (Work) (301) 340-4544 Compuserve [70320,353] ------------------------------------------------------------------------