Computer Installation Guide - Dragon Clan Series

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N NN DDDDDDD OOOOO SSSSSS NN NN DDDDDDDD OOOOOOO SSSSSSSS NNN NN DD DD OO OO SS NN N NN DD DD OO OO SS NN N NN DD DD OO OO SSSSSS NN N NN DD DD OO OO SSSSSS NN N NN DD DD OO OO SS NN NNN DD DD OO OO SS NN NN DDDDDDDD OOOOOOO SSSSSSSS NN NN DDDDDDD OOOOO SSSSSS The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Copyright 1991 - 1993 Symantec Corporation. All Rights Reserved. NDOS is distributed under license from its developer, JP Software, Inc., Arlington, MA, U.S.A. Portions copyright 1988- 1993 JP Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied without the express written permission of Symantec Corporation, Peter Norton Group, 10201 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014. Norton Utilities, Norton Disk Doctor, UnErase, and Symantec are registered trademarks; and Calibrate, Disk Monitor, Disk Tools, Diskreet, Image, Norton Backup, Norton Cache, SmartCan, Speed Disk, WipeDisk, WipeFile, and Wipe Information are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged. For technical support see the Customer Service Plan in the back of the "Norton Utilities User's Guide." CONTENTS ___________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS Introduction...............................................1 How to Use This Manual................................1 Chapter 1, NDOS Features...................................5 Chapter 2, Installation....................................9 Uninstalling NDOS....................................10 Chapter 3, A Guided Tour of NDOS..........................12 Starting The Tour....................................12 Basic Commands.......................................13 Command Line Editing and History.....................17 More About Files.....................................20 Directory Navigation.................................25 Aliases..............................................26 Other Commands.......................................29 Batch Programming....................................31 Conclusion...........................................33 Chapter 4, General Concepts...............................34 DOS and the Command Interpreter......................34 Primary and Secondary Shells....................35 AUTOEXEC.BAT, NSTART, and NEXIT.................36 Command Processing...................................36 Files and Paths......................................38 The Environment......................................41 Memory...............................................42 ASCII and Key Codes..................................43 The Keyboard.........................................44 Video................................................45 ANSI Drivers.........................................45 Chapter 5, Using NDOS.....................................47 At the Command Line..................................47 Command Line Editing............................48 Command History and Recall......................49 Command History Window..........................51 Filename Completion.............................52 Multiple Commands...............................54 Automatic Directory Changes.....................54 Temporarily Disabling Aliases...................55 Command Line Help...............................55 Command Line Length Limits......................58 Input and Output.....................................58 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual i CONTENTS ___________________________________________________________________ Redirection.....................................59 Piping..........................................60 Keystack........................................61 File Processing......................................63 Extended Parent Directory Names.................64 Multiple Filenames..............................66 Include Lists...................................67 Executable Extensions...........................68 The Environment......................................70 NDOS Configuration Variables....................72 NDOS Internal Variables.........................73 NDOS Variable Functions.........................77 Advanced Features....................................83 Conditional Commands............................83 Command Grouping................................84 Escape Character................................86 Argument Quoting................................86 Aliases..............................................88 Batch Files..........................................91 .BAT Files and .BTM Files.......................91 Echoing.........................................91 Batch File Variables............................92 Batch File Commands.............................93 Interrupting a Batch File.......................95 Batch File Tips.................................95 Chapter 6, Options and Tuning............................100 Configuration Files.................................100 Setting up CONFIG.SYS...............................101 Startup Options for Secondary Shells...........104 Using AUTOEXEC.BAT..................................105 Using NSTART and NEXIT..............................107 Using the NDOS.INI File.............................108 Types of Directives............................112 Initialization Directives......................114 Configuration Directives.......................117 Color Directives...............................121 Key Mapping Directives.........................121 Advanced Directives............................126 Chapter 7, Using NDOS with Your Hardware and Software....130 Hardware............................................130 The CPU........................................130 Memory.........................................131 Video..........................................133 Hard Drives and Floppy Disks...................135 Laptop and Notebook Computers..................136 Critical Errors................................138 Software............................................139 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual ii CONTENTS ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS and DOS...................................140 Using NDOS with Task Switchers and Multitaskers140 Multitasking and Disk Swapping.................142 NDOS and Microsoft Windows.....................143 NDOS and DESQview..............................144 Using NDOS on a Network........................146 Solving Software Compatibility Problems.............147 Chapter 8, Command Reference Guide.......................153 NDOS Commands.......................................153 How to Use the Command Descriptions.................155 ?...................................................158 ALIAS...............................................159 ATTRIB..............................................168 BEEP................................................170 BREAK...............................................172 CALL................................................173 CANCEL..............................................174 CD/CHDIR............................................175 CDD.................................................177 CHCP................................................179 CLS.................................................180 COLOR...............................................182 COPY................................................183 CTTY................................................188 DATE................................................189 DEL/ERASE...........................................190 DELAY...............................................192 DESCRIBE............................................193 DIR.................................................195 DIRS................................................202 DRAWBOX.............................................203 DRAWHLINE...........................................205 DRAWVLINE...........................................206 ECHO................................................207 ECHOS...............................................209 ENDLOCAL............................................210 ESET................................................211 EXCEPT..............................................212 EXIT................................................214 FOR.................................................215 FREE................................................219 GLOBAL..............................................220 GOSUB...............................................222 GOTO................................................224 HISTORY.............................................225 IF..................................................227 IFF.................................................233 INKEY...............................................235 INPUT...............................................238 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual iii CONTENTS ___________________________________________________________________ KEYSTACK............................................239 LH/LOADHIGH.........................................243 LIST................................................245 LOADBTM.............................................247 LOG.................................................249 MD/MKDIR............................................251 MEMORY..............................................252 MOVE................................................253 NDOSHELP............................................256 PATH................................................257 PAUSE...............................................259 POPD................................................260 PROMPT..............................................261 PUSHD...............................................264 QUIT................................................266 RD/RMDIR............................................267 REBOOT..............................................268 REM.................................................269 REN/RENAME..........................................270 RETURN..............................................272 SCREEN..............................................273 SCRPUT..............................................274 SELECT..............................................275 SET.................................................280 SETDOS..............................................283 SETLOCAL............................................287 SHIFT...............................................288 SWAPPING............................................289 TEE.................................................290 TEXT................................................291 TIME................................................292 TIMER...............................................293 TRUENAME............................................295 TYPE................................................296 UNALIAS.............................................297 UNSET...............................................298 VER.................................................299 VERIFY..............................................300 VOL.................................................301 VSCRPUT.............................................302 Y...................................................303 Appendix A, NDOS Error Messages..........................304 Appendix B, ASCII and Key Codes..........................315 ASCII...............................................315 Keys and Key Codes..................................316 Appendix C, Technical Information........................322 Detecting NDOS......................................322 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual iv ___________________________________________________________________ Placing Keystrokes Into the Keystack................323 Writing Installable Commands........................324 Using DESCRIPT.ION..................................325 Interrupt 2E........................................326 Glossary.................................................329 Index....................................................340 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual v ___________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Welcome, and thanks for purchasing The Norton Utilities! We started developing NDOS when we realized that our computers could be a lot more powerful and a lot more helpful than they were. Whether you are a computer novice or an experienced power user, we think that NDOS will help you get the most out of your IBM PC or compatible computer. Technically, NDOS is a command interpreter or "DOS Shell." That means that it reacts to the commands you type at the C> prompt. We've designed NDOS so that you don't have to change your computing habits or unlearn anything to use it. If you know how to display a directory, copy a file, or start an application program, you already know how to use NDOS. NDOS understands all of the commands you know and adds to them. Its purpose is to make DOS friendlier, easier to use, and much more powerful and versatile, without requiring you to use or learn a new program, a new set of commands, or a new style of work. Once you have NDOS installed, you can learn its new features at your own pace. It has more than 40 new commands and scores of enhanced features, but you don't have to learn them all at once. Press the F1 key whenever you need help. NDOS will soon become an essential part of your computer, and you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. We are constantly working to improve NDOS. If you have suggestions for features or commands that you think we should include in the next version, or any other way we could improve our product, please let us know. Many of the improvements in this version of NDOS were suggested by our users, and while we can't promise to include every suggested feature, we really do appreciate and pay attention to your comments. How to Use This Manual Use this manual as an introduction and tutorial to NDOS for novice users and as a reference manual for advanced NDOS users. You can use almost every feature of NDOS without having to worry about other features or commands. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 1 How to Use This Manual ___________________________________________________________________ As you read the manual, the symbol ## may appear next to certain paragraphs. This indicates a more in-depth discussion or a more advanced topic. Come back to this topic later for more details, or if you're having trouble with the particular issue it discusses. In many cases, the remainder of the section you're reading after such a symbol is devoted to similar advanced information. If you see the ## next to a section heading, it means the entire section contains such information. You may find the information in such marked sections useful even if you're relatively new to computers or to NDOS. However, you can skip the marked section and still understand and use the basic topic of the section you're reading. An exclamation point [!] to the left of a paragraph means that paragraph contains a caution or warning you may need to observe when using the feature it discusses. This manual is divided into eight chapters and three appendices, plus a glossary and index. Here's a brief overview of each: Chapter 1, NDOS Features We begin with a short summary of some NDOS features to give you a taste of what NDOS is about. Start here if you are new to NDOS. Chapter 2, Installation Everyone should read this short chapter. After installing the Norton Utilities, configuring your computer to use NDOS is simple. Chapter 3, A Guided Tour of NDOS This chapter will take you on a short, interactive tour of some powerful NDOS features. By the time you finish the tour, you will have a good idea of what NDOS will do for you. If you are new to NDOS, be sure to take the tour. Chapter 4, General Concepts This reference chapter is an introduction to several terms and concepts that we use throughout the manual. If you're a novice, you might want to browse through the entire chapter. If you're a power user and all of the topics in this chapter seem simple, then go on to the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 2 How to Use This Manual ___________________________________________________________________ next chapter. If you think you need to brush up a bit on the basics of a couple of terms and ideas, you'll probably find them here. Chapter 5, Using NDOS This chapter is for everyone. It contains a description of NDOS features and lots of examples to help you learn to use each one. Even if you are a novice user and want to ignore some of these features until later, skim through this chapter to get an idea of what is available and where to find the information that you will eventually want. NDOS offers both features which are not related to specific commands, and a complete set of over 80 internal commands. This chapter has complete reference information on all of the non-command features, and introduces a few commands as well. Reference information on NDOS commands is in Chapter 8. Chapter 6, Options and Tuning This chapter is for advanced users who want to be sure that NDOS is running at top efficiency on their systems. It includes detailed information on setting up NDOS and on changing your NDOS configuration. Chapter 7, Using NDOS With Your Hardware and Software This chapter contains tips on using NDOS with many popular kinds of PC hardware and software, and information that will be useful if you think NDOS may conflict with your hardware or other software. Chapter 8, NDOS Command Reference NDOS knows over 80 internal commands. This chapter explains the purpose of each command and tells you how to use it. It has examples that will help you learn each command and the technical details you will need to get the command to behave exactly as you wish. Appendices We've included some helpful tables here, and some information for those who like to know technical details. There are three appendices. Appendix A lists all NDOS error messages. Look here if you need an explanation of an error message, or if you aren't sure if the message came from NDOS. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 3 How to Use This Manual ___________________________________________________________________ Appendix B lists codes for the keys on your keyboard. These codes can be useful with certain NDOS commands. Appendix C covers technical information and programming interfaces. You shouldn't need to use it unless you are an advanced user or a programmer writing add-on software for NDOS. Glossary If you need help with any of the terminology in this manual, look here. Index If you can't find the information you need, this should help you find it. Additional Files Files distributed with the Norton Utilities cover important additional information beyond what's included in this manual. READ.ME contains general notes and last-minute updates. WHATS.NEW contains an overview of the new features in this release of the Norton Utilities. APPNOTES.DOC contains application notes for a variety of other software packages to help you use those packages to best advantage with NDOS. You should browse through APPNOTES.DOC and look for references to any software you use. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 4 CHAPTER 1, NDOS FEATURES ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 1, NDOS FEATURES NDOS is a complete computing environment that works with all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS from 2.0 to 6; with DR-DOS 3.4, 5.0, and above. It is compatible with virtually all application programs, with Microsoft Windows, and with task switching programs like DESQview and Back & Forth. NDOS replaces the traditional DOS user interface with a more modern, friendlier, and more powerful one. NDOS is completely compatible with traditional DOS commands, and adds dozens of new features that aren't available with any version of DOS. Minimal Memory Usage NDOS can take advantage of extended memory, expanded memory, and memory managers for 80286, 386, and 486 systems. If you load both NDOS and the environment "high," NDOS will use only 448 bytes of base memory, less than any version of the traditional DOS command processor, COMMAND.COM (see page 117). Online Help NDOS has complete, full-screen, context-sensitive help for all of its commands and all DOS utilities. The F1 key pops up the help system at any time from the NDOS prompt. The help system is cross-referenced and includes examples (see page 55). Directory Navigation You can specify where to look for subdirectories with the NDOS enhanced CD command. CDD lets you switch drives and directories simultaneously, and the new automatic directory change feature changes directories for you when you type a directory name at the command line. Faster and Better Batch Files NDOS speeds up traditional DOS batch files, and introduces a new kind of batch file processing that is five to ten times faster than traditional batch files as well (see page 91). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 5 CHAPTER 1, NDOS FEATURES ___________________________________________________________________ In addition, NDOS has more than two dozen new batch file commands, and many other enhancements that will make your batch files easier to write and far more powerful. Command Line Enhancements NDOS replaces the traditional command line with a much friendlier and more powerful command line environment. Among the features which NDOS offers are: Command Line Editing: You can use the cursor keys to make corrections, in the same way that you would with a text editor (see page 48). Command History and Recall: NDOS keeps track of each command you type. You can recall any command and issue it again, or edit it to create a slightly different command. Commands can be recalled one at a time, or you can pop up a window of recently entered commands and choose the one you want (see page 49). Automatic Filename Expansion: If you type part of a filename, with or without wildcards, NDOS will fill in the complete filename for you at the touch of a key (see page 52). Multiple Commands on a Single Line: You can type a series of commands on a single line instead of waiting for each one to finish before you issue the next one (see page 54). Multiple Filenames: Most NDOS commands can operate on multiple files at once. For example, you can copy several files at once from your hard drive to drive A: with a command like: copy *.wks *.dat *.txt a:\ Point-and-Shoot File Selection: The SELECT command lets you choose files with the cursor keys instead of remembering their names. It gives you a full "point-and- shoot" environment for other NDOS commands (see page 275). Aliases An alias is a command you create, assigned to a name you select or to a key combination of your choosing. You can use ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 6 CHAPTER 1, NDOS FEATURES ___________________________________________________________________ aliases to rename commands, to set command defaults, and to create new commands that are a combination of other commands. When aliases are combined with the NDOS multiple command feature, they act like very fast batch files (see pages 88 and 159). File Descriptions NDOS lets you assign a description (up to 40 characters long) to each of your files and directories. The descriptions are displayed with the DIR and SELECT commands, and move with their files when you use a COPY, DEL, MOVE, or RENAME command (see page 193). Executable Extensions Executable extensions let you associate a file extension with the program that processes files of that type. For example, you could associate .BAS files with the BASIC interpreter, or .DBF files with dBASE or Foxbase. NDOS runs the appropriate program automatically whenever you type the name of a file that has an extension you have defined as executable (see page 68). Compatibility You can use NDOS: * with all monochrome, CGA, EGA, and VGA video systems, with any number of screen rows and columns. * with DOS-compatible networks, including Novell Netware, Microsoft LAN Manager, Banyan Vines, and Artisoft LANTastic. * with all popular memory managers and task switchers. * with virtually all commercial applications, utility programs, and memory-resident utilities (TSRs). New Commands and Options NDOS includes over 80 commands. A few are the same as traditional commands. Many are compatible with traditional commands but are enhanced with several additional options. The majority are unique to NDOS. If you have always wished ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 7 CHAPTER 1, NDOS FEATURES ___________________________________________________________________ that DOS had a command to help in a special situation, you will probably find that command in NDOS. A complete list of NDOS commands and options, along with explanations of how to use them, begins on page 153. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 8 Installing NDOS ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 2, INSTALLATION Before you install NDOS (or any other software, for that matter), you should make a bootable system floppy disk so you can recover in case of a power failure or other interruption during the installation process. Put a blank floppy disk in drive A:, then type: format a: /s Once the process is complete, test your bootable floppy disk by leaving it in drive A: and simultaneously pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys to make sure your system boots properly. After that, put the floppy disk away in a safe place and reboot your computer normally. To install NDOS while installing the Norton Utilities: 1 Follow the instructions in the "Norton Utilities User's Guide," Chapter 1, "Installation." When you reach Step 6 of "To install Norton Utilities," select Custom Installation. A screen appears where you can choose a directory to install Norton Utilities. 2 Select a directory to install Norton Utilities. 3 Continue to follow the installation instructions in Chapter 1 until you come to the section, "To select which Norton Utilities programs to install," then select NDOS from the programs list on this screen. NDOS installs using the defaults when Norton Utilities installs. To install NDOS after installing Norton Utilities: 1 At the DOS prompt, type NUCONFIG. The Norton Utilities Configuration dialog box appears. 2 Select Startup Programs from the dialog box. 3 Select NDOS from the Startup Programs list box. 4 Select the Configure command button or double-click NDOS. The NDOS configuration dialog box appears. From this dialog box you can install NDOS as well as configure many NDOS options. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 9 Uninstalling NDOS ___________________________________________________________________ 5 Check the Load Command Processor Into Upper Memory check box and select OK. 6 Select OK from the Startup Programs dialog box. 7 Select Quit from the Norton Utilities Configuration dialog box. A message pops up suggesting that you reboot to activate NDOS immediately. 8 Select reboot. ## Uninstalling NDOS In the extremely unlikely event that you have trouble booting your computer after you install NDOS, you can also remove it quite easily. We don't expect you to have any trouble, but we know some people feel more comfortable knowing how to uninstall a product as well as install it. Or, you may need to remove NDOS from one system if you are moving it to another system. To temporarily remove NDOS from your system, first note the location of COMMAND.COM on your disk (for example, in the root directory, or the DOS directory). Boot the system and use any text editor to edit your CONFIG.SYS file (before modifying CONFIG.SYS be sure you have a bootable floppy disk as discussed above). Look for a line that begins: SHELL=D:\PATH\NDOS.COM ... ("d:\path" means a drive letter and directory name). Insert the characters "REM " at the beginning of this line. This converts it into "remarks" or comments. (If you are using DOS 3, REMarks are not recognized in CONFIG.SYS, so the changed lines will produce a harmless "Unrecognized command" error when the system boots.) Next, add a new line like this: SHELL=D:\PATH\COMMAND.COM /P where "d:\path" is the proper drive and directory for COMMAND.COM. If you were previously running COMMAND.COM with a /E:nnnn switch to set the size of your environment, you can add it to this line as well. After CONFIG.SYS has been modified, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to remove any changes made to accommodate NDOS. Look for two commands: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 10 Uninstalling NDOS ___________________________________________________________________ SET COMSPEC=D:\PATH\NDOS.COM D:\PATH\KSTACK.COM The first command will not be present on most systems. If it's there, change it to read: SET COMSPEC=D:\PATH\COMMAND.COM where "d:\path" is replaced by the correct drive and directory for COMMAND.COM. The second command can be deleted, or you can place "REM " in front of it to convert it to a comment. The second command may be present without the "d:\path" portion or the ".COM" portion; the key thing to look for is "KSTACK". If you wish, you can look for the PATH command, and remove the NDOS directory from the directories listed there. However, there's probably no reason to do so unless you're permanently removing NDOS from your system. Now reboot your system, and you should be back up and running under COMMAND.COM. Correct the problem that gave you trouble with NDOS (contact our technical support department if you need help). Once the problem is fixed, edit your CONFIG.SYS file again to remove the REMs on your NDOS lines and put one on your COMMAND.COM line instead, restore any COMSPEC command in AUTOEXEC.BAT, and you can boot with NDOS again. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 11 Starting The Tour ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 3, A GUIDED TOUR OF NDOS This chapter acquaints you with some of the features of NDOS. It isn't a substitute for the rest of the manual, but it helps you become familiar with NDOS if you are used to working at the command prompt. At the same time, it introduces you to many popular features and enhancements of NDOS. By the time you finish working through this chapter, you will have a feeling for how easy and friendly NDOS is compared to the standard DOS command processor. This tour is designed to be used interactively. Sit down at your computer with the manual. Each time an example is shown, try it. Each section of the tour is self-contained so you can skip any sections you wish and return to them later. If you come across terms or concepts in this chapter that you are unsure about, refer to Chapter 4, "General Concepts," the Glossary on page 329, or the Index. Starting The Tour Before you can start the tour, you need to install NDOS. If you haven't done so yet, see page 9 for instructions. If you have already done a full installation and NDOS is running on your system, just skip the step below that starts NDOS (the step where the command "NDOS" is entered). During the course of the tour, we'll ask you to enter several commands. The text that you should enter is always shown in lower case, but you can type in either upper or lower case. The computer's prompts and responses are displayed in normal type. The display may look slightly different on your system, depending on how your prompt is set up, what disk drive you're using, and what files are in your NDOS directory. These minor differences don't affect NDOS operation. In some cases, the computer's output will be too long to fit on a line of this manual and remain readable. We've truncated those lines and placed three dots [...] at the end to show you that the line displayed on your screen will be longer. Some commands create more lines of output than we need to display here to show how they work. We've put a set of vertical dots in those locations to indicate that additional information will be shown on your screen. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 12 Basic Commands ___________________________________________________________________ To prepare for the tour, make sure that NDOS is running. If you installed NDOS when you installed Norton Utilities or from Norton Utilities Configuration, then it's already running as your primary shell as specified in your CONFIG.SYS file (you can also start it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file). Otherwise, you can run it by changing to the directory where NDOS was installed (if NU is not in your PATH statement you can change to C:\NU), then start NDOS by typing: C:\NU> ndos You'll see a sign-on message from NDOS that looks similar to this: NDOS EMS swapping initialized (25K) NDOS 7.0 DOS 5.0 Copyright 1988-1993 Symantec Inc. ... Registered for use on a single computer. and then a prompt like this: c:\nu> Depending on how your prompt was previously defined, you may see the NDOS prompt in lower case, which many people find easier to read. A lower case prompt is the NDOS default, and we'll show the prompt that way throughout the tour. Once you have NDOS installed you can use the PROMPT command (see page 261) to change the prompt to upper case if you prefer. If you want to exit from NDOS, you can only do so if it wasn't installed as your shell in your CONFIG.SYS file or with the '/P' switch. To exit, type the command EXIT at the NDOS prompt and press Enter. This will return you to the traditional DOS command line: c:\nu> exit C:\NU> Basic Commands We'll begin the tour by demonstrating some of the most common, and most familiar, NDOS commands. We'll also show you some of the enhancements that NDOS has added to those commands to make your computing easier. First, enter the single-character command ?. You'll see a display like this: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 13 Basic Commands ___________________________________________________________________ c:\nu> ? ? ALIAS ATTRIB BEEP ... CANCEL CD CDD CHCP ... COLOR COPY CTTY DATE ... DESCRIBE DIR DIRS DRAWBOX ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNALIAS UNSET VER VERIFY ... Y The ? command displays a list of all NDOS commands. You certainly don't have to memorize them all -- we'll show you how to get help with any command in a few moments. We're not going to demonstrate all of these commands in this tour. If you want complete information about a command, turn to the alphabetic Command Reference that begins on page 153. Now try a DIR command to see a list of files in the current directory. DIR displays a list of filenames, sizes, dates, and times: c:\nu> dir Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\*.* . <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 .. <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 advise.hlp 78156 2-02-93 1:00a be.exe 19049 2-02-93 1:00a calibrat.exe 51192 2-02-93 1:00a calibrat.hlp 15108 2-02-93 1:00a . . . . . . . . . . . . unformat.hlp 11255 2-02-93 1:00a wipeinfo.exe 33638 2-02-93 1:00a wipeinfo.hlp 11863 2-02-93 1:00a 3,522,742 bytes in 86 file(s) 3,940,352 bytes allocated 128,147,456 bytes free The NDOS DIR display should look familiar. But, unlike the traditional DIR display, NDOS shows filenames in lower case and in alphabetical order. NDOS also gives you some totals at the end of the display that help you see how much space your files are using. By using certain DIR options, you can make the display easier to read. The directory display you just saw probably didn't ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 14 Basic Commands ___________________________________________________________________ fit on your screen. You can tell DIR to pause at the end of each page by using the command DIR /P. The /P is an example of a switch or option which modifies the behavior of a command: c:\nu> dir /p Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\*.* . <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 .. <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 advise.hlp 78156 2-02-93 1:00a be.exe 19049 2-02-93 1:00a calibrat.exe 51192 2-02-93 1:00a calibrat.hlp 15108 2-02-93 1:00a . . . . . . . . . . . . diskreet exe 50443 02-23-93 1:00a diskreet hlp 21463 02-23-93 1:00a diskreet ico 766 02-23-93 1:00a Press any key when ready... 833,056 bytes in 21 file(s) 851,968 bytes allocated 18,649,088 bytes free You might prefer to display directories in two columns. DIR will do that if you include the /2 option. If you add the /V option, it will perform a vertical sort, with filenames running alphabetically down the first column and then down the second column. (We've left off the end of the second column of the display, since it doesn't fit on a manual page. You'll be able to see it on the screen.) c:\nu> dir /2/v Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\*.* . <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 helpcfg.exe ... .. <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 kstack.com ... advise.hlp 78156 2-23-93 1:00a ndd.hlp ... aliases 8077 6-01-92 6:01a ndd.ico ... be.exe 19017 2-23-93 1:00a ndiags.exe ... calibrat.exe 50916 2-23-93 1:00a ndiags.hlp ... calibrat.hlp 15108 2-23-93 1:00a ndiags.snd ... compat.doc 58397 6-01-92 6:01a ndos.com ... config1.npc 143 2-23-93 1:00a ndos.ico ... descript.ion 1915 6-01-92 6:01a ndos.ini ... ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 15 Basic Commands ___________________________________________________________________ diskedit.exe 130651 2-23-93 1:00a ndos.nu7 ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833,056 bytes in 21 file(s) 851,968 bytes allocated 18,653,184 bytes free DIR has many other formatting and file selection options. You'll use a few below; all of them are explained with the DIR command on page 195. Next, you'll use a simple batch file called TOUR1.BTM to create a dummy file. (A .BTM batch file is similar to a traditional .BAT batch file but faster. See page 91 for an explanation of the differences between the two.) To run TOUR1.BTM, enter the command: c:\nu> tour1 This batch file creates a small file called FILE1 in your current directory. The contents of the file aren't important; we're simply using it to demonstrate NDOS file-handling capabilities. You can verify that FILE1 has been created by using DIR again. Now use the COPY command to copy the contents of FILE1 to a new file, FILE2: c:\nu> copy file1 file2 c:\nu\file1 => c:\nu\file2 1 file(s) copied NDOS performed the copy just like the traditional COPY command does. You may notice that the output is a little friendlier: COPY tells you exactly what file it copied and where it copied the file to, along with a count of files at the end. Now try renaming a file. If you've used the traditional RENAME command or its synonym REN, this will look familiar: c:\nu> ren file1 file3 c:\nu\file1 -> c:\nu\file3 1 file(s) renamed Like COPY, the NDOS REN command tells you just what it did. You now have two files, FILE2 and FILE3, in the current directory. You can use an NDOS enhancement to add the extension .TST to both of them: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 16 Command Line Editing and History ___________________________________________________________________ c:\nu> ren file2 file3 *.tst c:\nu\file2 -> c:\nu\file2.tst c:\nu\file3 -> c:\nu\file3.tst 2 file(s) renamed Unlike the traditional REN command, NDOS lets you rename multiple files with a single command. All of the NDOS file processing commands like COPY, DEL, MOVE, and RENAME accept multiple filenames, so you can do in one command what used to require a separate command for each file. Now delete the files you have just created. You could use a simple command like DEL *.TST, but that would delete any other .TST files in the current directory also. To protect against erasing files that you might want to keep, add a /P option to DEL so that it will prompt you before it deletes each file. Answer Y to the prompts shown below to let NDOS delete your test files: c:\nu> del *.tst /p Delete c:\nu\file3.tst (Y/N)? y Delete c:\nu\file2.tst (Y/N)? y 2 file(s) deleted To verify all these actions, you can do a DIR or DIR /P to look at what files are left in the directory. All the files you've just created (FILE1, FILE2, FILE3, etc.) should be gone. The features we've demonstrated here -- traditional commands with enhancements that make your work easier -- are present throughout NDOS. If you want more details, pick a DOS command that you're familiar with and look up the corresponding NDOS command in the reference section to get an idea of what's new and improved in NDOS. (Note that NDOS replaces internal commands like COPY and DIR, not external commands like DISKCOPY and FORMAT.) Command Line Editing and History This section demonstrates NDOS features which make it easy to correct typing mistakes at the DOS prompt, to repeat previous commands, and to get help with any command. We can't show you exact examples here as easily as we can in the other sections of the tour, since the display depends on the exact keystrokes you type and we want you to experiment a little. So we'll guide you through what NDOS can do, and you'll see the results on your screen. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 17 Command Line Editing and History ___________________________________________________________________ First, create a typing error by mistake. Enter an incorrect DIR command: c:\nu> dur /2 Traditionally, you would have had to use the Backspace key to erase most of the line in order to correct this error, or press Esc and start over. NDOS makes corrections much easier. Press the Home key followed by the RightArrow. The cursor will move to the start of the line and then right one space to the "u" in "dur". Type an "i" and the command should be correct. To execute it, press Enter; if you'd rather not, press Esc. That's a simple example of NDOS command line editing. You can use the left and right arrow keys, Home and End, and Backspace and Del to move around and modify your command line at any time, just like you do in your word processor or editor. Other keys let you move the cursor a word at a time, delete words, change between overstrike and insert modes, and perform many other operations. Esc always clears the line and lets you start over. For a summary of all the command line editing keys see page 48. NDOS also remembers the commands you type in a command history. To see the commands you have used so far during this tour, we'll use the NDOS HISTORY command to display the entire history list: c:\nu> history ? dir dir /p dir /2/v tour1 ren file1 file3 ren file2 file3 *.tst del *.tst /p dir /2 NDOS records about 1000 characters of history. You can reduce or enlarge this amount to suit your own needs. Now press the UpArrow key once. The last command in the HISTORY display (DIR /2 in the example above) will appear at the prompt. You can use the editing keys to modify this command, which is much easier than retyping it. To execute the command again, in either its modified or unmodified form, press Enter. To clear the line, press Esc. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 18 Command Line Editing and History ___________________________________________________________________ If you'd like to see more commands, first press Esc to clear the command line. (To see all commands in the history, you should always start with an empty command line.) Now press UpArrow several times. Each time you press it, NDOS will back up one more line in the command history. Once you find the line you're looking for, you can modify it if you like and then press Enter to execute it. Now imagine that you have been working for a while. An hour ago you did a complex DIR command and you need to do it again. You could scroll through an hour's worth of command history. But another NDOS feature called command completion will save you time. First, type the beginning of the command -- DI, or DIR. Now press the UpArrow. NDOS will recall the newest command in the history that starts with the characters you typed (if there are no matches, NDOS beeps). Press UpArrow again to retrieve the command before that, still matching to the characters you originally typed. You can test this out easily using DI or DIR, because you've put several DIR commands into the command history during the tour. Perhaps you would prefer to look at a list of commands that you have entered and choose from the list. First press the Esc key to clear the command prompt. Then press the PageUp key. NDOS will display a history window in the upper right corner of your screen showing the commands you've recently typed. You can move around in this window with the UpArrow and DownArrow keys. PageUp and PageDown move the display a page at a time. When you find the command you want, press Enter to re-execute it as is, or press Ctrl-Enter to move the line down to the prompt where you can edit it as usual. You can find more information on command line editing and history beginning on pages 48 and 49. And you can use directives in your NDOS.INI file (see page 108) to set the length of the history list and the size of the history window, and to redefine the editing and history keys. You can also get help any time you need it from the NDOS command prompt. Just press the F1 key. You'll see a display of all NDOS HELP topics. If you would like some help with COPY, move the cursor bar to COPY. Press Enter to see help on the topic; once you're there, scroll through the help using the vertical arrows or PageUp and PageDown keys. The highlighted items within a topic are cross-references to other topics; select one with the Tab key and press Enter ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 19 More About Files ___________________________________________________________________ to view it. Press Esc or F1 to return to the topic list. For more help using the Help display, select the Help topic a the beginning of the topic list. If you have a mouse, see the Mouse topic at the beginning of the topic list for information on using the mouse within the Help system. Now exit the help system (use Esc) and start entering a command: c:\nu> copy *.doc a: / After that "/" you want to use the option that tells COPY to prompt you before replacing an existing file, but you can't remember what it is. Just leave the command as it is and press F1. NDOS will display help on the command you're entering, and you'll see that the option you want is /R. Press Esc to exit help and you'll be right back on the command line. You can type the R and press Enter to execute your command, or press Esc instead to clear the line if you don't really want to execute the command. NDOS has may more features that can help you at the command line. Most of them are described in Chapter 5, "Using NDOS," in the section At the Command Line starting on page 47. More About Files This section of the tour describes NDOS features that help you manage files and directories. You're about to use another batch file to create some files with which you can experiment. The batch file you'll use is called TOUR2.BTM. First, take a look at the batch file with the NDOS LIST command: c:\nu> list tour2.btm As you can see on your screen, LIST is a full screen file viewer. You can scroll and page through the text. You may notice that some lines near the end of the file extend beyond the edge of your screen. To make the off-screen text visible use the left and right arrow keys to scroll the display horizontally, or press W to turn line wrapping on and off. LIST also lets you search for text and print the file you're viewing, two capabilities that we won't demonstrate on this tour. The file TOUR2.BTM is simply a batch file that creates other files, using the NDOS ECHO command. You don't have to worry about how it works; we just used it to show you LIST. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 20 More About Files ___________________________________________________________________ Now run TOUR2.BTM: c:\nu> tour2 Please wait ... File creation completed TOUR2 creates three files called FILE1, FILE2, and FILE3. The contents of the files aren't important since we're just using them for demonstration purposes. You'll be deleting and recreating them several times through the rest of the tour. Now try the NDOS SELECT feature. SELECT lets you choose files for any NDOS command from a full-screen list. We'll use it here to delete one of the files that TOUR2 created. Enter the command: c:\nu> select del (file*) This command tells NDOS to let you select from files that begin with the characters "file", and then pass the name of each file you select to the DEL command for action. The display on your screen should include a two-line header and then the list of files, just as they'd look in a directory display. Press the spacebar to "mark" the first file -- a triangular mark will appear to the left of the filename. You can scroll around in the display and mark and unmark files with the spacebar as you like. When you hit Enter, the command will be executed, deleting the files you've marked. For now, mark FILE1 and leave the other files unmarked, so that FILE2 and FILE3 are not deleted. You'll use them in the next step. SELECT is also handy if you want to copy a group of files to a floppy disk, perhaps to take your work home for the night or to make a quick backup. If you'd like to try it, put a blank, formatted floppy disk in drive A:. Then enter this command: c:\nu> select copy (file*) a: Mark one or both of the files in the SELECT display, and the marked file(s) will be copied to the floppy disk when you hit Enter. SELECT is a "prefix" command: it goes before another command and modifies what that second command does. Another useful prefix command is EXCEPT, which lets you do something except to one or more files. Before you try EXCEPT, create new ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 21 More About Files ___________________________________________________________________ copies of FILE1, FILE2, and FILE3 (TOUR2 will overwrite any old copies of these files remaining from the last time it was run): c:\nu> tour2 Please wait ... File creation completed Now use EXCEPT to delete all but one of the files that TOUR2 created: c:\nu> except (file1) del file* Deleting c:\nu\file2 Deleting c:\nu\file3 2 file(s) deleted The EXCEPT command protected FILE1 from being deleted. To verify that, use the DIR command. When you're done, run TOUR2 one more time so the files are there for the next step. Next, create two subdirectories within the current directory: c:\nu> md dira dirb Notice that you can create both subdirectories with a single command. Traditionally, you would have needed two MD commands to do the same thing. To verify that the directories are there, use DIR but ask it to display only subdirectories and not files (if you're curious, /A:D stands for "Attributes: Directory"; see page 195 for more details): c:\nu> dir /a:d Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\*.* . <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 .. <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 DIRA <DIR> 10-27-92 10:23 DIRB <DIR> 10-27-92 10:23 0 bytes in 4 file(s) 0 bytes allocated 18,608,128 bytes free OK, things look right. Now move the demonstration files to those directories. NDOS has a built-in MOVE command to move a file from one directory or drive to another, something DOS users have wished for for a long time. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 22 More About Files ___________________________________________________________________ Here are the commands to move FILE1 to DIRA, and FILE2 and FILE3 to DIRB: c:\nu> move file1 dira c:\nu\file1 -> c:\nu\dira\file1 1 file(s) moved c:\nu> move file2 file3 dirb c:\nu\file2 -> c:\nu\dirb\file2 c:\nu\file3 -> c:\nu\dirb\file3 2 file(s) moved As usual, NDOS tells you exactly what it's doing. Now that you've created a subdirectory structure, it's time to get a comprehensive look at it. Use DIR to look for all the files whose names begin with "file" in the current directory and all of its subdirectories -- that's the DIR /S option: c:\nu> dir /s file* Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\dira\file*.* file1 22 10-27-92 10:37 22 bytes in 1 file(s) 2,048 bytes allocated 18,587,648 bytes free Total for: c:\nu\dira\file*.* 22 bytes in 1 file(s) 2,048 bytes allocated Directory of c:\nu\dirb\file*.* file2 22 10-27-92 10:37 file3 1938 10-27-92 10:37 1,960 bytes in 2 file(s) 4,096 bytes allocated 18,587,648 bytes free Total for: c:\nu\dirb\file*.* 1,960 bytes in 2 file(s) 4,096 bytes allocated Total for: c:\nu\file*.* 1,982 bytes in 3 file(s) 6,144 bytes allocated DIR has displayed the directory header, filenames, and totals for each of the two subdirectories that contain files matching the name you entered, FILE*. It also has displayed a grand total. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 23 More About Files ___________________________________________________________________ You've seen that DIR can look at several subdirectories at once. Now do the same thing with DEL, and delete the files you put in your demonstration subdirectories, along with the subdirectories themselves, with a single command. To do so, you need to use two options: /S and /X. The first tells DEL to delete files in the current directory and all of its subdirectories. The /X option makes DEL remove each subdirectory if all the files within it are deleted: c:\nu> del /s/x dira dirb c:\nu\dira\*.* : Are you sure (Y/N)? Y Deleting c:\nu\dira\file1 c:\nu\dirb\*.* : Are you sure (Y/N)? Y Deleting c:\nu\dirb\file2 Deleting c:\nu\dirb\file3 3 file(s) deleted Note the safety feature that NDOS gave you here. When you tell DEL to delete DIRA and DIRB, NDOS recognizes them as directory names and assumes you mean "delete all files in this directory". Since you're deleting all the files, NDOS displays a prompt that tells you what's about to be deleted and asks you whether you really want to do the deletion. Once you answer Y, the files are deleted and the subdirectory is automatically removed because you used the /X switch. NDOS also lets you use file descriptions, so you can describe a file's contents more clearly than with an eight-character filename. The descriptions can be up to 40 characters long. First, run TOUR2 again to regenerate the three demonstration files. Then enter a DESCRIBE command, along with a description for each file (you can enter any description you like; you don't have to use the text shown): c:\nu> tour2 c:\nu> describe file* Describe "c:\nu\file1" : Tour file 1 Describe "c:\nu\file2" : Tour file 2 Describe "c:\nu\file3" : Tour file 3 Now look at the descriptions with a DIR command: c:\nu> dir file* Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\file*.* file1 22 10-27-92 10:48 Tour file 1 file2 22 10-27-92 10:48 Tour file 2 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 24 Directory Navigation ___________________________________________________________________ file3 1938 10-27-92 10:49 Tour file 3 1,982 bytes in 3 file(s) 6,144 bytes allocated 18,604,032 bytes free The descriptions will appear any time you ask for a standard, single-column directory display. They will also appear when you use the SELECT command. They can be a lifesaver when you have files whose contents you can't remember, or when you have large groups of files with similar names. Directory Navigation NDOS doesn't just make it easier to access files; it also makes your life much easier when you're navigating through the hard disk directory structure. You're probably already familiar with the traditional CD command, which you use to change directories. NDOS adds a "go back" option to CD, which is invoked by using the minus sign [-] instead of a directory name. Try this: c:\nu> cd \ c:\> cd - c:\nu> The CD - changes back to the directory you were in before the most recent CD command. It's a convenient way to switch back and forth between two directories. NDOS also lets you change the drive and directory at the same time with the CDD command so you don't have to switch drives first and then change directories. Here's an example using CDD. Before you try it, put a floppy disk in drive A: c:\nu> cdd a:\ a:\> cdd - c:\nu> As you can see, the minus works with CDD as well. For more complex sequences of directory navigation, you can use PUSHD and POPD. These commands maintain a directory "stack" and let you make several changes, then move back through the directories you've been to. They can change both drive and directory, like CDD. For example: c:\nu> pushd a:\ a:\> pushd c:\ c:\> popd a:\> popd ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 25 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ c:\nu> NDOS also offers you a special environment variable, CDPATH, to help you find the right directory without a lot of typing. CD, CDD, and PUSHD use CDPATH to find the directory you want to change to if they can't find it in the current directory. This can help a lot when you have long but commonly used directory names. For example, say you have a directory called C:\DBASE\REPORTS which contains a subdirectory for each month of the year. If you set CDPATH like this: c:\nu> set cdpath=c:\dbase\reports Then you can change to the JANUARY subdirectory like this: c:\nu> cd january c:\dbase\reports\january> cd - c:\nu> CD found the JANUARY subdirectory, saving you from typing the entire name, because its parent directory was listed in CDPATH. For more details about CDPATH see page 107. Aliases Aliases are a powerful feature of NDOS. Simple aliases are very easy to set up and use (that's what we'll discuss here). Complex aliases allow you to configure your system just about any way you want, and can take the place of many small batch files. The purpose of aliases is to rename or reconfigure NDOS commands. They are defined and viewed with the ALIAS command. In this tour, we'll show you how to set up aliases for the DIR command. Of course, you can use aliases to enhance any command; for more examples see the ALIAS command on page 159, and the sample file ALIASES that comes with NDOS. Here's a popular favorite for anyone who uses DIR and wants to be able to use a simple D instead: c:\nu> alias d = dir To see what aliases you've defined, enter ALIAS with no parameters: c:\nu> alias d=dir ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 26 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ To use the alias, just enter its name at the prompt, like any command: c:\nu> d Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... Directory of c:\nu\*.* . <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 .. <DIR> 8-22-91 14:21 advise hlp 78156 02-23-93 1:00a aliases 8077 06-01-92 6:01a be exe 19017 02-23-93 1:00a calibrat exe 50916 02-23-93 1:00a . . . . . . . . . . . . unformat hlp 11255 02-23-93 1:00a wipeinfo exe 34066 02-23-93 1:00a wipeinfo hlp 11863 02-23-93 1:00a 835,038 bytes in 24 file(s) 858,112 bytes allocated 18,599,936 bytes free Once you've defined an alias, you can use it anywhere a command can be used: at the command prompt, in a batch file, or inside another alias. As an example, build on the D alias you have already defined. Suppose you regularly use the NDOS two-column directory listings, discussed near the start of the tour. Each time you want a directory listing, you use the command DIR /2. Define an alias, D2, to let you execute this command with the touch of a couple of keys. Since you have already defined D, you can define D2 in either of these ways (choose one to try): c:\nu> alias d2 = dir /2 c:\nu> alias d2 = d /2 If you want to see the results, just enter ALIAS again: c:\nu> alias d=dir d2=d /2 To use this alias, just enter the command D2 and press Enter. You can pass filenames to these aliases just like you would to the original command. For example, D2 *.DOC will give you a two-column display of the .DOC files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 27 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ You can create aliases that are even easier to use with the NDOS keystroke aliases. These aliases let you assign an Alt or Function key to an alias so you can invoke it by pressing a single key. Say you'd like to assign the two-column directory display to F5. Just define an alias like D2 above, and make the alias name the key name, with an at-sign [@] before it: c:\nu> alias @f5 = dir /2 Now press F5 and the DIR /2 command will appear on the command line. Press Enter to execute it, or type some additional arguments and then press Enter if you'd like. (You can also make key aliases execute as soon as you press the key. For details on how, see the ALIAS command on page 159.) You can use an alias to redefine how a standard command works, without changing its name. Suppose you always want DIR to display its output in two columns, with a vertical sort and a pause at the end of each page. You might think of using something like this: c:\nu> alias dir = dir /2/p/v Go ahead and try that, then do a DIR. You'll get an error: c:\nu> dir Alias loop c:\nu> The "alias loop" error is caused because NDOS tries to reinterpret the DIR command inside your alias as another attempt to run the same alias. It's easy to change the alias so this doesn't happen: c:\nu> alias dir = *dir /2/p/v The [*] tells NDOS that what follows is not an alias. Try the definition above (you can scroll back to the incorrect definition with UpArrow and modify it). Then do a DIR and you'll see the results. Using this method, you can redefine the default options for any NDOS command. Aliases can contain multiple commands and can do much fancier things than what you've seen here. They're great for creating shorthand names for commonly used programs like your word processor or database, and they will often help get programs loaded faster as well -- if you put the full name of the program in an alias, NDOS doesn't have to search your PATH for it. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 28 Other Commands ___________________________________________________________________ For complete details, see the overview of aliases beginning on page 88, and the ALIAS command reference on page 159. When you read about aliases in the rest of the manual, you'll notice that most alias definitions are shown with back quotes [] around the part after the name. Some aliases require these back quotes when they are defined at the command line or in a batch file, to make it clear to NDOS what is and isn't part of the alias. We show aliases that way elsewhere because it's the safest way to enter them at the command line. If you always use the back quotes, you don't have to worry about whether a particular alias needs them or not. We didn't use them here because none of these aliases require back quotes and we didn't want to add extra typing during the tour. Other Commands There are a few other commands that we'll just touch on so that you can see other NDOS capabilities. First, turn on the NDOS LOG facility, which records all the commands you enter in a file. Enter the command: c:\nu> log /w mylog You won't see anything else happen, but you've turned logging on. We'll return to the NDOS log later. NDOS has a couple of commands that let you control screen color. The examples here will work on any system with a color video board (the commands work on monochrome systems, too, but you're restricted to the colors white and black). Try clearing the screen to a specific color: c:\nu> cls bright white on magenta Now let's set a different color: c:\nu> color bright yellow on blue The behavior of the COLOR command varies, depending on whether you have an ANSI driver loaded. If you don't, COLOR will change the color of the entire screen immediately. If you do have an ANSI driver loaded, COLOR only affects the color of text displayed after it's executed, and not the color of text already on the screen. If you don't know, don't worry about it -- just experiment with COLOR and see. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 29 Other Commands ___________________________________________________________________ The FREE and MEMORY commands help you keep track of system resources. FREE tells you about free space on your disk drives (and is much faster than CHKDSK). MEMORY tells you about memory resources, including expanded and extended memory and the NDOS internal alias and history storage areas. Here are examples of the output from our test system; try the commands on your system and see what values you get. c:\nu> free Volume in drive C is HARD_DISK Serial number is ... 41,826,304 bytes total disk space 23,232,512 bytes used 18,593,792 bytes free c:\nu> memory 655,360 bytes total DOS RAM 612,256 bytes free 7,815,168 bytes total EMS memory 688,128 bytes free 12,288 bytes free XMS memory (HMA in use) 1,792 bytes total environment 233 bytes free 6,144 bytes total alias 1,045 bytes free 1,024 bytes total history The TIMER command lets you time events. The following line also shows the NDOS ability to accept multiple commands on one line, which are separated by a caret [^]. It starts the timer, runs the TOUR2.BTM file to create the three demonstration files, deletes the three files, and then stops the timer and displays the time the whole operation took. Enter this command to time the entire sequence on your computer: c:\nu> timer ^ tour2 ^ del file1 file2 file3 ^ timer Timer 1 on: 11:10:01 Please wait ... File creation completed Deleting c:\nu\file1 Deleting c:\nu\file2 Deleting c:\nu\file3 3 file(s) deleted ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 30 Batch Programming ___________________________________________________________________ Timer 1 off: 11:10:06 elapsed: 0:00:05.11 Now return to the log that you started a few minutes ago. Turn logging off, then take a look at what was recorded. Enter the following two commands; the output will pause at the end of each page: c:\nu> log off c:\nu> type mylog /p [10-28-92 11:05:02] cls bright white on magenta [10-28-92 11:05:54] color bright yellow on blue [10-28-92 11:07:08] free [10-28-92 11:07:49] memory [10-28-92 11:09:55] timer [10-28-92 11:09:56] tour2 ... (commands from TOUR2.BTM will be displayed here) [10-28-92 11:10:00] del file1 file2 file3 [10-28-92 11:10:01] timer [10-28-92 11:12:35] log off As you can see, the log contains every command you entered plus a date and time stamp. It's a complete record of system activity, including commands you type and those entered from batch files and aliases. You can use it as a record of your work, for security purposes, or for anything else you desire. You may want to clean up the directory now by deleting this demonstration log with a DEL MYLOG command. Batch Programming This final section demonstrates a very little bit of what NDOS can do for your batch files. If you've never worked with batch files, you may want to skip this section. If you aren't sure, give it a try and stop if things seem too complex. You don't have to be a batch file programmer to use NDOS. Rather than having you go to the trouble of writing batch files, we'll demonstrate NDOS batch file functions that work just as well at the prompt. Some NDOS batch file improvements aid in communicating with the user. You can make sounds: c:\nu> beep 440 2 880 8 660 4 You can draw boxes and lines. Enter each of these commands on one line; use the second set of commands if you have a monochrome monitor: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 31 Batch Programming ___________________________________________________________________ c:\nu> cls bright white on blue c:\nu> drawbox 10 10 20 70 4 bright cyan on black fill black c:\nu> drawhline 15 10 61 1 bright cyan on black c:\nu> cls bright white on black c:\nu> drawbox 10 10 20 70 4 black on white fill white c:\nu> drawhline 15 10 61 1 black on white Notice that NDOS correctly connects the line to the box where they intersect. NDOS has additional commands like SCREEN and SCRPUT, which we won't demonstrate here, to display text anywhere on the screen and in any color. NDOS also helps you ask the user for input. Try this (be sure to use two percent signs before the second "letter"): c:\nu> inkey Enter a letter: %%letter Enter a letter: A The letter you typed was stored in your environment in the variable named LETTER. Use the SET command to view it: c:\nu> set COMSPEC=C:\NDOS\NDOS.COM . . . LETTER=A The user can also type full strings if you use the INPUT command: c:\nu> input Enter a string: %%string Enter a string: Type anything you like here ... Again, SET will let you view the string, stored in the environment variable STRING. Once you've collected some input, you will probably want to test it with the NDOS IF and IFF commands. Here's one example. Enter this on one line (there's plenty of room; NDOS command lines can be up to 255 characters long). Note that two percent signs are used in the INKEY command and one is used in the IFF, and that a double equal sign is used in the IFF statement. c:\nu> inkey Enter a letter: %%letter ^ iff "%letter"=="A" then ^ echo hi ^ else ^ echo bye ^ endiff ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 32 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________ Try using the UpArrow to repeat the command several times, giving different responses to the "Enter a letter" prompt. NDOS offers dozens of additional batch file improvements. For more information see the section on batch files beginning on page 91, and the reference for each individual command. Conclusion This has been a very fast tour of some of the most popular features of NDOS. There are many more features, commands and options to explore, as well as ways to customize NDOS so that it suits your computing habits and needs. A useful NDOS feature is its ability to adapt to your way of working instead of requiring you to adapt to it. To learn more about specific NDOS commands, look through the Command Reference section of this manual, beginning on page 153. To learn more about the dozens of NDOS features that aren't related to specific commands, read through Chapter 5 / Using NDOS, beginning on page 47. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 33 DOS and the Command Interpreter ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 4, GENERAL CONCEPTS You can start using NDOS as soon as you finish installing it, because NDOS is compatible with the traditional commands you're used to. But most users find that the more they know about their computer systems, the more power they get from NDOS. And, the more experienced they become with NDOS, the more they want to know about their computer system as a whole. This section of the manual explains some fundamental concepts about your computer, DOS, and NDOS. It should help you understand the terms and concepts in the pages that follow. If you find some of the concepts overwhelming, just remember that they are here when you need them. If you find this material too simple, skim over the topics and then go on to the next section. Each topic in this chapter is independent, so if you read it straight through you won't necessarily find a natural "flow" from one topic to another. If you come across terms or concepts in this chapter that you are unsure about, refer to the Glossary on page 329 or the Index. DOS and the Command Interpreter When you turn on your computer, it first runs some internal diagnostics and then looks for a boot disk, either a floppy disk in drive A: or your hard disk. There is nothing magical about a boot disk; it simply has a copy of DOS and a command interpreter available, plus a small block of special information that tells the computer that it is indeed a boot disk. The core portion of DOS consists of two hidden files (files that are normally invisible to the DIR command). They aren't hidden to keep you from copying or examining them, but rather to keep you from accidentally erasing them. The names of the files depend on the version of DOS you are using, but they are usually something like MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS. These two files contain the operating system, which controls your disk files and directories, loads and runs programs, maintains the system time and date, and performs other housekeeping tasks. After the computer loads DOS into memory, it performs some standard initialization tasks and then looks for a file called CONFIG.SYS, which contains user-specified initialization commands. You can view and edit your CONFIG.SYS file with any text editor. One of the optional lines in CONFIG.SYS begins ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 34 DOS and the Command Interpreter ___________________________________________________________________ with the word SHELL. That line names the command interpreter that DOS should load as it completes its initialization. A command interpreter is a program that accepts your instructions and carries them out. The command interpreter shipped with DOS is called COMMAND.COM. Once you have NDOS installed, NDOS.COM replaces COMMAND.COM as your command interpreter. Both COMMAND.COM and NDOS are normal programs that know how to translate your commands into actions. NDOS is simply a much more powerful command interpreter than COMMAND.COM. Primary and Secondary Shells Technically, the command interpreter is a shell: a program that understands your commands and makes the correct calls to DOS to perform various operations, including running programs. The command interpreter that runs when the computer boots up, is called the primary shell. Any command interpreter that is run by an application program with a "shell to DOS" feature, or that is run by a multitasking program like Windows or DESQview, is a secondary shell. NDOS can be run as a primary shell and as a secondary shell. A secondary shell has all the same features as a primary shell, but you can leave a secondary shell with the EXIT command. There is no way to exit from the primary shell, because your computer needs a shell present to operate. There are only a few differences between primary and secondary shells. Generally, less memory is available when a secondary shell is running, because at least part of the program that started it is still in memory waiting to spring back to life when you exit. And normally only the primary shell automatically executes the instructions in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You may also see the term shell used to describe programs which assist you in managing your files (for example XTree or Lotus Magellan). This is a different and less precise meaning of "shell" than the one used above and elsewhere in this manual. Such programs are also sometimes called "visual shells" because they use a menu or graphical interface to receive commands. Unlike NDOS, these programs are not command interpreters, and cannot replace COMMAND.COM. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 35 Command Processing ___________________________________________________________________ AUTOEXEC.BAT, NSTART, and NEXIT When a primary shell, either COMMAND.COM or NDOS, gets control from DOS during boot up, one of its first responsibilities is to look for and run a batch file called AUTOEXEC.BAT, if that file is available in the root directory of the boot drive. This file is simply a list of commands that you want to have executed every time your computer boots up. If COMMAND.COM cannot find AUTOEXEC.BAT, it asks you for the time and date. NDOS skips that step and immediately displays a standard prompt (e.g., c:\>). Every time NDOS starts as either a primary or secondary shell, it also looks for an optional batch file called NSTART.BTM or NSTART.BAT, and runs the file if it finds it. NSTART is a convenient place to put special NDOS configuration commands. Whenever you exit from a NDOS secondary shell, NDOS looks for another optional file called NEXIT.BTM or NEXIT.BAT and runs the file if it finds it. NEXIT is not necessary in most circumstances, but is a convenient place to put commands to save information from a secondary shell before it exits. AUTOEXEC.BAT, NSTART, and NEXIT are called automatic batch files because they run without your intervention at specific times. NSTART and NEXIT should not be used to load any memory resident programs (TSRs). Otherwise, these three files can include any commands that could be part of any batch file or any commands which you could type from the command line. For more details about batch files and batch file commands, see pages 91 and 154. Command Processing Whenever you type something at the command line and press the Enter key, you have given a command to NDOS, which must figure out how to execute your command. If you understand the general process that NDOS uses, you will be able to make the best use of the NDOS commands. NDOS begins by dividing the line you typed into an action word and a command tail. The action word is the first word in the command; the tail is everything that follows the command word. For example, in the command line dir *.txt /p/o/n ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 36 Command Processing ___________________________________________________________________ the action word is "dir," and the command tail is "*.txt /p/o/n." To decide what activity to perform, NDOS makes five attempts to understand the action word: First, NDOS tries to match the action word against its internal list of aliases, which are synonyms that you have defined for commands. If it finds a match between the action word you typed and one of the aliases you've defined, it replaces the action word you typed with the action word from the alias. (This substitution is done internally, and is not normally visible to you). Once it has finished with the aliases, NDOS continues with the steps listed below to identify the meaning of the new action word. NDOS first tries to match the action word against its list of more than 80 internal commands, which are actions that are built into NDOS. If it finds a match, NDOS performs the internal command and then waits for a new instruction from you. If there is no match with any NDOS internal command, it looks for an executable file (one with a .COM or .EXE extension) whose name matches the action word. It runs the executable file if it finds one. This is called an external command or external program. Next, NDOS looks for a batch file (with a .BTM or .BAT extension) that matches the action word. If it finds such a file, it then reads each line in the file as a new command. Finally, NDOS checks to see if the action word matches the name of a file with an extension that you have defined as executable. If a match is found, NDOS runs the program you specified when you defined the executable extension. (Executable extensions are used to associate file extensions with the specific program that processes a particular type of file; see page 68 for details). NDOS first tries the last three steps in the current directory. If the action word doesn't match a .COM, .EXE, .BTM, or .BAT file or an executable extension in the current directory, NDOS repeats its search in every directory in your PATH. The PATH is a list of directories that NDOS (and some applications) search to look for executable files. If all these searches fail, NDOS displays an "Unknown command" error message and waits for your next instruction. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 37 Files and Paths ___________________________________________________________________ If NDOS finds a matching internal command in the first step, that command begins its activity by examining the command tail. Some commands require information in the command tail, some accept optional information, and others don't allow any command tail at all. The command tail for internal commands usually contains filenames, directory names, option switches which modify the command's behavior, or other information. NDOS makes the command tail available to every alias, batch file, and external command that it executes. Aliases and batch files can examine the command tail by using "replaceable parameters," (see page 92). External commands examine the command tail in a manner determined by the programmer who wrote that particular external program. It is up to each command to examine the command tail to make sure that the information it has received makes sense. If you use an option switch which the command doesn't understand, or if you omit a required piece of information, the command issues an error message and ends. Therefore, the command lines that you create must fit the format that each alias, internal or external command, or batch file expects. The process that internal and external commands go through to separate the individual elements of the command line, make sure you used the correct syntax, and understand what you have requested, is called parsing. Files and Paths You may have dozens, hundreds, or thousands of files stored on your computer's disks. DOS is responsible for managing all of these files. In order to do so, it uses a unique name to locate each file in much the same way that the post office assigns a unique address to every residence. The unique name of any file is composed of a drive letter, a directory path, and a filename. Each of these parts of the file's name is case insensitive; you can mix upper and lower case letters in any way you wish. A drive letter designates which drive contains the file. In a file's full name, the drive letter is followed by a colon. Drive letters A: and B: are normally reserved for the floppy disk drives. (Systems with a single drive use both A: and B: for that drive. DOS asks you to swap floppy disks as necessary to turn that single physical drive into two separate logical disk drives.) ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 38 Files and Paths ___________________________________________________________________ Normally, drive C: is the first (or only) hard disk drive. Later versions of DOS and some utility programs can divide a large hard disk into multiple logical drives that are usually called C:, D:, E:, etc. Also, the DOS utility SUBST lets you use drive letters as a substitute for directory names. Many network systems (LANs) use a similar feature to give drive letters to sections of the network file server drives. Some computers also have "RAM disks", which are areas of memory set aside by software (a "RAM disk driver") for use as fast, but temporary storage. RAM disks are also assigned drive letters, typically using letters beyond that used by the last hard disk in the system, but before any network drives. For example, on a system with a large hard disk you might have A: and B: as floppy disk drives, C:, D:, and E: as parts of the hard disk, F: as a RAM disk, and G: and H: as network drives. Directories are used to divide the files on a drive into logical groups that are easy to work with. Their purpose is similar to the use of file drawers to contain groups of hanging folders, hanging folders to contain smaller manila folders, and so on. Every drive has a root or base directory, and many have one or more subdirectories. Subdirectories can also have subdirectories, extending in a branching tree structure from the root directory. The collection of all directories on a drive is often called the directory tree, and a portion of the tree is sometimes called a subtree. The terms directory and subdirectory are typically used interchangeably to mean a single subdirectory within this tree structure. Subdirectory names follow the same naming rules as files (see below): a base name followed by an optional extension. However, some application programs do not properly handle subdirectory names that have an extension. It is best to use only an eight character (or less) name, without an extension, for subdirectories. The drive and subdirectory portion of a file's name are collectively called the file's path. For example, the filename C:\DIR1\DIR2\MYFILE.DAT says to look for the file MYFILE.DAT in the subdirectory DIR2 which is part of the subdirectory DIR1 which is on drive C:. The path for MYFILE.DAT is C:\DIR1\DIR2. The backslashes between subdirectory names are required. The total length of a file's path may not exceed 64 characters (excluding the filename and extension, but including the drive letter and colon). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 39 Files and Paths ___________________________________________________________________ DOS remembers both a current or default drive for your system as a whole, and a current or default directory for every drive in your system. Whenever a program tries to create or access a file without specifying the file's path, DOS uses the current drive (if no other drive is specified) and the current directory (if no other directory path is specified). The root directory is named using the drive letter and a single backslash. For example, D:\ refers to the root directory of drive D:. Using a drive letter with no directory name at all refers to the current directory on the specified drive. For example, E:NDOS.DOC refers to the file NDOS.DOC in the current directory on drive E:. There are also two special subdirectory names that are useful in many situations: a single period [.] by itself means "the current default directory." Two periods together [..] means "the directory which contains the current default directory" (often referred to as the parent directory). These special names can be used wherever a full directory name can be used. NDOS allows you to use additional periods to specify directories further "up" the tree (see page 175). Finally, each file has a filename. The filename consists of a base name of one to eight characters plus an optional extension composed of a period plus one to three more characters. You can use alphabetic and numeric characters plus the punctuation marks ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ { } and ~ in both the base name and the extension. Because the exclamation point [!], percent sign [%], caret [^], at-sign [@], parentheses [()], and back quote [`] also have other meanings to NDOS, it is best to avoid using them in filenames. Each file also has attributes which define characteristics of the file which may be useful to DOS, to you, or to an application program. Attributes can be set with the NDOS ATTRIB command (see page 168) and viewed with the ATTRIB and DIR commands. Every time a program modifies a file, DOS sets the Archive attribute, which signals that the file has been modified since it was last backed up. This can be used by NDOS to determine which files to COPY, and by backup programs to determine which files to back up. When the Read-only attribute is set, the file can't be changed or erased; this can be used to protect important files from damage. The Hidden and System attributes prevent the file from appearing in normal directory listings. The NDOS DIR command (see page 195) has options which allow you to select filenames to view based on their attributes, to view the attributes themselves, and to view information about normally "invisible" hidden and system files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 40 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ When a file is created, and every time it is modified, DOS records the system time and date in a time stamp in the file's directory entry. Several NDOS commands and variable functions, and many backup and utility programs, use this time stamp to determine the relative ages of files. The Environment The command interpreter keeps a list of information about your computer in memory. This list is called the environment. Every program receives a copy of the environment when it begins, and many programs use some of its information to configure themselves or to find files. The environment is arranged as a series of variables and their related values. Each variable is a name stored in upper case. The name is followed by an equal sign [=] and some text. You can view the environment with the SET command, and add new entries or edit existing entries with SET and ESET. A typical environment entry looks like this: LIB=c:\lib In this example, the name of the variable is LIB and its value is "c:\lib." The format and meaning of each entry in the environment is up to the program that uses the particular variable. Environment variables can contain just about anything, and can be used for any purpose the author of a program desires. The "purpose" of the environment as a whole is simply to hold small amounts of text which programs can then access according to their own rules. Most environment variables are used by single programs for their own information; a few have well-defined meanings and are used by many different programs. One of the most important environment variables is called PATH. The text of PATH is a list of subdirectories separated by semicolons. NDOS searches each of the subdirectories listed in the PATH entry to find executable files that aren't in the default directory. Many programs also search the PATH list to find their own files. NDOS uses several environment variables to control its own behavior, and provides a wide range of facilities for manipulating and managing the environment. See page 106 for additional details. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 41 Memory ___________________________________________________________________ Memory The memory in your computer is organized in bytes. Normally, the amount of memory in a computer is discussed in terms of kilobytes (K or 1,024 bytes) and megabytes (MB or 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024K). The amount of memory available in your computer is determined by the number of memory chips you have installed. In an ideal world, there would be little more to say about memory. But because of the history of PCs, the needs of large application programs, and the capabilities of advanced CPUs, there are many different kinds of memory. The original 8088 CPUs of the PC and PC/XT can address 1 MB of memory. Of that, a maximum of 640K is allocated as base, conventional, DOS, or low DOS memory (all these terms mean the same thing). The other 384K, known as upper memory, are set aside for the computer's built-in ROM BIOS, video adapter cards, hard disk controllers, and other expansion hardware. When base memory became too limiting, expanded memory (or EMS memory) was developed to give programs more data space. Expanded memory adds up to 16 MB which programs can access, 64K at a time, through a window in upper memory. In 8088/8086 (PC and XT), and 80286-based (AT) computers, expanded memory typically requires an add-on board and support software. In 386 and 486 computers, expanded memory is typically provided without additional hardware, using the capabilities of the 386/486 chips. The 80286 CPU used in the AT, and modern 386 and 486 CPUs, can use much more than the 8088's original 1 MB of memory. An 80286 can use a total of 16 MB; the 386 and 486 can use up to a whopping 4,096 MB. This extended memory is not normally available to DOS-based programs, however, without special programming techniques and the help of DOS extenders or memory managers. The memory terms used in this manual include BASE memory: The 640K or less that has traditionally been available for DOS and DOS-based applications. EMS or LIM EMS Memory: Memory which conforms to the Expanded Memory Specification, developed by Lotus, Intel, and Microsoft, that lets programs and utilities share expanded memory. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 42 ASCII and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Extended Memory: Memory beyond 1 MB in 80286, 386, and 486 computers. This memory may be accessed directly, in which case it is referred to as Extended Memory, or through XMS software, in which case it is referred to as XMS Memory (see below). XMS Memory: Extended memory managed by software which conforms to the Extended Memory Specification (XMS). XMS lets programs share extended memory without conflict. This specification divides extended memory into extended memory blocks (EMBs). XMS software also usually manages the HMA and the UMBs (see below). HMA: The first 64K bytes of extended memory, located just above 1 MB. Certain specialized programs such as DESQview, some network drivers, and portions of MS-DOS (version 5.0 or later) and DR-DOS (version 5.0 or later) can be loaded into the HMA instead of taking up valuable space in base memory. UMBs: 386 and 486 computers can electronically move pieces of extended memory into unused space in the upper memory area between 640K and 1 MB. Each block of this memory is called an Upper Memory Block (UMB). With DOS 5.0 or special 386/486 memory managers, memory-resident programs can be loaded into these UMBs instead of taking up valuable space in base memory. Some 8086, 8088, and 80286 systems can also use UMBs with appropriate additional hardware and software (see page 131 for details). ASCII and Key Codes Internally, computers use numbers for everything. To represent the text that you type, a computer must translate each letter to and from a number. For all PC-compatible computers, the code used for this translation is called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). ASCII codes are used both for the characters you type and for the characters that are displayed on the screen. The original ASCII code has 128 values for upper and lower case letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and control codes. The control codes correspond to pressing the Ctrl key plus an alphabetic character. Some control codes are also represented on the keyboard with such keys as Tab, Enter, Backspace, and Esc. IBM, in its original PC, defined an additional 128 extended ASCII codes for math symbols, international characters, the line characters used to draw boxes, and some ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 43 The Keyboard ___________________________________________________________________ miscellaneous symbols. You can enter extended ASCII codes on the keyboard by holding down the Alt key while you type the code number on the numeric key pad. Do not confuse extended ASCII with extended key codes. The latter include special codes that the computer generates when you press a function key, cursor key, or Alt plus a letter. Those keys do not have any representation in either the ASCII or extended ASCII code systems. Another set of key codes, called scan codes, is discussed in the section on the keyboard below. The Keyboard The original IBM PC, PC/XT, and virtually all XT-compatible computers use an 83-key keyboard with ten function keys. The earliest PC/AT computer and compatibles added an 84th key, called SysReq, but left the rest of the keyboard the same. Most 80286, 386, and 486 computers now use an "enhanced" keyboard with 101 or more keys, including 12 or more function keys. When you press a single key or a key combination, the computer translates the keystroke into two numbers. For all alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation keys, the Tab, Enter, Backspace, Esc keys and Ctrl plus an alphabetic key, these numbers are an ASCII code plus a scan code. The ASCII code represents the key's meaning; the scan code identifies which specific key was pressed. For example, many keyboards have two plus [+] keys, one above the equal sign and one on the numeric keypad. Both generate the same ASCII code, but they generate different scan codes. Keys which are not represented by ASCII codes are translated to an ASCII 0 plus an extended key code. These keys include the function keys, the cursor keys, and Alt plus a key. The extended key code for a key is generally the same as the scan code for that key. Some keys, like the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift by themselves or in combination with each other, plus the Print Screen, SysReq, Scroll Lock, Pause, Break, Num Lock, and Caps Lock do not have any code representations at all. The computer performs special actions automatically when you press these keys (for example, it switches your keyboard into Caps Lock mode when you press the Caps Lock key), and does not report the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 44 Video ___________________________________________________________________ keystrokes to whatever program is running unless the program has been written specially to accept them. It is up to the computer to smooth over the differences between the different keyboards. That is part of the reason why not all keyboards can be used with all computers. Appendix B has a complete list of the scan codes of each of the keys on your keyboard. Video NDOS is a "character-based" program, which means that it works in text mode on your computer. In text mode, the screen displays text in a single font, but cannot mix fonts or display graphics. NDOS can run graphics programs which change your screen to graphics mode, but the screen must be returned to text mode whenever NDOS is active. In the early days of the IBM PC, text mode was a single, simple video operating environment. Today, advanced video boards and video software have created a wide range of text modes. The original IBM PC monochrome and CGA color video cards can display 80 columns and 25 rows of text. Newer, advanced video systems normally run in this 80 x 25 display mode but can also display more columns and rows. For example, EGA video cards can display 43 rows of text and VGA video cards can display 50 rows. With special driver programs, a VGA can display 60 rows or more and up to 132 columns of text. Each of these different screen configurations is a different text mode. NDOS supports whatever number of rows and columns of text you decide to use. It doesn't have commands to switch from one screen size to another -- you will need to use the software that came with your computer or video board to do that -- but it can read and work with the number of rows and columns on your screen. ANSI Drivers Every version of DOS includes a program called ANSI.SYS. This program lets you use text colors other than drab white on black, redefine keys, and control screen output. Commercial ANSI drivers are available as replacements for ANSI.SYS. The commercial programs usually include many new features, boost screen display speed dramatically, and support text displays that have more than 80 columns and 25 lines. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 45 ANSI Drivers ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS automatically determines whether you have an ANSI driver installed. If you do, NDOS will use the driver to clear the screen and set screen colors. Several NDOS commands provide replacements for traditional ANSI.SYS commands. For example, NDOS has commands to set the screen colors and display text in specific colors. These commands are easier to understand and use than traditional ANSI.SYS control sequences. Some of these commands manipulate screen colors directly. Others use an ANSI driver if one is installed, but save you the work of figuring out complex ANSI control sequences. Any special interaction between NDOS commands and the ANSI.SYS driver is described in the documentation for each command. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 46 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 5, USING NDOS NDOS is both a collection of commands and a set of features which make your computer easier to use. The commands are explained in the Command Reference section which begins on page 153. This section of the manual primarily explains each of the NDOS features that are not directly related to individual commands. Most of the features described in this section are easy to use, but a few are more technical in nature. Such features are marked with a ## next to the feature name or the paragraph which describes the feature's operation. As you read through this section, we urge you to experiment with the features that catch your interest and pass over any which seem too complicated. Come back to this section as you gain expertise with NDOS, and you will probably discover that the more complex features will seem easy and very useful. NDOS doesn't require that you learn any more than you want, and even if you are a computer novice, you'll find some features that will interest you immediately. If you come across terms or concepts in this chapter that you are unsure about, refer to Chapter 4, "General Concepts," the Glossary on page 329, or the Index. At the Command Line NDOS, like conventional DOS, displays a c:\> prompt when it is waiting for you to enter a command. (The actual text depends on the current drive and directory, as well as your PROMPT settings.) This is called the command line and the prompt is asking you to enter a command, an alias or batch filename, or the instructions necessary to begin an application program. This section of the manual explains the NDOS features that will help you while you are typing in commands, and how NDOS interprets keystrokes entered at the command line. The keystrokes discussed here are the ones NDOS normally uses. If you prefer using different keystrokes to perform these functions, you can reassign virtually all NDOS keystrokes with keystroke directives in the NDOS.INI configuration file (see page 108). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 47 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ Command Line Editing The NDOS command line works like a single-line word processor, allowing you to edit any part the command line at any time before you press Enter to execute the command, or Esc to erase it. NDOS extends the command line to a maximum of 255 characters, and allows you to edit the command line even when it exceeds the width of your screen. NDOS recognizes the following editing keys when you are typing a command (the words Ctrl and Shift mean to press the Ctrl [Control] or Shift key together with the other key named): Cursor Movement: LeftArrow Move the cursor left one character. RightArrow Move the cursor right one character. Ctrl-LeftArrow Move the cursor left one word. Ctrl-RightArrow Move the cursor right one word. Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the line. End Move the cursor to the end of the line. Insert and Delete: Ins Toggle between insert and overtype mode. Del Delete the character at the cursor. Backspace Delete the character to the left of the cursor. Ctrl-L Delete the word or partial word to the left of the cursor. Ctrl-R or Ctrl-Backspace Delete the word or partial word to the right of the cursor. Ctrl-Home Delete from the beginning of the line to the cursor. Ctrl-End Delete from the cursor to the end of the line. Esc Delete the entire line. Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break Cancel the command. Enter or Return Execute the command line. ##Sometimes you may need to have NDOS interpret a keystroke literally and place it on the command line instead of performing the usual action listed above. For example, suppose you have a program that requires a Ctrl-R character on its command line. Normally you couldn't type this keystroke ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 48 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ at the NDOS prompt, because NDOS would interpret it as a "Delete word right" command. To get around this problem, use the special keystroke Alt-255. You enter Alt-255 by holding down the Alt key while you type 255 on the numeric keypad, then releasing the Alt key (you must use the number keys on the numeric pad; the row of keys at the top of your keyboard won't work). When NDOS sees the Alt-255, it interprets the next keystroke literally and places it on the command line, ignoring any special meaning it would normally have as a NDOS command line editing or history keystroke. You can use Alt-255 to suppress the normal meaning of command line editing keystrokes even if they have been reassigned with key mapping directives in NDOS.INI (see page 108), and Alt-255 itself can be reassigned with the CommandEscape directive. Command History and Recall Each time you execute a command, NDOS saves the command line in a command history list. NDOS lets you display the saved commands, search the list, modify commands, and rerun commands. The simplest use of the command history list is to repeat a command exactly. For example, you might enter the command c:\> dir b:*.wks;*.doc to see some of the files on drive B:. You might move some new files to drive B: and then want to repeat the DIR command. Just press the UpArrow key repeatedly to scan back through the history list. When the DIR command appears, press Enter to execute it again. After you have found a command, you can edit it before pressing Enter. You will appreciate this feature when you have to execute a series of commands that differ only slightly from each other. The history list is "circular". If you move to the last command in the list and then press the DownArrow one more time, you'll see the first command in the list. Similarly, if you move to the first command in the list and then press the UpArrow one more time, you'll see the last command in the list. You can have NDOS search the command history list to find a previous command quickly using command completion. Just enter ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 49 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ the first few characters of the command you want to find and press UpArrow. You only need to enter enough characters to identify the command that you want to find. For example, to find the DIR command, enter DI and then press UpArrow. If you press the UpArrow key a second time, NDOS will display the next command that matches. NDOS will beep if there are no matching commands. The search process stops as soon as you type one of the NDOS editing keys, whether or not the line is changed. At that point, the line you're viewing becomes the new line to match if you press UpArrow again. You can specify the size of the command history list with the History directive in NDOS.INI (see page 115). When the list is full, NDOS discards the oldest commands to make room for new ones. You can also use the HistMin directive in NDOS.INI to enable or disable history saves and to specify the shortest command line that NDOS will save (see page 119). You can prevent NDOS from saving a command line by beginning it with an at-sign [@]. Command History Keys: UpArrow Recall the previous (or most recent) command, or the most recent command that matches a partial command line. DownArrow Recall the next (or oldest) command, or the oldest command that matches a partial command line. F3 Fill in the rest of the command line from the previous command, beginning at the current cursor position. Ctrl-D Delete the currently displayed history list entry, erase the command line, and display the previous matching history list entry. Ctrl-E Display the last entry in the history list. Ctrl-K Save the current command line in the history list without executing it, and then clear the command line @ As the first character in a line: Do not save the current line in the history list when it is executed; do not store it in the CMDLINE environment variable; and remove the CMDLINE variable from the environment (this helps reduce environment space when loading TSRs). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 50 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ Use F3 when your new command is different from your old one by just a character or two at the beginning. For example, suppose you want to execute a DIR on several filenames then use DEL to delete those same files. After the DIR is complete type DEL and press F3; the rest of the command line will be completed for you. Check that it's correct, and then press Enter to delete the files. F3 also retrieves the entire previous command (like UpArrow) if nothing has been typed on the line. Use Ctrl-E to "get your bearings" by returning to the end of the list if you've scrolled around so much that you aren't sure where you are any more. Use Ctrl-K to save some work when you've typed a long command and then realize that you weren't quite ready. For example, if you forget to change directories and notice it after a command is typed or mostly typed, but before you press Enter, just press Ctrl-K to save the command without executing it. Use the CD or CDD command to change to the right directory, press UpArrow twice to retrieve the command you saved, make any final changes to it, and press Enter to execute it. Command History Window You can also view the command history in a scrollable history window, and select the command to modify or re-execute from those displayed in the window. To activate the history window press PageUp or PageDown at the command line. NDOS will display a window in the upper right corner of the screen, with the command you most recently executed marked with a highlight. (If you just finished re-executing a command from the history, then the next command in sequence will be highlighted.) You can scroll the history window up and down one line at a time with UpArrow and DownArrow, and one page (screen) at a time with PageUp and PageDown. The display is not circular as it is at the prompt, it has fixed beginning and end points. Home or Ctrl-PageUp will go to the beginning of the history, and End or Ctrl-PageDown will go to the end. The Ctrl-D (delete from history) key works within the history as it does at the command line. Once you have selected a command in the history window, press Enter to execute it immediately, or Ctrl-Enter to move the line to the prompt for editing (you can not edit the line directly in the history window). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 51 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ You can bring up a "filtered" history window by typing some characters on the command line, then pressing PageUp or PageDown. Only those commands matching the typed characters will be displayed in the window. You can control the position and size of the history window with directives in NDOS.INI (see page 119). You can also change the keys used in the window with key mapping directives in NDOS.INI (see page 125). Command History Window: PageUp or (from the command line) Open the PageDown command history window. UpArrow Scroll the display up one line. DownArrow Scroll the display down one line. PageUp (inside the window) Scroll the display up one page. PageDown (inside the window) Scroll the display down one page. Ctrl-PageUp or Go to the beginning of the history Home list. Ctrl-PageDown Go to the end of the history list. or End Ctrl-D Delete the selected line from the history list. Enter Execute the selected line. Ctrl-Enter Move the selected line to the command line for editing. Filename Completion The NDOS filename completion can help you by filling in a complete filename on the command line when you only remember part of the name. For example, suppose you want to copy a file. You know that its name begins AU but you can't remember the rest of the name. Type c:\> copy au and then press the Tab key or F9 key. NDOS will search the current directory for filenames that begin AU and insert the first one onto the command line in place of the AU that you typed. If NDOS found the file that you want, simply complete the command. If it didn't find the file that you were looking for, press Tab again to substitute the next filename that ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 52 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ begins with AU. When there are no more filenames that match your pattern, NDOS will beep each time you press Tab or F9. If you go past the filename that you want, press Shift-Tab or F8 to back up and NDOS will return to the previous matching filename. After you back up to the first filename, NDOS will beep each time you press Shift-Tab. If you want to enter more than one matching filename on the same command line, press F10 when each desired name appears. NDOS will keep that name and place the next matching filename after it on the command line. You can then use Tab (or F8) and Shift-Tab (or F9) to move through the remaining matching files. The pattern you use for matching may contain any valid filename characters, as well as wildcard characters and NDOS extended wildcards (see page 64). For example, you can copy the first matching .TXT file by typing c:\> copy *.txt and then pressing Tab. If you don't specify part of a filename before pressing Tab, NDOS will use *.* as the matching pattern. If you type a filename without an extension, NDOS will add *.* to the name. It will also place a "*" after a partial extension. If you are typing a group of filenames in an include list (see page 67), NDOS will use the part of the include list at the cursor as the pattern to match. When filename completion is used at the start of the command line, NDOS will only try to match directories, executable files (.COM, .EXE, .BTM, and .BAT), and files with executable extensions, since these are the only filenames that it makes sense to use at the start of a command. If a directory is found a "\" will be appended to enable an automatic directory change (see below). If you would rather select files from a list of matching filenames, see the SELECT command on page 275. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 53 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ Filename Completion Keys: F8 or Shift-Tab Get the previous matching filename. F9 or Tab Get the next matching filename. F10 Keep the current matching filename and display the next matching name immediately after the current one. Multiple Commands At times, you probably know the next two or three commands that you want NDOS to execute. Instead of waiting for each one to finish before you type the next, you can type them all on the same command line, separated by a caret [^]. For example, if you know you want to copy all of your .TXT files to drive A: and next run CHKDSK to be sure that the file structure in drive A: is OK, you can type the following command line: c:\> copy *.txt a: ^ chkdsk a: If you don't like using the caret as the command separator, you can pick another character using the SETDOS command (see page 283) or the CommandSep directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118). You may put as many commands on the command line as you wish, as long as the total length of the command line does not exceed 255 characters. You can use multiple commands in batch files (see page 91) and alias definitions (see page 88) as well as from the command line. Automatic Directory Changes The NDOS automatic directory change feature gives you a quick method for changing directories. You can use an automatic directory change in place of the CD or CDD command. To do so, simply type the name of the directory you want to change to at the prompt, with a backslash [\] at the end, and NDOS will switch to that directory. For example: c:\> nu\ c:\nu> This feature can make directory changes very simple when it's combined with the CDPATH environment variable (see page 107). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 54 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ CDPATH includes a list of directories for the CD and CDD commands to search if the directory you name does not exist below the current directory. Automatic directory changes use CDPATH as well. For example, suppose CDPATH is set to C:\;D:\;E:\, and the directory WIN exists on drive E:. You can change to this directory with a single word on the command line: c:\nu> win\ e:\win> In executing the command shown above, NDOS first looks for a WIN subdirectory of the current directory, i.e. C:\NDOS\WIN. If no such directory exists it looks for a WIN subdirectory in every directory in the CDPATH list, and changes to the first one it finds. Internally, automatic directory changes use the CDD command, so the text before the backslash can include a drive letter, a full path, or a partial path. Arguments like "...." are allowed. Automatic directory changes save the current directory, so it can be recalled with a "CDD -" or "CD -" command. For more information on directory changes see CD on page 175 and CDD on page 177. Automatic directory changes will not work if the directory name you enter is the same as the name of a NDOS internal command. NDOS always checks for internal commands before automatic directory changes, to allow commands like CD\ to work. Temporarily Disabling Aliases At times, you may want to temporarily disable an alias that you have defined. You may have an alias that changes the defaults of a particular command, for example, and want to run the unmodified version of the command. To do so, precede the command name with an asterisk [*]. For example, if you have an alias for DIR which displays directories in two-column paged mode by default, you can use the following command to display a directory in the normal single-column, non-paged mode: c:\> *dir Command Line Help NDOS includes a complete help program (called NDOSHELP.EXE). The help system includes complete help for all NDOS internal ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 55 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ commands, all standard DOS external commands, and many NDOS features. It is indexed and fully cross-referenced, so you can move easily among related commands. You can start the NDOS help system to get help for any NDOS or DOS command in several different ways. If you type NDOSHELP at the NDOS prompt, a list of all help topics will be displayed. Move the cursor bar to the topic you want using a mouse or the arrow keys, and press Enter to see help on that topic. If you type NDOSHELP followed by a topic on the command line, NDOS will skip the opening help screen and go directly to that topic. For example, if you need help with the COPY command, you can type: ndoshelp copy If you press F1 at the NDOS prompt, NDOS will display the list of all help topics just as if you had entered the NDOSHELP command. If you have already typed part or all of a command on the line, NDOS will provide "context-sensitive" help by using the first word on the line as a help topic. If it's a valid topic, you will see help for that topic automatically; if not, you will see the list of all help topics and you can pick the topic you want. For example, if you press F1 after entering each of the command lines shown below you will get the display indicated: c:\> List of ndoshelp topics c:\> copy *.* a: Help on COPY c:\> c:\util\map List of NDOSHELP topics If you type the name of any NDOS internal command at the NDOS prompt, followed by a slash and a question mark [/?] like this: copy /? then NDOS will display help for the command in a "quick- reference" style. Output from a /? display may be redirected with > or >>. The /? option may not work correctly if you have redefined how the command operates with an alias. In this case you may need to add an asterisk to the beginning of the command to prevent NDOS from processing the alias: alias copy copy /r *copy /? ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 56 At the Command Line ___________________________________________________________________ /? will only access the NDOS help system when you use it with a NDOS internal command. If you use it with an external command name, the external command will be executed and will interpret the /? parameter according to its own rules. Some external commands, including MS-DOS 5.0 external utility programs, do display help when run with a /? parameter, but this a characteristic of these commands and does not depend on NDOS. Many other external commands do not have this feature. Once you've started the NDOS help system with NDOSHELP or F1, you can use a standard set of keystrokes to navigate. The table below gives a brief summary of keys you can use in the help topic list, and in a help text screen. For details, see the topic Help at the beginning of the topic list in the help system itself. For details on mouse usage, see the topic Mouse at the beginning of the topic list. Help topic list keys: Arrow Keys Move the highlight to a different topic. Enter Display NDOSHELP on the highlighted topic. Esc Return to NDOS. Any other key Attempt to match the characters typed with one of the names in the topic list. Help text screen keys: UpArrow Scroll up one line in the display. DownArrow Scroll down one line in the display. PageUp Scroll up one page in the display. PageDown Scroll down one page in the display. Shift-Tab Move the cross-reference highlight to the previous item. Tab Move the cross-reference highlight to the next item. Enter Switch to the topic shown by the highlighted cross-reference item. Esc Return to the topic list, or back to NDOS if this topic was displayed directly without using the topic list. The help system normally restores the screen when exiting. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 57 Input and Output ___________________________________________________________________ ## Command Line Length Limits When you first enter a command at the prompt or in an alias or batch file, it can be up to 255 characters long. As NDOS scans the command line and substitutes the content of aliases and environment variables for their names, the line usually gets longer. NDOS maintains an internal buffer which allows the command line to grow to as much as 511 characters in length during the expansion process. If your use of aliases or environment variables causes the command line to exceed this limit, NDOS will display an error message and terminate execution of the line that caused the problem. Input and Output NDOS commands and many programs get their input from the computer's standard input device and send their output to the standard output device. Some programs also send special messages to the standard error device. Normally, the keyboard is used for standard input and the video screen for both standard output and standard error. But you can temporarily change these devices for special tasks. For example, suppose you want a printed list of the files in a directory. If you change the standard output to the printer and issue a DIR command, the task is easy. DIR prints to standard output, and you have redirected standard output to the printer, so the DIR command prints filenames instead of displaying them on the screen. You can just as easily send the output of DIR (or any other command) to a file or a serial port. NDOS has three methods of manipulating input and output: Redirection, Piping, and the Keystack. All three are explained in this section. Redirection and piping affect the standard input, standard output, and standard error devices. They do not work with application programs which read the keyboard hardware directly, or which write directly to the screen. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 58 Input and Output ___________________________________________________________________ Redirection Redirection replaces standard input, standard output, and standard error with another device like the printer or serial port, or with a file. The redirection lasts for one command and then everything returns to normal. You have to use some discretion when you use redirection with a device; there is no way to get input from the printer, for example. In the descriptions below, filename means either the name of a file or of an appropriate device (PRN, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3 for printers; COM1 to COM4 for serial ports; CON for the keyboard and screen; etc.). To use redirection, place the redirection symbol and filename at the end of the command line, after the command name and any parameters. For example, to redirect the output of the DIR command to a file called DIRLIST, you could use a command line like this: c:\> dir /b1 *.dat > dirlist You can use both input and output redirection for the same command, if both are appropriate: c:\> sort < dirlist > dirlist.srt In most cases, redirection works best when there is a space after the command and before the redirection symbol, though this is not always necessary. Here are the redirection options supported by NDOS: To get input from a file or device instead of from the keyboard: < filename To redirect standard output to a file or device: > filename To redirect standard output and standard error to a file or device: >& filename To redirect standard error only to a file or device: >&> filename ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 59 Input and Output ___________________________________________________________________ If you want to append output to the end of a file, replace the first ">" in the last three commands above with ">>" (use >>, >>&, and >>&>). ##When output is directed to a file with >, >&, or >&>, if the file already exists, it will be overwritten. You can protect existing files by using the SETDOS /N1 command (see page 283) or the NoClobber directive in NDOS.INI (see page 120). ##When output is appended to a file with >>, >>&, or >>&>, the file will be created if it doesn't already exist. Setting NoClobber will also prevent the creation of a new file. You can temporarily override the current setting of NoClobber by using an exclamation mark [!] after the redirection symbol. For example, to redirect the output of DIR to the file DIROUT, and allow overwriting of any existing file despite the NoClobber setting: c:\> dir >! dirout ##NDOS redirection is fully nestable. For example, you can invoke a batch file and redirect all of its output to a file or device. Output redirection on a command within the batch file will take effect for that command only; when the command is completed, output will revert to the redirected output file or device in use for the batch file as a whole. ##For another method of changing the standard input and output devices see CTTY on page 188. Piping You can also create a "pipe," which means sending the standard output of one command to the standard input of another command. To send the standard output of command1 to the standard input of command2: command1 | command2 To send the standard output and standard error of command1 to the standard input of command2: command1 |& command2 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 60 Input and Output ___________________________________________________________________ For example, to take the output of the SET command (which displays a list of your environment variables and their values) and pipe it to the DOS SORT utility to generate a sorted list, you would use the command: c:\> set | sort To do the same thing, then pipe the sorted list to the NDOS LIST command for full-screen viewing (see page 245) type: c:\> set | sort | list /s ##NDOS creates one or two temporary files to hold the output of pipes. The files are named P1.$00 and P2.$00. By default, these files are stored in the root directory of the boot drive, but you can override this with either the TEMPNDOS or TEMP environment variable (see page 106 and 107). The last two characters of the extension will change with the shell nesting level (00 for the primary shell, 01 for the first secondary shell, and so on). ##The NDOS commands TEE and Y (see pages 290 and 303) are "pipe fittings" which add more flexibility to pipes. Keystack The NDOS Keystack overcomes two weaknesses of input redirection: many programs ignore standard input and read the keyboard directly, and input redirection doesn't end until the program or command terminates. You can't, for example, use redirection to send the opening commands to a program and then type the rest of the commands yourself. But the Keystack lets you do exactly that. The NDOS Keystack, which is often used in batch files and aliases, sends keystrokes to an application program. Once the Keystack is empty, the program will receive the rest of its input from the keyboard. The Keystack is useful when you want a program to take certain actions automatically when it starts. The Keystack is invoked with the KEYSTACK command (see page 239). It depends on a small resident program called KSTACK.COM, which must be installed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (see page 105). If you don't have KSTACK.COM installed, the KEYSTACK command will display an error message. If you are using a multitasking system such as DESQview or Windows, see page 142 for information on loading KSTACK within a window. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 61 Input and Output ___________________________________________________________________ To place the letters, digits, and punctuation marks you would normally type for your program into the keystack, enclose them in double quotation marks: c:\> keystack "myfile" Many other keys can be entered into the Keystack using their names. This example puts the F1 key followed by the Enter key in the keystack: c:\> keystack F1 Enter See the KEYSTACK command for details on how key names are entered and on using numeric key values along with or instead of key names. Some programs may require a delay between keystrokes. You can insert a delay with the /W option, followed by a delay time in 1/18-seconds. To add a one-second delay between the keystrokes in the previous example: c:\> keystack F1 /W18 Enter Some programs clear all keystrokes from the keyboard buffer and then accept input. Place a 0 (zero) in the keystack to tell such programs that the keyboard buffer is empty. This example reports an empty keyboard buffer and then types myfile: c:\> keystack 0 "myfile" Some programs require both the ASCII code and the key's scan code. To put both together in the Keystack, multiply the scan code by 256, add the ASCII code, and use the resulting numeric value as an argument to KEYSTACK. For example, the Enter key has a scan code of 28 and an ASCII code of 13. The combined code is (28 * 256) + 13 = 7181. To put the combined code for the Enter key on the keystack: c:\> keystack 7181 If a program has different uses for the similar keys on the regular keyboard and the numeric keypad, it will need combined codes. The following command creates an alias (see page 159) that will run a dBASE report called TIMEREP (it should be entered on one line): c:\> alias drpt keystack "use times index times" Enter ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 62 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ "report form timerep to print" Enter "quit" Enter ^ dbase This command creates an alias called DRPT which puts the following characters on the keystack: the characters "use times index times" the Enter key's code the characters "report form timerep to print" the Enter key's code the characters "quit" and one more Enter key The alias then runs the program dBASE which receives those characters just as if you had typed them. You may have to experiment with some programs to find the proper sequence of keystrokes. Programs which bypass both DOS and the computer's BIOS, and read keystrokes directly from the keyboard hardware, will not accept input from the NDOS Keystack. Few programs fit into this category except memory- resident utilities. When you use the Keystack, remember that you must put the keystrokes into the Keystack before you run the program that will receive them. The Keystack will hold the keystrokes until a program asks for them. See Appendix B on page 315 for a list of ASCII, extended key, and scan codes, and KEYSTACK on page 239 for more information. File Processing Most NDOS commands (like COPY, DIR, etc.) and many external commands work on a file or a group of files. Besides typing the exact name of the file you want to work with, you can use the NDOS shorthand forms of naming files: Extended Parent Directory Names, Wildcards, Multiple Filenames, Include Lists, and Executable Extensions. These four features are explained in this section. These features apply to NDOS commands only, and generally can not be used to pass filenames to external programs. For example, NDOS can understand the filename ...\FILE.DAT when it is used in an internal NDOS command like COPY or MOVE. However your editor probably was not designed to support this extension to traditional DOS directory names, and is likely to give an error message if you try to pass it such a name. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 63 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ Remember throughout this section that a filename is a base name of one to eight characters, optionally followed by an extension which is a period [.] and one to three more characters. Extended Parent Directory Names NDOS allows you to extend the traditional DOS ".." syntax for naming the parent directory, by adding additional [.] characters. Each additional [.] represents an additional directory level above the current directory. For example, to copy the file LETTERS.DAT from the directory C:\DATA to drive A:, while you are in a directory two levels further down in the directory tree: C:\DATA\FINANCE\JANUARY>copy ...\LETTERS.DAT A: Wildcards Wildcards let you specify a file or group of files by typing a partial filename. NDOS scans the appropriate directory to find all of the files that match the partial name you have specified. Most NDOS commands accept filenames with wildcards anywhere that a full filename can be used. NDOS recognizes two wildcard characters, the asterisk [*] and the question mark [?], plus a special method of specifying a range of permissible characters. An asterisk [*] in a filename means "any zero or more characters in this position." For example, this command will display a list of all files in the current directory, regardless of the length of each file's name: c:\> dir *.* If you want to see all of the files with a .TXT extension, you could type this: c:\> dir *.txt If you know that the file you are looking for has a base name that begins with ST and an extension that begins with .D, you can find it this way. Filenames such as STATE.DAT, STEVEN.DOC, and ST.D will all be displayed: c:\> dir st*.d* ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 64 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ With NDOS, you can also use the asterisk to match filenames with specific letters somewhere inside the name. The following example will display any file with a .TXT extension that has the letters AM together anywhere inside its base name. It will, for example, display AMPLE.TXT, STAMP.TXT, CLAM.TXT, and AM.TXT: c:\> dir *am*.txt A question mark [?] matches any single filename character. Also, DOS automatically extends all base names to 8 characters and all extensions to three characters by adding blanks at the end of the names, if necessary. The question mark wildcard will match one of these blanks as well as a normal character. For example, if you have files called LETTER.DOC, LETTER1.DOC, and LETTERA.DOC, this command will display all three names: c:\> dir letter?.doc You can put the question mark anywhere in a filename and use as many question marks as you need. The following example will display files with names like LETTER.DOC and LATTER.DAT, and LITTER.DU: c:\> dir l?tter.d?? The use of an asterisk wildcard before other characters, and of the character ranges discussed below, is unique to NDOS. These wildcards work only with NDOS internal commands, not with external programs that accept filenames and wildcards, unless such programs have been written especially to parallel NDOS features. ##In some cases, the question mark wildcard may be too general. You can also tell NDOS what characters you want to accept (or exclude) in a particular position in the filename by using square brackets. Inside the brackets, you can put the individual acceptable characters or ranges of characters. For example, if you wanted to match LETTER0.DOC through LETTER9.DOC, you could use this command: c:\> dir letter[0-9].doc You could find all files that have a vowel as the second letter in their name this way. This example also demonstrates how to mix the wildcard characters: c:\> dir ?[aeiouy]*.* ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 65 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ You can exclude a group of characters or a range of characters by using an exclamation mark [!] as the first character inside the brackets. This example displays all filenames that are at least two characters long except those which have a vowel as the second letter in their names: c:\> dir ?[!aeiouy]*.* The next example, which selects files such as AIP, BIP, and TIP but not NIP, demonstrates how you can use multiple ranges inside the brackets. It will accept a file that begins with an A, B, C, D, T, U, or V: c:\> dir [a-dt-v]ip ##You may use a question mark character inside the brackets, but its meaning is slightly different than a normal (unbracketted) question mark wildcard. A normal question mark wildcard matches any character or an implied blank at the end of a name or extension. NDOS will match a question mark inside brackets with any character but not with an implied blank. For example, c:\> dir letter[?].doc will display LETTER1.DOC and LETTERA.DOC, but not LETTER.DOC. ##You can repeat any of the wildcard characters in any combination you desire within a single filename. For example, the following command lists all files which have an A, B, or C as the third character, followed by zero or more additional characters, followed by a D, E, or F, followed optionally by some additional characters, and with an extension beginning with P or Q. You probably won't need to do anything this complex, but we've included it to show you the flexibility of NDOS wildcards: c:\> dir ??[abc]*[def]*.[pq]* Multiple Filenames Most NDOS file processing commands can work with multiple files at one time. To use multiple filenames, you simply list the files one after another on the command line, separated by spaces. You can use wildcards in any or all of the filenames. For example, to copy all .TXT and .DOC files from the current directory to drive A:, you could use this command: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 66 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> copy *.txt *.doc a: If the files you want to work with are not in the default directory, you must include the full path with each filename: c:\> copy a:\details\file1.txt a:\details\file1.doc c: ! Multiple filenames are handy when you want to match a group of files which cannot be defined with a single filename and wildcards. They let you be very specific about which files you want to work with in a command. When you use multiple filenames with a command that expects both a source and a destination, like COPY or MOVE, be sure that you always include a specific destination on the command line. If you don't, the command will assume that the last filename is the destination and may overwrite important files. Like extended wildcards and include lists (see below), the NDOS multiple filename feature will work with internal NDOS commands but not with external programs unless those programs have been written to handle multiple filenames on the command line. If you have a list of files to process that's too long to put on the command line or too time-consuming to type, see the SELECT command on page 275 for another way of passing multiple filenames to a command. Include Lists Any NDOS command that accepts multiple filenames can also accept one or more include lists. An include list is simply a group of filenames, with or without wildcards, separated by semicolons [;]. All files in the include list must be in the same directory. You may not add a space on either side of the semicolon. If you used an include list instead of multiple filenames for the previous examples, they would look like this: c:\> copy *.txt;*.doc a: c:\> copy a:\details\*.txt;*.doc c: Include lists are similar to multiple filenames, but have three important differences. First, you don't have to repeat the path to your files if you use an include list, because all of the included files must be in the same directory. Second, if you use include lists, you aren't as likely to accidentally overwrite files if you forget a destination path for commands ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 67 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ like COPY, because the last name in the list will be part of the include list, and won't be seen as the destination filename. Include lists can only be used as the source parameter (the location files are coming from) for COPY and other similar commands. They cannot be used to specify a destination for files. Third, multiple filenames and include lists are processed differently by the NDOS DIR and SELECT commands. If you use multiple filenames, all of the files matching the first filename are processed, then all of the files matching the second name, and so on. When you use an include list, all files that match any entry in the include list are processed together, and will appear together in the directory display or SELECT list. You can see this difference most clearly if you experiment with both techniques and the DIR command. For example, c:\> dir *.txt *.doc will list all the .TXT files with a directory header, the file list, and a summary of the total number of files and bytes used. Then it will do the same for the .DOC files. However, c:\> dir *.txt;*.doc will display all the files in one list. Like extended wildcards and multiple filenames (see above), the NDOS include list feature will work with internal NDOS commands but not with external programs unless they have been programmed especially to parallel NDOS features. Executable Extensions Normally, when you type a filename (as opposed to an alias or internal command name) as the first word on the command line, NDOS looks for a .COM, .EXE, .BTM, or .BAT file with that name to execute (.COM and .EXE files are executable programs; .BTM and .BAT files are batch files). You can add to this list of extensions and have NDOS take the actions you want with files that have other extensions as well. You could have NDOS start your text editor whenever you type the name of a .DOC file, or start your database manager whenever you type the name of a .DAT file. NDOS uses environment variables to define what program or batch file to run for each defined file extension. To create ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 68 File Processing ___________________________________________________________________ an executable extension, you use the SET command to create a new environment variable. For example, if you want to run a word processor called EDITOR whenever you type the name of a file that has an extension of .EDT, you could use this command: c:\> set .edt=c:\edit\editor.exe The syntax for creating an executable extension is set .ext=d:\path\program [options] where .EXT is the executable file extension, D:\PATH\PROGRAM is the full name of the program or batch file to run, and [options] are any command-line startup options you want to specify for the program. The pathname is optional if the program is in a directory on your PATH. The program to run must be a .COM, .EXE, .BTM, or .BAT file or an internal command. It cannot be an alias. The following example defines BASICA.COM as the processor for .BAS files: c:\> set .bas=c:\dos\basica.com With this definition, if you have a file named PUSHCART.BAS in the current directory and enter the command: c:\> pushcart NDOS will execute the command: c:\dos\basica.com pushcart The next example defines B.EXE (the Brief text editor) as the processor for .C files: c:\> set .c=c:\brief\b.exe -Mxyz Now, if you have a file called HELLO.C and enter the command c:\> hello -i30 NDOS will expand the command line and execute this command: c:\brief\b.exe -Mxyz hello.c -i30 Notice that NDOS inserts the value of the environment variable at the beginning of the line, including any options, then ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 69 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ appends the original filename plus its extension, and then the remainder of the original command line. If the program you want to run doesn't accept a filename on its command line as shown in these examples, then executable extensions won't work with that program. ##NDOS searches for executable commands in the following order: .COM, .EXE, .BTM, .BAT, and executable extensions in the order they appear in the environment. It first searches the current directory, and then each subdirectory specified by the PATH environment variable (if a "." is used in the PATH the current directory is not searched first; see the PATH command on page 257 for details). NDOS recognizes environment variables as executable extensions if they begin with a period followed by one to three valid filename characters. You may need to take this search order into account when using executable extensions. Using the .BAS example above, if you had a file FORMAT.BAS in the current directory and entered the command FORMAT A:, NDOS would run the BASIC interpreter specified by the executable extension, instead of finding the standard DOS FORMAT command as you intended. You can get around this by remembering that the DOS FORMAT command is in the file FORMAT.COM. If you entered the command FORMAT.COM A: then NDOS would not find a match for the executable extension, and would continue the usual search sequence until it found the FORMAT command. ##Executable extensions may include wildcards, so you could, for example, have NDOS run your text editor for any file with an extension beginning with T by defining an executable extension called .T*. Extended wildcards (e.g. DO[CT] for .DOC and .DOT files) may also be used. The Environment The environment is a collection of information about your computer that every program receives. You can view the environment by typing SET, and modify it with the ESET, SET, and UNSET commands (see pages 211, 280, and 298). Each entry in the environment consists of a variable name (usually in upper case) followed by an equal sign and a string of text. Some variables are of general use to many programs; some are used only by one program or group of programs. The content and form of the text string following the equal sign is defined by the program that uses each particular environment variable. The text strings can be used from the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 70 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS command line, by application programs, and within aliases and batch files. The text string can include any characters except nulls (ASCII 0). The maximum length for the variable name, equal sign, and text string is 255 characters. NDOS can automatically substitute the text for the variable name in a command. To create the substitution, include a percent sign [%] and a variable name on the command line or in an alias or batch file. For example, if you create a variable named BACKUP like this: c:\> set BACKUP=*.bak;*.bk!;*.bk and then type c:\> del %BACKUP NDOS will execute the following command: del *.bak;*.bk!;*.bk ##The variable names you use this way may contain any alphabetic or numeric characters, the underscore character [_], and the dollar sign [$]. You can force NDOS to accept other characters by including the full variable name in square brackets, like this: %[AB##2]. You can also "nest" environment variables using square brackets. For example %[%var1] means "the contents of the variable whose name is stored in VAR1". A variable referenced with this technique cannot contain more than 255 characters of information. ##If you want to pass a percent sign, or a string beginning with a percent sign, to a command you must use two percent signs in a row. Otherwise NDOS will see your single percent sign as the beginning of a variable name, and will not pass it on to the command. For example, to display the string "We're with you 100%", you would use the command: echo We're with you 100%% ##If you embed an environment variable in the PROMPT, it must also be preceded by two percent signs, or the prompt text must be enclosed in back quotes (see page 261 for details). ##Environment variables may be used to contain alias names. Normally NDOS expands aliases before environment variables. However if you use an environment variable name (with a leading percent sign) as the first word in a command line, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 71 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS will substitute the variable value for the name, then check for any alias name which may have been included within the variable's value. For example, the following commands would generate a two-column directory of the .TXT files: c:\> alias d2 dir /2 c:\> set cmd=d2 c:\> %cmd *.txt ##The trailing percent sign that was traditionally required for environment variable names is not usually required in NDOS, which accepts any character that cannot be part of a variable name as the terminator. However the trailing percent can be used to maintain compatibility. The trailing percent sign is needed if you want to concatenate two variable values. The following examples show the possible interactions between variables and literal strings. First, create two environment variables called ONE and TWO this way: c:\> set ONE=abcd c:\> set TWO=efgh Now the following combinations produce the output text shown: %ONE%TWO abcdTWO ("%ONE%" + "TWO") %ONE%TWO% abcdTWO ("%ONE%" + "TWO%") %ONE%%TWO abcdefgh ("%ONE%" + "%TWO") %ONE%%TWO% abcdefgh ("%ONE%" + "%TWO%") %ONE%[TWO] abcd[TWO] ("%ONE%" + "[TWO]") %ONE%[TWO]% abcd[TWO] ("%ONE%" + "[TWO]%") %[ONE]%TWO abcdefgh ("%[ONE]" + "%TWO") %[ONE]%TWO% abcdefgh ("%[ONE]" + "%TWO%") NDOS Configuration Variables The following environment variables have special meanings in NDOS. Chapter 6, "Options and Fine Tuning" (see page 100), explains the details of how to set and use each of them, except COLORDIR which is explained under the DIR and SELECT commands on pages 195 and 275. You can see the current value of each variable, if it exists, with the SET command. CDPATH tells NDOS where to search for directories specified by the CD and CDD commands and in automatic directory changes. _CDPATH can be used as an alternative to CDPATH if you are using Microsoft Bookshelf, which uses a CDPATH variable for its own purposes. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 72 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ CMDLINE is the fully expanded text (up to 255 characters long) of the currently executing NDOS command line. NDOS sets CMDLINE just before it invokes any .COM, .EXE, .BTM, or .BAT file. If a command line is prefaced with an "@" to prevent echoing (see page 50), NDOS also will not attempt to put it in CMDLINE, and will remove any old CMDLINE variable from the environment. This allows you to squeeze out the last few bytes of environment space before loading TSRs by prefacing each TSR command with an "@". COLORDIR controls directory display colors used by DIR and SELECT. COMSPEC contains the full path and name of NDOS itself. COMSPEC is often used by applications which have a "shell to DOS" feature. PATH is a list of directories that NDOS will search for executable files that aren't in the current directory. PATH may also be used by some application programs to find their own files. PROMPT defines the NDOS command line prompt. TEMP specifies the directory where NDOS should store temporary pipe files if the TEMPNDOS variable doesn't exist. Some other programs also use TEMP to define where they should place their temporary files. TEMPNDOS specifies where NDOS should store temporary pipe files. ## NDOS Internal Variables The following variables are not actually stored in the environment, but can be used in commands, aliases, and batch files just like any other environment variable. The values of these variables are stored internally in NDOS and cannot be changed with the SET, UNSET, or ESET command. However, you can override any of these variables by defining a new variable with the same name, which will be stored in the environment. These internal variables are often used in NDOS batch files and aliases to examine system resources and adjust to the current computer settings. You can examine the contents of any internal variable from the command line with a command like this: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 73 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> echo %variablename In the list below, the possible values for most variables are shown in double quotation marks for ease of understanding. The actual values returned by the variables do not include the double quotation marks. ? contains the exit code of the last external command. Many programs return a zero to indicate success and a non-zero value to signal an error. However, not all programs return an exit code. If no exit code is returned, the value of %? is undefined. _? contains the exit code of the last internal NDOS command. It is set to zero if the command was successful, non-zero if not. You must use or save this value immediately, because it is set by every internal command. _ALIAS contains the free space in the alias list, in bytes. _ANSI contains "1" if certain NDOS internal flags indicate that ANSI.SYS or a compatible driver is installed; "0" if not. The internal flags which determine the value of _ANSI depend on the SETDOS /A option (see page 284) and the ANSI directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118), as shown in the table below. If SETDOS /A is 0 or ANSI is set to Auto, NDOS tests for the presence of an ANSI driver. Because there is no standard and 100% reliable way to detect an ANSI driver, you may need to experiment to see if this variable works properly with your particular driver when NDOS is allowed to test for its presence. ANSI _ANSI SETDOS /A Directive Value 0 (default) Auto (default) Result of test 1 Yes 1 2 No 0 _BATCH is the current batch nesting level. It is "0" if no batch file is currently being processed. _BOOT is the boot drive letter, without a colon. _BG is a string containing the first three characters of the screen background color at the current cursor location (for example, "Bla"). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 74 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ _CODEPAGE is the current code page number (see CHCP on page 179). _COLUMN is the current cursor column (for example, "0" for the left side of the screen). _COLUMNS is the current number of screen columns (for example, "80"). _CPU is the cpu type, returned as a string: 86 8086 and 8088 286 80286 186 80186 and 80188 386 i386 200 NEC V20 and V30 486 i486 _CWD is the current directory in the format d:\pathname. _CWDS has the same value as CWD, except it ends the pathname with a backslash [\]. _CWP is the current directory in the format \pathname. _CWPS has the same value as CWP, except it ends the pathname with a backslash [\]. _DATE contains the current system date, in the format mm-dd-yy (U.S.), dd-mm-yy (Europe), or yy-mm-dd (Japan). _DISK is the current disk drive, without a colon (for example, "C"). _DOS is the operating system type ("DOS"). NDOS always returns "DOS". This is useful if you have batch files running in both modes. _DOSVER is the current DOS version (for example, "5.0"). _DOW is the first three characters of the current day of the week ("Mon", "Tue", "Wed", etc.). _DV is "1" if DESQview is loaded or "0" otherwise. _ENV is the free space in the environment, in bytes. _FG is a string containing the first three letters of the screen foreground color at the current cursor position (for example, "Whi"). _LASTDISK is the last valid drive letter, without a colon. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 75 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ _MONITOR is the monitor type ("mono" or "color"). _MOUSE is "1" if a Microsoft-compatible mouse driver is loaded, and "0" otherwise. _NDP is the coprocessor type, returned as a string: 0 no coprocessor is installed 87 8087 287 80287 387 80387 or 80486DX _NVER is the current NDOS version (for example, "7.0"). _ROW is the current cursor row (for example, "0" for the top of the screen). _ROWS is the current number of screen rows (for example, "25"). _SHELL is the current shell nesting level. The primary shell is level "0", and each subsequent secondary shell increments the level by one. _TIME contains the current system time in the format hh:mm:ss. The separator character may vary depending upon your country information (see the CHCP command on page 179). _TRANSIENT is "1" if the current shell is transient (started with a /C, see page 105), or "0" otherwise. _VIDEO is the video card type ("mono", "cga", "ega", or "vga"). _WIN is the current Microsoft Windows mode. This variable is always zero except when NDOS is running under Microsoft Windows. The variable can be: 0 Windows is not running 1 Windows 2 2 Windows 3 in 386 enhanced mode 3 Windows 3 in real or standard mode The _CWD, _CWDS, _CWP, _CWPS, and _DISK variables will return their result in upper or lower case depending on the value of the SETDOS /U switch (see page 283) or the UpperCase directive in NDOS.INI (see page 120). The _MONITOR and _VIDEO variables always return lower case. The _BG, _DOW, and _FG variables return the first letter of the result in upper case and the rest in lower case. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 76 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ You can use these variables in a wide variety of ways depending on your needs. Here are just a few examples. Some of these examples rely on the IF command (page 227) or the IFF command (page 233) to test the value of a variable and perform different actions based on that value. In a batch file, set the color based on the video card type: iff "%_video"=="mono" then color bright white on black else color bright white on blue endiff Call another batch file if NDOS is running under DESQview: if "%_dv" == "1" call dvstart Store the current date and time in a file, then save the output of a DIR command in the same file: echo Directory as of %_date %_time > dirsave dir >> dirsave Set up a prompt for the primary shell which displays the time and current directory, and a different one for secondary shells which includes the shell level rather than the time. Also set different background colors for the two shells, without changing the foreground color. You might use a sequence like this in your NSTART file, which is executed each time NDOS starts: iff %_shell==0 then prompt $t $p$g color %_fg on blue else prompt [$z] $p$g color %_fg on cyan endiff ## NDOS Variable Functions Variable functions are like internal variables, but they take one or more arguments (which can be environment variables or even other variable functions), and they return a value. Like all environment variables, these variable functions must be preceded by a percent sign in normal use (%@EVAL, %@LEN, etc.). All variable functions must have square brackets ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 77 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ enclosing their argument(s). The argument(s) to a variable function cannot exceed 255 characters in length for all arguments taken as a group. If you embed a variable function in the PROMPT it must be preceded by two percent signs, or the prompt text must be enclosed in back quotes (see page 261 for details). The variable functions are useful in aliases and batch files to check on available system resources, manipulate strings and numbers, and work with filenames. Some of the variable functions, like @DISKFREE, are shown with "b|k|m" as one of their arguments. Those functions return a number of bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes based upon a "b|k|m" argument: b return the number of bytes K return the number of kilobytes (bytes/1,024) k return the number of thousands of bytes (bytes/ 1,000) M return the number of megabytes (bytes/1,048,576) m return the number of millions of bytes (bytes/ 1,000,000) @ALIAS[name]: Returns the contents of the specified alias as a string, or a null string if the alias doesn't exist. @ASCII[c]: Returns the numeric value of the specified ASCII character as a string. For example %@ASCII[A] returns 65. You can put a NDOS escape character [-] before the actual character to process. This allows quotation marks and other special characters as the argument (e.g. %@ASCII[-]). @ATTRIB[filename,attrib]: Returns a "1" if the specified file has the matching attribute(s); otherwise returns a "0". The attributes are: N Normal (no attribute bits set) R Read-only H Hidden S System D Directory A Archive The attributes (other than N) can be combined (for example %@ATTRIB[MYFILE,HS]); ATTRIB will only return a "1" if all the attributes match. @CHAR[n]: Returns the character corresponding to an ASCII numeric value. For example %@CHAR[65] returns A. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 78 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ @DATE[mm-dd-yy]: Returns the number of days since January 1, 1980 for the specified date. DATE uses the date format mandated by your country code (dd-mm-yy in Europe; yy-mm-dd in Japan). @DESCRIPT[filename]: Returns the file description for the specified filename (see the DESCRIBE command on page 193). @DEVICE[name]: Returns "1" if the specified name is a character device (such as a printer or serial port), or "0" if not. @DISKFREE[d:,b|k|m]: Returns the amount of free disk space on the specified drive. @DISKTOTAL[d:,b|k|m]: Returns the total disk space on the specified drive. @DISKUSED[d:,b|k|m]: Returns the amount of disk space in use by files and directories on the specified drive. @DOSMEM[b|k|m]: Returns the amount of free base memory. @EMS[b|k|m]: Returns the amount of free EMS memory. @EVAL[expression]: Evaluates an arithmetic expression. @EVAL supports addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and modulo (%%). The expression can contain environment variables and other variable functions. @EVAL also supports parentheses, commas, and decimal places. Parentheses can be nested. The maximum number size is 16 digits to the left of the decimal point and eight digits to the right of the decimal point. @EVAL will strip leading and trailing zeros from the result. When evaluating expressions, *, /, and %% take precedence over + and -. For example, 3 + 4 * 2 will be interpreted as 3 + 8 = 11, not as (3 + 4) * 2 = 14. To change this order of evaluation, use parentheses to specify the order you want. @EXEC[command]: Execute the command. The command can be a NDOS alias, internal command, external command, .BTM file, or .BAT file. This function is a "back-door" entry into NDOS command processing and should be used with extreme caution. Incorrect or recursive use of @EXEC may cause stack overflows or hang your system. @EXEC is primarily intended for running a program from within the PROMPT, where it should also be used with caution. @EXT[filename]: Returns the extension from a filename, without a leading period. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 79 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ @EXTENDED[b|k|m]: Returns the amount of extended memory. @FILEDATE[filename]: Returns the date a file was last modified, in the default country format (mm-dd-yy for the US). @FILESIZE[filename,b|k|m]: Returns the size of a file, or "- 1" if the file does not exist. @FILETIME[filename]: Returns the time a file was last modified, in hh:mm format. The separator character will vary with the country definition in use on your system. @FULL[filename]: Returns the fully qualified path name of a file. @INDEX[string1,string2]: Returns the position of string2 within string1, or "-1" if string2 is not found. The first position in string1 is numbered 0. @INT[n]: Returns the integer part of the number n. @LABEL[d:]: Returns the volume label of the specified disk drive. @LEN[string]: Returns the length of a string. @LINE[filename,n]: Returns line "n" from the specified file. The first line in the file is numbered zero. "**EOF**" is returned for all line numbers beyond the end of the file. @LINE will retrieve input from STDIN if you specify CON as the filename. If you are redirecting input to @LINE using this feature, you must use command grouping (see page 84) or the redirection will not work properly. For example: (echo %@line[con,0]) < myfile.dat @LINES[filename]: Returns the line number of the last line in the file, or "-1" if the file is empty. The first line in the file is numbered zero, so (for example) @LINES will return zero for a file containing one line. @LOWER[string]: Returns the string converted to lower case. @LPT[n]: Returns a "1" if the specified printer is ready; otherwise, returns "0". n=1 checks the printer connected to LPT1, n=2 checks LPT2, and n=3 checks LPT3. @MAKEDATE[n]: Returns a date (formatted according to the current country settings). "n" is the number of days since 1/1/80. This is the opposite of @DATE. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 80 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ @MAKETIME[n]: Returns a time (formatted according to the current country settings). "n" is the number of seconds since midnight. This is the opposite of @TIME. @NAME[filename]: Returns the base name of a file, without the path or extension. @PATH[filename]: Returns the path from a filename, including the drive letter and a trailing backslash but not including the base name or extension. @READSCR[row,col,length]: Returns the text displayed on the screen at the specified location. The upper left corner of the screen is location 0,0. @READY[d:]: Returns "1" if the specified drive is ready; otherwise returns "0". @REMOTE[d:]: Returns "1" if the specified drive is a remote (network) drive; otherwise returns "0". @REMOVABLE[d:]: Returns "1" if the specified drive is removable (i.e., a floppy disk or removable hard disk); otherwise returns "0". @SEARCH[filename]: Searches for the filename using the PATH environment variable, appending an extension (.COM, .EXE, .BAT, .BTM, or executable extension) if one isn't specified. Returns the fully-expanded name of the file including drive, path, base name, and extension, or an empty string if a matching file is not found. If wildcards are used in the filename, @SEARCH will search for the first file that matches the wildcard specification, and return the drive and path for that file plus the wildcard filename (e.g., E:\UTIL\*.COM). @SELECT[filename,top,left,bottom,right,title]: Pops up a selection window with the lines from the specified file. Returns the text of the line the scrollbar is on if you press RETURN, or an empty string if you press ESCAPE. @SELECT can be used to display menus or other selection lists from inside a batch file. To select from lines passed through a pipe, use CON as the filename. @SUBSTR[string,start,length]: Returns a substring, starting at the position "start" and continuing for "length" characters. If the length is omitted, it will default to the remainder of the string. If the length is negative, the start is relative to the right side of the string. The first character in the string is numbered zero; if the length is negative, the last character is numbered zero. For example, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 81 The Environment ___________________________________________________________________ %@SUBSTR[%_time,0,2] gets the current time and extracts the hour. If the string includes commas, it must be quoted with double quotation marks (") or back quotes (`). The quotation marks do count in calculating the position of the substring to be extracted. @TIME[hh:mm:ss]: Returns the number of seconds since midnight for the specified time. The time must be in 24-hour format; "am" and "pm" cannot be used. @TRUENAME[filename]: Returns the true, fully-expanded name for a file. TRUENAME will see "through" a JOIN or SUBST, and requires DOS 3.0 or above. Wildcards may not be used in the filename. @UNIQUE[d:\path]: Creates a zero-length file with a unique name in the specified directory, and returns the full name and path. If no path is specified, the file will be created in the current directory. This function allows you to create a temporary file without overwriting an existing file. @UNIQUE only works in DOS 3.0 and above. @UPPER[string]: Returns the string converted to upper case. @WORD[n,string]: Returns the "nth" word in a string. The first word is numbered zero. If "n" is negative, words are returned from the end of the string. Only spaces, tabs, and commas are considered to be word separators. For example: %@WORD[2,NOW IS THE TIME] returns "THE" %@WORD[-0,NOW IS THE TIME] returns "TIME" %@WORD[-2,NOW IS THE TIME] returns "IS" @XMS[b|k|m]: Returns the amount of free XMS memory. You can use these variable functions in a wide variety of ways depending on your needs. We've included a few examples below to give you an idea of what's possible. To set the prompt to show the amount of free base memory (see the PROMPT command, page 261, for details on including variable functions in your prompt): c:\> prompt (%%@dosmem[K]K) $p$g Set up a simple command line calculator. The calculator is used with a command like CALC 3 * (4 + 5): c:\> alias calc echo The answer is: %@eval[%&] ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 82 Advanced Features ___________________________________________________________________ The following batch file uses variable functions to implement "once a day" execution of a group of commands. It works by constructing a six-digit number "yymmdd" from today's date, and comparing that to a number of the same type stored in the file C:\ONCEADAY.DAT. If today's date is numerically larger than the saved date, and the time is after 6:00 AM, then the "once a day" commands are run, and today's date is saved in the file as the new date for comparison. Otherwise, no action is taken. You can make this file simpler using the %@DATE and %@TIME functions instead of using %@SUBSTR to extract substrings of the %_DATE and %_TIME variables; we used the approach shown to demonstrate the use of %@SUBSTR. rem Temporary variables used to shorten example lines: rem DD is _date, DY is yymmdd date, TM is _time set dd=%_date set dy=%@substr[%dd,6,2]%@substr[%dd,0,2]%@substr[%dd,3,2] set lastdate=0 iff exist c:\onceaday.dat then set lastdate=%@line[onceaday.dat,0] endiff iff %dy gt %lastdate then set tm=%_time iff "%@substr[%tm,0,2]%@substr[%tm,3,2]" gt "0600" then rem Commands to be executed once a day go here echo %dy > c:\onceaday.dat endiff endiff ## Advanced Features The next four NDOS features are designed for advanced users of DOS and NDOS. If you are a novice user, you might want to skim over this section and return to it as your computing skills and needs progress. Conditional Commands When an internal command or external program finishes, it returns a result called the exit code. The NDOS conditional commands allow you to perform tasks based upon the previous command's exit code. Most programs return a zero if they are successful and a non-zero value if they encounter an error. If you separate two commands by && (AND), the second command will be executed only if the first returns an exit code of zero. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 83 Advanced Features ___________________________________________________________________ For example, the following command will only erase files if the BACKUP operation succeeds: c:\> backup c:\ a: && del c:\*.bak;*.lst If you separate two commands by || (OR), the second command will be executed only if the first returns a non-zero exit code. For example, if the following BACKUP operation fails, then ECHO will display a message: c:\> backup c:\ a: || echo Error in the backup! All NDOS internal commands return an explicit exit code, but not all application programs do. Conditional commands will behave unpredictably if you use them with programs which do not return an explicit exit code. Command Grouping Command grouping allows you to logically group a set of commands together by enclosing them in parentheses. The parentheses are similar in function to the BEGIN and END block statements in some programming languages. Command grouping is a feature which NDOS makes available to you as well. There are two primary uses for command grouping. One is to execute multiple commands in a place where normally only a single command is allowed. For example, suppose you want to copy then rename all the .WKQ files on drives A: and B: using the FOR command. You could do it like this: c:\> for %drv in (A B) do copy %drv:*.wkq d:\wksave\ c:\> for %drv in (A B) do ren %drv:*.wkq *.old But with command grouping you can do the same thing in one command (enter this on one line): c:\> for %drv in (A B) do (copy %drv:*.wkq d:\wksave\ ^ ren %drv:*.wkq *.sav) The COPY and REN commands enclosed in the parentheses appear to FOR as if they were a single command, so both commands are executed for every element of the FOR list. This kind of command grouping is most useful with the EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, and IF commands. You can not use command grouping to make SELECT execute several commands, because SELECT will assume that the parentheses are marking the list of files from which to select, and will display an error ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 84 Advanced Features ___________________________________________________________________ message or give incorrect results if you try to use parentheses for command grouping instead. (You can use a SELECT command inside the command grouping parentheses, you just can't use command grouping to specify a group of commands for SELECT to execute.) The second common use of command grouping is to redirect input or output for several commands without repeatedly using the redirection symbols. For example, consider the following batch file fragment which places some header lines (including today's date) and directory displays in an output file using redirection. The first ECHO command creates the file using >, and the other commands append to the file using >>: echo Data files %_date > filelist dir *.dat >> filelist echo. >> filelist echo Text files %_date >> filelist dir *.txt >> filelist Using command grouping, these commands can be written much more simply (enter this on one line): (echo Data files %_date ^ dir *.dat ^ echo. ^ echo Text files %_date ^ dir *.txt) > filelist The redirection, which appears outside the parentheses, applies to all the commands within the parentheses. The same approach can be used for input redirection and for piping. You can also use command grouping in a batch file or at the prompt to split commands over several lines. This last example is like the redirection example above, but is entered at the prompt. Note that NDOS displays a "More? prompt after each incomplete line. None of the commands are executed until the command group is completed with the closing parenthesis. This example does not have to be entered on one line: c:\> (echo Data files %_date More? dir *.dat More? echo. More? echo Text files %_date More? dir *.txt) > filelist c:\> A group of commands in parentheses is like a long command line. The total length of the group may not exceed 511 characters, whether the commands are entered from the prompt, an alias, or a batch file. The 511-character limit includes ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 85 Advanced Features ___________________________________________________________________ the space required to expand aliases and environment variables invoked within the group. Escape Character NDOS recognizes a user-definable escape character. This character gives the following character a special meaning; it is not the same as the ASCII ESC that is often used in ANSI sequences. The default NDOS escape character is Ctrl-X (ASCII 24), which will be displayed here -- and on your screen -- as an up arrow []. You can use the SETDOS /E command or the EscapeChar directive in NDOS.INI to select a different escape character if you wish. NDOS recognizes six special characters if they are preceded by the escape character. The combination of the escape character and one of these characters is translated to a single character by NDOS, as shown below. These are useful for redirecting codes to the printer; e is also useful to generate ANSI "escape sequences" in your PROMPT, ECHO, or other output commands; and r is used in keystroke aliases: b backspace e the ASCII ESC character (ASCII 27) f form feed n line feed r carriage return t tab character If you follow the escape character with any other character, the escape character is removed and the second character is copied directly to the command line. This allows you to suppress the normal meaning of special characters (such as ? * / \ | " > < and &). For example, to send a form feed followed by the sequence ESC Y to the printer, you can use this command: c:\> echos feY > prn Argument Quoting When it begins to parse the command line, NDOS looks for carets [^] to break the line into individual commands, for redirection symbols, and for white space (blanks, tabs, and commas) to separate commands from arguments. It also looks for percent signs [%] which designate alias or batch file replaceable parameters (%1, %2, etc.), or environment ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 86 Advanced Features ___________________________________________________________________ variables, and substitutes the appropriate value for each variable (this process is called variable expansion). Normally, the separation characters and the percent sign cannot be passed to a command as part of an argument. However, you can include any of these special characters in an argument by enclosing the entire argument in back quotes (`) or double quotation marks ("). Although both back quotes and double quotation marks will let you build arguments that include special characters, they do not work the same way. No alias or variable expansion will be performed on an argument enclosed in back quotes. Redirection symbols inside the back quotes will be ignored. The back quotes will be removed from the command line before the command is executed. No alias expansion will be performed on expressions enclosed in double quotation marks. Redirection symbols inside double quotation marks will be ignored. However, variable expansion will be performed on expressions inside double quotation marks. The double quotation marks themselves will be passed through to the command as part of the argument. For example, suppose the batch file QUOTES.BAT contains the following commands: @echo off echo Arg1 = %1 echo Arg2 = %2 echo Arg3 = %3 and that the environment variable FORVAR has been defined with this command: c:\> set FORVAR=for Now, if you enter the command c:\> quotes Now is the time %forvar all good the output from QUOTES.BAT will look like this: Arg1 = `Now is the time %forvar` Arg2 = all Arg3 = good But if you enter the command c:\> quotes "Now is the time %forvar" all good the output from QUOTES.BAT will look like this: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 87 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ Arg1 = "Now is the time for" Arg2 = all Arg3 = good Notice that in both cases, the quotation marks keep characters together and reduce the number of arguments in the line. The following example has seven command line arguments, while the examples above only have three: c:\> quotes Now is the time %forvar all good When an alias is defined in a batch file or from the command line, its argument should be enclosed in back quotes to prevent the expansion of replaceable parameters, variables, and multiple commands until the alias is invoked. Back quotes should not be used when defining aliases to be read in an ALIAS /R file. Aliases Much of the power of NDOS comes together in aliases, which give you the ability to create your own commands. An alias is a name that you select for a command or group of commands. Simple aliases substitute a new name for an existing command. More complex aliases can redefine the default settings of NDOS commands, operate as very fast in-memory batch files, and perform actions based on the results of other actions. This section of the manual will show you some examples of the power of aliases. You can use these examples as the basis for your own aliases. See the ALIAS command (page 159) for complete details about writing your own aliases. The simplest type of alias gives a new name to an existing command. For example, you could create a command called ROOT to switch to the root directory this way: c:\> alias root = `cd \` After the alias has been defined this way, every time you type the command ROOT, NDOS will execute the command CD \. Aliases can also create customized versions of NDOS commands. For example, the NDOS DIR command can sort a directory in various ways. You can create an alias called DE that means "sort the directory by filename extension, and pause after each page while displaying it" like this: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 88 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> alias de = `dir /oe /p` Aliases can be used to execute sequences of commands as well. The following command creates an alias called W which saves the current drive and directory, changes to the WP directory on drive C:, runs the program E:\WP51\WP.EXE, and, when the program terminates, returns to the original drive and directory: c:\> alias w = `pushd c:\wp ^ e:\wp51\wp.exe ^ popd` Aliases can be nested, that is, one alias can invoke another. For example, the alias above could also be written as: c:\> alias wp = `e:\wp51\wp.exe` c:\> alias w = `pushd c:\wp ^ wp ^ popd` If you enter the W command, NDOS will execute the PUSHD command, detect that the next command (WP) is another alias, execute the program E:\WP51\WP.EXE, and -- when the program exits -- return to the first alias, execute the POPD command, and finally return to the prompt. You can use aliases to change the default options for both internal NDOS commands and external commands. Suppose that you always want the DEL command to prompt before it erases a file: c:\> alias del = `*del /p` You may have a program on your system that has the same name as an internal NDOS command. Normally, NDOS will run the internal command and not let you run the program you desire, unless you explicitly add its full path on the command line (type C:\UTIL\LIST.COM, for example). Aliases give you two ways to get around this problem. First, you could define an alias that runs the program in question, but with a different name. For example, if you want to run a program called NDOSHELP.EXE when you type HLP, this alias will do the trick: c:\> alias hlp = `c:\dos\ndoshelp.exe` Another approach you could take would be to rename the internal NDOS command and use the original name for the external program. The following example renames the NDOS LIST command as DISPLAY and then uses a second alias to run LIST.COM whenever you type LIST: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 89 Aliases ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> alias display = `*list` c:\> alias list = `c:\util\list.com` You can also assign an alias to a key, so that every time you press the key, the command will be invoked. After you enter this next example, NDOS will display a two-column directory with paging whenever you press Shift plus F5: c:\> alias @Shift-F5 = `*dir /2/p` That example will put the DIR command on the command line when you press F5 and wait for you to enter filenames to display and then press Enter. This next example clears the screen whenever you press Alt-F1. The up arrow character [] is the NDOS escape character, which you enter by pressing Ctrl-X (it is entered twice before the r at the end of this alias): c:\> alias @Alt-F1 = `clsr` Aliases have many other capabilities as well. This example creates a simple command-line calculator. Once you have entered the example, you can type CALC 4*19, for example, and NDOS will display the answer: c:\> alias calc = `echo The answer is: %@eval[%&]` Our last example in this section creates an alias called IN. It will temporarily change directories, run an internal or external command, and then return to the current directory when the command is finished: c:\> alias in = `pushd %1 ^ %2& ^ popd` Now if you type c:\> in c:\letters wp letter.txt NDOS will change to the C:\LETTERS subdirectory, execute the command WP LETTER.TXT and then return to the current directory. Your copy of NDOS includes a sample alias file called ALIASES which contains several useful aliases and demonstrates many alias techniques. Also, see the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands on pages 159 and 297 for more information and examples. See page 95 for tips about using aliases inside your batch files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 90 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ Batch Files A batch file is a file that contains a list of commands for NDOS to execute. NDOS reads and interprets each line as if it had been typed at the keyboard. Like aliases, batch files are handy for automating computing tasks. Unlike aliases, batch files can be as long as you wish. Batch files take up separate disk space for each file, and can't usually execute quite as quickly as aliases, since they must be read from the disk. .BAT Files and .BTM Files NDOS can execute a batch file in two different modes. In the first, traditional mode, NDOS reads and executes the lines of the batch file individually. In the second mode, NDOS reads the entire batch file into memory at once. The second mode can be five to ten times faster, especially if most of the commands in the batch file are internal NDOS commands. However, only the first mode can be used for self-modifying batch files (which are rare), for batch files which install memory-resident utilities, and for batch files larger than 64K bytes. NDOS decides which batch file mode to use by the file's extension. It runs files with a .BAT extension in the slower, traditional mode. Files that have a .BTM extension are run in the faster, more efficient mode. You can change the execution mode inside of a batch file (of either type) with the LOADBTM command (see page 247). Echoing By default, NDOS displays or "echoes" every batch file line as it is executed. You can change this behavior, if you want, in several different ways: Any batch file line that begins with an [@] symbol will not be displayed. The display can be turned off and on within a batch file with the ECHO OFF and ECHO ON commands. The default setting can be changed with the SETDOS /V command (see page 283) or the BatchEcho directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 91 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ For example, the following line turns off echoing inside a batch file. The [@] symbol keeps the batch file from displaying the ECHO OFF command: @echo off NDOS also has a command line echo that is unrelated to the batch file echo setting. See the ECHO command on page 207 for details about both settings. Batch File Variables Like aliases and application programs, batch files can examine the command line that is used to invoke them. NDOS separates the command tail (everything on the command line after the batch filename) into individual parameters or variables by scanning for the spaces, tabs, and commas that separate the parameters. A batch file can work with individual parameters or with the command tail as a whole. NDOS numbers these replaceable parameters from %1 to %127. It is up to the batch file to determine the meaning of each parameter. Parameters that are referred to in a batch file, but which are missing on the command line, appear as empty strings inside the batch file. A batch file can also work with three special parameters: %0 contains the name of the batch file as it was entered on the command line, %# contains the number of command-line arguments, and %n& contains the complete command line tail starting with argument number "n". The default value of "n" is one, so %& contains the entire command tail. The values of these special parameters can change if you use the SHIFT command (see page 288). For example, suppose the batch file interprets the first argument as a subdirectory name. Then the following line would move to the specified directory: cd %1 A friendlier batch file would check to make sure the directory exists and take some special action if it doesn't: iff isdir %1 then ^ cd %1 else ^ echo Subdirectory %1 does not exist ^ quit endiff (see the IF and IFF commands on pages 227 and 233). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 92 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ ##Batch files can also use environment variables, internal variables, and variable functions. See pages 73 - 83 for a complete list of the internal variables and variable functions available. You can use these variables and functions to determine system status (e.g., the type of CPU in the system), resource levels (e.g., the amount of free disk space), file information (e.g., the date and time a file was last modified) and other information (e.g., the current date and time). You can also perform arithmetic (including date arithmetic), manipulate strings and substrings, extract parts of a filename, and perform simple file access. ##To create temporary variables for use inside a batch file, just use the SET command to store the information you want in an environment variable. Pick a variable name that isn't likely to be in use by some other program (for example, PATH would be a bad choice), and use the UNSET command (page 298) to remove these variables from the environment at the end of your batch file. You can also use SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL (pages 287 and 210) to create a "local" environment so that the original environment will be restored when your batch file is finished. ##Environment variables used in a batch file may contain either numbers or text. It is up to you to keep track of what's in each variable and use it appropriately; if you don't (for example, if you use %@EVAL to add a number to a text string), you'll get an error message. ##Be careful not to confuse the various kinds of variables that NDOS provides. Replaceable parameters, environment variables, internal variables, and variable functions look similar and have similar uses but they are not the same. Batch File Commands Several NDOS commands are particularly suited to batch file processing. Each command is explained in detail in the Command Reference section of this manual, beginning on page 153. Here is a list of some of the commands you might find most useful: BEEP produces a sound of any pitch and duration through the computer's speaker. CALL executes one batch file from within another. CANCEL terminates all batch file processing. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 93 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ CLS and COLOR set the screen display colors. DRAWBOX draws a box on the screen. DRAWHLINE and DRAWVLINE draw horizontal and vertical lines on the screen. ECHO and ECHOS print text on the screen (the text can be redirected to a file or device). GOSUB executes a subroutine inside a batch file. The RETURN command terminates the subroutine. GOTO branches to a different location in the batch file. FOR executes commands for each file that matches a set of wildcards, or each entry in a list. IF and IFF execute commands based on a test of string or numeric values, program exit codes, or other conditions. INKEY and INPUT collect keyboard input from the user and store it in environment variables. KEYSTACK places keystrokes into the NDOS Keystack. LOADBTM changes the batch file operating mode. PAUSE displays a message and waits for the user to press a key. QUIT ends the current batch file and optionally returns an exit code. REM places a remark in a batch file. SCREEN positions the cursor on the screen and optionally prints a message at the new location. SCRPUT displays a message in color. SETLOCAL saves the current disk drive, default directory, environment, and alias list. ENDLOCAL restores the settings that were saved. SHIFT changes the numbering of the replaceable parameters. TEXT displays a block of text. ENDTEXT ends the block. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 94 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ TIMER starts or reads a stopwatch. VSCRPUT displays a vertical message in color. These commands, along with the NDOS internal variables and variable functions, make the NDOS batch file language extremely powerful. The distribution floppy disk contains a number of sample batch files that demonstrate some of the things you can do with NDOS batch files. Interrupting a Batch File You can usually interrupt a batch file by pressing Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break. Whether and when these keystrokes are recognized will depend on whether NDOS or an application is running, how the application (if any) was written, and whether BREAK is ON or OFF (see page 172). Once NDOS detects a Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break, it will display a prompt, for example: Cancel batch job C:\CHARGE.BTM ? (Y/N/A) : Enter N to continue, Y to terminate the current batch file and continue with any batch file which called it, or A to end all batch file processing regardless of the batch file nesting level. Answering Y is similar to the QUIT command (page 266); answering A is similar to the CANCEL command (page 174). ## Batch File Tips This section gives you some tips on batch file programming, including a few things we've found useful and a few that you should stay away from. One way to simplify batch file programming is to use aliases. Not aliases that can be used from the command line, but aliases that hide unnecessary detail inside a batch file. For example, suppose you want to implement a multiple choice list in a batch file that will let you select among several different applications. This example shows one way to do so: alias in `pushd %1 ^ %2& ^ popd` alias choice `elseiff "%userchoice"=="%1" then` :dispmenu screen 8 0 text Enter your choice: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 95 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Word Processing 2. Spreadsheet 3. Communications endtext inkey %%userchoice iff "1"=="2" then ^ rem Always fail and go to next line choice 1 ^ in d:\letters c:\wp51\wp.exe choice 2 ^ in d:\finance c:\quattro\q.exe choice 3 ^ in d:\comm c:\comsw\pcplus.exe else scrput 23 0 bri whi on red Invalid choice, try again goto dispmenu endiff The first alias, IN, expects two or more command-line arguments. It uses the first as a new working directory and changes to that directory with a PUSHD command. The rest of the command line is interpreted as the name of an application program plus possible command line parameters, which the alias executes. This alias could be used from the command line. The second alias, CHOICE, expects one command line argument. It tests whether an environment variable called userchoice has the same value as the command line argument. But the test comes between ELSEIFF and THEN statements. If you try to use CHOICE from the command line, NDOS will generate an error because it will see ELSEIFF and THEN without the necessary IFF and ENDIFF to define a block. The next nine lines print a menu on the screen and then get a keystroke from the user and store the keystroke in an environment variable called userchoice. Then the batch file tests the user's keystroke to decide what action to take. Since the CHOICE alias starts with an ELSEIFF command, there has to be an IFF. But the first condition must fail in order to get to the CHOICE aliases, so the IFF statement starts with a condition that will always be false. The three lines after the IFF are easy to follow and much shorter than they would be without the aliases. If it had to be typed in full, the first choice line would look like this: elseiff "%userchoice"=="1" then pushd d:\letters ^ c:\wp\wp51.exe ^ popd There's another side to aliases in batch files. If you're going to distribute your NDOS batch files to others, you need to remember that they may have aliases defined for the commands you're going to use. For example if the user has aliased CD to CDD and you aren't expecting this, your file may ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 96 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ not work as you intended. There are two ways to address this problem. First, you can use SETLOCAL, ENDLOCAL, and UNALIAS to clear out aliases before your batch file starts and restore them at the end. For example: setlocal unalias * rem Aliases cleared, set up new aliases alias ... rem Other batch file commands go here endlocal Remember that SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL will save and restore not only the aliases but also the environment and the current drive and directory. If this method isn't appropriate or necessary for the batch file you're working on, you can also use an asterisk [*] before the name of any command. The asterisk tells NDOS not to interpret the command that follows it as an alias. For example the following command redirects a list of filenames to the file FILELIST: dir /b > filelist However if the user has redefined DIR with an alias this command may not do what you want. To get around this just use: *dir /b > filelist The same can be done for any command in your batch file. If you use the asterisk, NDOS will skip alias processing, discard the asterisk, and process the rest of the command normally as an internal command, external command, or batch file. Using an asterisk before a command will work whether or not there is actually an alias defined with the same name as the command. If there is no alias with that name, the asterisk will be ignored and the command will be processed as if the asterisk wasn't there. There are several tricks you can use in debugging batch files. Probably the simplest is to turn ECHO on at the beginning of the file while you're testing it, or use SETDOS /V2 to force ECHO on even if an ECHO OFF command is used in the batch file. This will give you a picture of what NDOS is doing when it executes the file. It will make your output look messy of course, so just turn it off once things are working. You can also turn ECHO on at the beginning of a group of commands you ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 97 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ want to "watch", and off at the end, just by adding ECHO commands at the appropriate spots in your file. Another trick is to insert PAUSE commands wherever you need them in order to be able to watch what's happening. For complex debugging, you can make an alias that uses INKEY for a similar purpose, but helps you out a little more. For example (enter this on one line): alias step set skey=^inkey Step: %%skey^iff "%skey"=="S" then ^ set /P ^ elseiff "%skey"=="X" then ^ quit ^ endiff Now anywhere you insert a STEP command in your file you'll get the Step: prompt during execution. At that point you can type S to do a SET /P and display the current contents of your environment variables, X to exit the batch file, and any other key to go on. Of course you'll need to create an alias tailored to your particular needs, but this gives you the basic idea. If you can't figure out how NDOS is expanding your aliases and variables, try turning LOG on at the start of the batch file. LOG keeps track of all commands after alias and variable expansion are completed, and gives you a record in a file that you can examine after the batch file is done. You may also want to consider using redirection to capture your batch file output. Simply type the batch filename followed by the redirection symbols, for example: c:\> mybatch >& testout This records all batch file output, including error messages, in the file TESTOUT, so you can go back and examine it. If you have ECHO ON in the batch file you'll get the batch commands intermingled with the output, which can provide a very useful trace of what's happening. Of course output from full-screen commands and programs that don't write to the standard DOS output devices can't be recorded, but you can still gain a lot of useful information if your batch file does much output. If you're using redirection to see the output, remember that any prompts for input will probably go to the output file and not to the screen, so you need to know in advance the sequence of keystrokes required to get through the entire batch file, and enter them by hand or with KEYSTACK. (As an example, the raw text for the NDOS tour in this manual was created by writing a batch file containing the demonstration commands, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 98 Batch Files ___________________________________________________________________ testing it to get the proper keystroke sequence, and executing a command which used KEYSTACK to send the keystrokes and redirected the batch file's output to a disk file.) Because of the power of the NDOS batch language, some programmers begin to treat it as a full, general-purpose language. But the batch language is interpreted one line at a time, which can lead the unwary into some subtle traps. In particular, the IFF and GOTO instructions may not work together as many programmers expect. NDOS has no way of telling whether a GOTO is branching within the same IFF block, into another IFF block, or out of all IFF blocks, so it has to make an assumption. It assumes that the branch is leaving the IFF block and it therefore cancels all pending IFF processing. For example, the following commands will NOT work: iff "%_monitor" == "color" then iff %@diskfree[c:,K] gt 100 then set var1=Y goto point1 else set var1=N endiff else :point1 rem do something else here endiff If the GOTO in the fourth line is executed, the commands after :POINT1 will execute properly. But NDOS will generate an error message when it reaches the last ENDIFF, because it assumed that the GOTO branched outside of all IFF blocks. You can override this restriction with GOTO /I, but do so only if you are absolutely certain that your GOTO command is branching entirely within the current active IFF statement, and not into another IFF statement or a different IFF nesting level. Using /I under any other conditions will cause an error later in your batch file. Because the IFF state is saved whenever a GOSUB occurs or whenever another batch file is CALLed, GOTO only cancels IFF processing within the current subroutine or batch file. This allows you to use GOTO inside a subroutine without affecting any IFF blocks that surround the GOSUB statement which called the subroutine. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 99 Configuration Files ___________________________________________________________________ ## CHAPTER 6, OPTIONS AND TUNING Normally, the Norton Utilities install or NUCONFIG program will properly set up your system to run NDOS. It must, however, make certain assumptions about your computer and the way that you will use NDOS. This chapter explains how you can tune NDOS to make it as efficient and as useful as possible in your computing environment. Nearly everything in this chapter is for advanced users and those with unusual needs. If NDOS works the way you want it to after the installation, you can skip this chapter. You may, however, want to skim this material to see what options are available. Configuration Files NDOS uses five configuration files. Two are for general DOS configuration; the other three are unique to NDOS. The general DOS files are CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. The specialized NDOS files are called NSTART.BTM, NEXIT.BTM, and NDOS.INI. These five files are discussed in order in this section. ! Anytime you change a configuration file, a typographical mistake or other error could make your system lock up or run erratically. Before you make any changes to any of these files, we strongly urge you to take some precautions. First, create a boot floppy disk (you can use the FORMAT /S command) and make sure that you can use it to boot your computer. Second, make a backup copy of all five configuration files. You might want to create copies that have the same base name plus an extension of .BAK. Copy the .BAK files to your boot floppy disk for safe keeping. You also might want to make a copy of your computer's SETUP information (on 80286, 386, and 486 computers) and save it on this floppy disk. If the battery that keeps that data in your computer fails, this file will be invaluable after you install a new battery. The CMOS setup can easily be saved using the Norton Utilities Rescue Disk program; refer to the Norton Utilities User's Guide for more information. With these two precautions, if something goes wrong, you will be able to boot with your floppy disk and copy the files back to their original names. You'll only have to spend a few minutes recovering your system. You probably will want to follow the same precautions each time you install a new application program that changes your DOS or NDOS configuration files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 100 Setting up CONFIG.SYS ___________________________________________________________________ Setting up CONFIG.SYS The CONFIG.SYS file contains instructions for DOS to execute before it loads a command processor. Only one line in the CONFIG.SYS file affects NDOS. It tells DOS to use NDOS as the command processor instead of COMMAND.COM. The format of this line is: SHELL=d:\path\NDOS.COM [d:\path] [@d:\path\inifile] [/E:nnnn] [/F] [/P] [//iniline]... [[/K]command] "SHELL=" identifies this line as defining the command processor that DOS will load after it finishes executing the commands in CONFIG.SYS. It is required. If NDOS is not in the root directory of the boot drive, replace the first "d:\path\" (immediately after "SHELL=") with the NDOS drive and directory (if you are using DOS 2.x, NDOS must be in the root directory of the boot drive). The drive and path must be correct or your system won't boot (and you'll be very happy that you made the boot-up floppy we suggested). The remainder of the items on this line are optional. If they are used, you should not include the square brackets. In the descriptions below, "d:" means a drive letter and "\path" means a subdirectory name. d:\path This is the "d:\path" option shown in square brackets above (not the "d:\path" immediately after "SHELL="). It sets the drive and directory where NDOS is stored. NDOS uses this path to set the COMSPEC environment variable. When running under MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.0 or above, NDOS will normally find itself automatically and this option will not be needed. When running under DR-DOS this option is required unless NDOS.COM is in the root directory of the boot drive. When NDOS is running as the primary command processor, you can tell if COMSPEC has been set correctly by typing the following line at the NDOS prompt: echo %comspec If NDOS has properly located itself, the location of NDOS.COM will be correctly displayed. If the COMSPEC is incorrect, you can set it yourself in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or add this "d:\path" option on the SHELL= line. @d:\path\inifile ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 101 Setting up CONFIG.SYS ___________________________________________________________________ This option sets the path and name of the NDOS.INI file, which is discussed below. If the INI file is in the same directory as NDOS.COM, or is in the root directory of the boot drive, and named NDOS.INI, or of you aren't using an INI file at all, then this option is not needed. Otherwise, it must be included. /E:nnnn This option sets the size of the environment, in bytes. If you don't use this option, NDOS will allocate 512 bytes for the environment. You can use any value from 256 to 32000 as the environment size. For example, to set an environment of 1,000 bytes, you would enter the option this way: /E:1000 You can also set the environment size with the Environment directive in the NDOS.INI file (see below). /F This option tells NDOS to automatically provide a Fail response to all critical errors, without prompting or waiting for a user response. It is rarely used except on systems that must run unattended, like bulletin boards. We do not recommend use of this option on a normal system, because you will not have a chance to react to a critical error and correct the problem that caused it. For more information on critical errors see page 138. /F only affects critical errors detected by NDOS, and will not affect critical error handling for many application programs which perform this function themselves. /P This option tells NDOS to load permanently and to run AUTOEXEC.BAT. When NDOS is loaded from the SHELL= command in CONFIG.SYS, it will detect that it is the primary shell and set the /P option automatically. Under very rare circumstances you may want to load NDOS permanently and have it run AUTOEXEC even though you are not loading it from CONFIG.SYS; in such cases you must set /P yourself. NDOS will not run AUTOEXEC.BAT without a /P. Do not use this option in secondary shells, or you will be unable to return to the primary shell. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 102 Setting up CONFIG.SYS ___________________________________________________________________ //iniline This option tells NDOS to treat the text appearing between the // and the next space or tab as a NDOS.INI directive (see page 108 for information on NDOS.INI directives). The directive should be in the same format as a line in NDOS.INI, but may not contain spaces, tabs, or comments. Directives on the SHELL= line override any corresponding directive in NDOS.INI. This is a convenient way to place one or two simple directives on the SHELL= line without having to modify or create a NDOS.INI file, but is primarily intended for use in secondary shells (see below). command This option tells NDOS to run the command included on the SHELL= line. The command will be run after NSTART and AUTOEXEC.BAT but before displaying the prompt. It can be any valid alias, internal or external command, or batch file, and can include multiple commands (but see the Caution below). All other startup options (such as /F and /P) must be placed before the command, because NDOS will treat characters after the command as part of the command and not as additional startup options. Use this option if you want NDOS to run a file other than AUTOEXEC.BAT when your system boots: simply rename AUTOEXEC.BAT and place the new name, including its full path, at the end of the SHELL= line. Caution ! In all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS from 2.0 through 4.01, the SHELL= line in the CONFIG.SYS file may not contain more than 31 characters following the name of the shell program (i.e., beginning with the space after the "M" in "NDOS.COM"). If the line is too long, the options will not be passed properly to NDOS and a variety of errors can occur. You can set all necessary NDOS options without exceeding this limit, especially if you put NDOS.COM and NDOS.INI in the root directory of your boot drive. This limit is not present in MS-DOS 5.0 and above or in DR-DOS. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 103 Setting up CONFIG.SYS ___________________________________________________________________ Startup Options for Secondary Shells In most cases, secondary shells do not use or require any of the startup options defined for the primary shell in CONFIG.SYS. Usually, you can only set explicit options for a NDOS secondary shell when you define a NDOS window in a multitasking system such as Back & Forth, DESQview, Windows, or the MS-DOS shell (DOSSHELL); or in rare cases when you run a secondary copy of NDOS directly from the command line. If you do need to set options for secondary shells, you can use any of the following: @d:\path\inifile Set INI filename, as in CONFIG.SYS (see above). This option is not necessary if you want NDOS to use the same INI file that you used for the primary shell, as values from that file -- including those in its [Secondary] section -- will be passed automatically to secondary shells. /E:nnnn Set the environment size, as in CONFIG.SYS (see above). /F Force an automatic "Fail" on critical error, as in CONFIG.SYS (see above). //iniline This option tells NDOS to treat the text appearing between the // and the next space or tab as a NDOS.INI directive (see page 108 for more information on NDOS.INI directives). The directive should be in the same format as a line in NDOS.INI, but may not contain spaces, tabs, or comments. Directives on the SHELL= line override any corresponding directive in NDOS.INI. This allows you to use NDOS.INI directives directly on the command line when starting NDOS in a window of a multitasking system, rather than having to create separate copies of NDOS.INI to accommodate small configuration changes in different windows. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 104 Using AUTOEXEC.BAT ___________________________________________________________________ [/C] command This option tells NDOS to run the command included on the line. The command will be run after NSTART but before any command prompt is displayed. It can be any valid alias, internal or external command, or batch file, and can include multiple commands. Use this option if you want NDOS to run a batch file or execute a command when it starts, for example to run a specific batch file when NDOS is started in a window of a multitasking system. When the command is preceded by a /C, NDOS will execute the command and then exit and return to the parent program. /C is used by some applications to start the command processor, run one command, and the return to the application. This option can be used when NDOS is run as a secondary shell, but never in the SHELL statement in the CONFIG.SYS file. Using AUTOEXEC.BAT If NDOS is the primary command processor, it is up and running before AUTOEXEC.BAT is executed. You generally won't need to make any changes to AUTOEXEC.BAT to make it run properly under NDOS, although once you get used to some of the NDOS batch file enhancements, you may want to use them to streamline AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you want to use the NDOS KEYSTACK command, you will normally load the program KSTACK.COM from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. To do so, include the following line in your file. Its location in the file is unimportant as long as you place it before any KEYSTACK commands: d:\path\kstack.com Replace the "d:\path" with the path to the KSTACK.COM program, which will normally be stored in your NU directory. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 105 Using AUTOEXEC.BAT ___________________________________________________________________ You may want to use AUTOEXEC.BAT to configure NDOS the way you want it by setting some of the environment variables that NDOS uses. You may also want to include a SETDOS command (see page 283) to set configuration variables (most of these variables can also be set in the NDOS.INI file discussed below). All of these settings are optional. NDOS uses seven environment variables. Five of the seven (all except PATH and PROMPT) are created with the SET command (see page 280) using this format: set name=value The seven variables and their uses are explained below: COMSPEC: The COMSPEC variable is the path and filename that programs use to launch a secondary shell. Normally, this will be set automatically by NDOS as it installs itself. However, in rare circumstances you may wish to load NDOS.COM for secondary shells from a directory other than the one it's in when you boot (for example, from a RAM disk). In these cases, you will need to reset the COMSPEC variable. For example, if you want to load secondary copies of NDOS.COM from the root directory of drive D:, you would use this command: set comspec=D:\NDOS.COM PATH: The PATH variable lists the directories that NDOS should search for executable files that aren't in the current directory (executable files include .COM, .EXE, .BTM, and .BAT files and files with executable extensions). The PATH variable is normally set with the PATH command. See PATH on page 257 for more details. PROMPT: The prompt variable defines the NDOS command prompt. It is normally set with the PROMPT command. See PROMPT on page 261 for details about the options available. TEMPNDOS: This variable contains the drive and directory that NDOS will use to store temporary pipe files (see page 60). If you have a RAM disk, piping will be faster if you direct NDOS to use it for the pipe files. This variable should hold a single path. The path can be terminated with a backslash [\] if you choose, but this ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 106 Using NSTART and NEXIT ___________________________________________________________________ is not required. For example, to direct pipe temporary files to the TEMP directory on drive D: set tempndos=d:\temp TEMP: If TEMPNDOS does not exist, NDOS looks for this variable to find the path for temporary pipe files (if neither exists, NDOS uses the root directory of the drive from which it was started). TEMP is also used by some other programs to set a path for their temporary files. The format of TEMP is the same as TEMPNDOS. COLORDIR: This variable sets the colors that NDOS will use for directories displayed by the DIR and SELECT commands. See those commands (page 195 and 275) for details about COLORDIR. CDPATH: This variable defines default directories to be used by the CD and CDD commands, and by automatic directory changes. If CD, CDD, or an automatic directory entry cannot find the path you specify on the command line, NDOS will try appending the command line path to each path in this variable. For example, you may have a C:\LETTERS directory that has subdirectories named JAN, FEB, MARCH, etc. You can put C:\LETTERS into CDPATH and get to the FEB directory from anywhere on your system by typing CDD FEB or FEB\. The format of the CDPATH variable is the same as the PATH variable: a list of directories separated by semicolons. For example: set cdpath=c:\letters;c:\data;c:\memos Using NSTART and NEXIT NDOS runs two special batch files automatically, NSTART.BTM and NEXIT.BTM (you can make them .BAT files, if you prefer). NSTART is executed whenever NDOS is started as a primary or secondary shell. In the primary shell, it is executed before AUTOEXEC.BAT. If NDOS is started as a secondary shell with the /C command option, NSTART is executed before the command. A NSTART file is normally very short. You should NOT load any memory-resident programs (TSRs) from NSTART because they will be reloaded every time a secondary shell is started. Normally, NSTART is used to vary the PROMPT setting or screen colors from shell to shell. The LOG command is sometimes used in NSTART to record that a new shell has begun. A PAUSE ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 107 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ command inserted temporarily in NSTART will let you see if a particular program is running a secondary shell with the /C command option to accomplish some of its own work. Do not load aliases from NSTART -- NDOS passes them along to a secondary shell automatically, so you only need to load them once, in AUTOEXEC.BAT. The NEXIT batch file is executed every time a secondary NDOS command processor ends. A secondary shell can end because of an EXIT command or after completing the command specified with a /C command startup option. Normally, NEXIT is used to LOG a record that the shell has ended. You might also use NEXIT to view the results of the command that an application has given to NDOS, or to save the history accumulated during that shell with the HISTORY command with output redirected to a file. NDOS looks for the NSTART and NEXIT batch files in three places: * If the NDOS.INI file has a NSTARTPath entry, NDOS will use it, and will not look elsewhere. * If NSTARTPath is not set, NDOS will look in the directory where NDOS.COM is stored. For the primary shell, NDOS determines this directory automatically, or you can set it yourself by placing a COMSPEC directory name on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS (see page 101). For secondary shells, the directory is determined from the COMSPEC environment variable (see page 106). * If the COMSPEC directory search fails, NDOS will look in the root directory of the boot drive. The easiest way to make sure that NDOS finds the NSTART and NEXIT batch files is to specify their location with the NSTARTPath directive in the NDOS.INI file (see below). If you don't, put NSTART and NEXIT in the root directory of the boot drive. If the COMSPEC drive is not the same as the boot drive, then you should also put a copy of NSTART and NEXIT in the root directory of the COMSPEC drive. Using the NDOS.INI File NDOS uses a file of initialization information called the NDOS.INI file. You can create, add to, and edit this file with any ASCII text editor to set NDOS options and alter the way that NDOS works. The installation process will create a NDOS.INI file for you if one does not already exist on your system. Most of this section explains the options available ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 108 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ through NDOS.INI. You only need to include entries in NDOS.INI for any settings that you want to change from their default values. If you are happy with all of the NDOS default values, you don't need a NDOS.INI file at all. Some settings in NDOS.INI are initialized when you install NDOS, so you may have a NDOS.INI file even if you didn't create one yourself. You should not delete this file unless you've checked carefully to be sure that you don't need any of the settings the initialization program put there. When NDOS is loaded as the primary shell, it searches for NDOS.INI in three places: * If there is an "@d:\path\inifile" option on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS (see page 101), NDOS will use the path and filename specified there, and will not look elsewhere. * If there is no INI filename on the SHELL= line, NDOS will look in the same directory where NDOS.COM is stored (this is the "normal" location for NDOS.INI). NDOS determines this directory automatically, or you can set it yourself by placing a COMSPEC directory name on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS (see page 101). * If the NDOS.INI is not found in the directory where NDOS.COM is stored, NDOS will look in the root directory of the boot drive. When NDOS is loaded as a secondary shell, it does not search for the NDOS.INI file. Instead, it retrieves the primary shell's INI file data, processes the [Secondary] section of the original INI file if necessary, and then processes any "@d:\path\inifile" option on the secondary shell command line (see page 104). You can override this behavior with the NextINIFile directive (see page 128). Most lines in the NDOS.INI file consist of a one-word directive, an equal sign [=], and a value. For example, in the following line, the word "Environment" is the directive and "2048" is the value: Environment = 2048 Any spaces before or after the equal sign are ignored. If you have a long string to enter in NDOS.INI (for example, for the ColorDir directive), you must enter it all on one ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 109 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ line. Strings cannot be "continued" to a second line. Each line may be up to 511 characters long. The format of the value part of a directive line depends on the individual directive. It may be a numeric value, a single character, a choice (like "Yes" or "No"), a color setting, a key name, a path, a filename, or a text string. The value begins with the first non-blank character after the equal sign and ends at the end of the line or the beginning of a comment. Blank lines are ignored in the NDOS.INI file and can be used to separate groups of directives. You can place comments in the file by beginning a line with a semicolon [;]. You can also place comments at the end of any line except one containing a text string value. To do so, enter at least one space or tab after the value, a semicolon, and your comment, like this: Environment = 2048 ;set standard environment size If you try to place a comment at the end of a string value, the comment will become part of the string and will probably cause an error. When NDOS detects an error while processing the NDOS.INI file, it displays an error message, ignores the line that caused the error, and prompts you to press a key to continue processing the file. This allows you to note any errors before the startup process continues. The directive in error will retain its previous or default value. Only the most catastrophic errors (like a disk read failure) will cause NDOS to ignore all or a large part of the NDOS.INI file. If you don't want NDOS to pause after each error, use a "PauseOnError = No" directive at the beginning of the file. The NDOS.INI file has two sections, which are identified by a name in square brackets on a line by itself. The section names are [Primary]: Directives in this section will be used when NDOS is running as the primary shell. The same values will be passed automatically to all secondary shells, unless overridden by a directive with the same name in the [Secondary] section. [Secondary]: Directives in this section are used in secondary shells only, and override any corresponding primary shell settings. For example, if your NDOS.INI file contains the lines: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 110 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ ScreenRows = 25 [Secondary] ScreenRows = 50 then NDOS will assume that you have 25 rows on the screen in the primary shell and 50 lines in all secondary shells. Lines that precede a section name are used in both primary and secondary shells. The SETDOS command can override several of the NDOS.INI file directives. For example, the number of rows on the screen can be adjusted with SETDOS /R. The correspondence between SETDOS options and INI file directives is noted under each directive below, and under each option of the SETDOS command. The NDOS.INI file normally should be stored in the root directory of the boot drive. You can specify a different location for the primary NDOS shell with the "@d:\path\inifile" startup option in your CONFIG.SYS file (see page 101). Secondary shells automatically inherit the configuration settings currently in effect in the previous shell. If values have been changed by SETDOS since NDOS started, the new values will be passed to the secondary shell. If the previous shell's INI file had a [Secondary] section, it will then be read and processed. If not, the previous shell's settings will remain in effect. For example, if you set BatchEcho to Yes in NDOS.INI, do not include a [Secondary] section, and use SETDOS /V0 to turn off batch file echoing in the primary shell, then secondary shells will inherit the SETDOS setting, i.e. batch files will default to no echo. If you want to force secondary shells to start with the same value as the primary shell for a particular directive, regardless of any changes made with SETDOS, repeat the directive in the [Secondary] section of NDOS.INI. You can also place the directive outside any section of NDOS.INI, then include an empty [Secondary] section. The inclusion of a [Secondary] section will force NDOS to re-read NDOS.INI, and the directives outside any section will be reprocessed as they apply to both primary and secondary shells. Because NDOS.INI is processed after values from the previous shell are inherited, the value in NDOS.INI will override the inherited value. Using the BatchEcho example above, either of the following sets of NDOS.INI directives would work to ensure that BatchEcho is set to Yes in secondary shells: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 111 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ Same directive Empty in both sections [Secondary] [Primary] BatchEcho = Yes BatchEcho = Yes ... <other ... <other directives> ... directives> [Secondary] [Secondary] BatchEcho = Yes <End of File> ... <other directives> If you start a secondary shell from a task switching program like Windows, DESQview, or Back & Forth, you can specify an alternate location and name for NDOS.INI by passing the "@d:\path\inifile" option to NDOS as a command-line parameter (see page 101). In this case, the configuration settings in the alternate NDOS.INI file will supersede any settings inherited from the previous shell. Any values which are not explicitly set in the alternate file will retain the value they had in the previous shell. Any [Primary] section in the alternate file will be ignored because it is being run from a secondary shell. The first section below lists the different types of directives. Subsequent sections list all the individual directives, divided by function and then alphabetically by directive name. At the end we have included a few examples of how to use NDOS.INI directives (see page 129). Types of Directives There are eight types of directives in NDOS.INI. When you look at the descriptions below, you can tell the directive type by the way in which the allowable values are shown. * Name = nnnn (1234): This directive takes a numeric value which replaces the "nnnn." The default value is shown in parentheses. * Name = c (X): This directive accepts a single character as its value. The default character is shown in parentheses. You must type in the actual character, you cannot use a key name. * Name = CHOICE1 | Choice2 | ... : This directive takes a choice value. The possible choices are listed, separated by vertical bars. The default value is shown in all upper case letters in the directive description, but in your file any of the choices can be entered in upper case or lower case. For example, if the choices were shown as "YES | No" then "YES" is the default. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 112 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ * Name = color: This directive takes a color specification in the form: [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg [BORder bc] Where: fg is the foreground color. bg is the background color. bc is the border color. The allowable color names are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White The color names and the keywords BRIGHT, BLINK, and BORDER can be shortened to three letters. * Name = Key (Default): This directive takes a key specification in the form: [Prefix-]Keyname The default value, if any, is shown in parentheses. The key prefix can be left out, or it can be any one of the following: Alt followed by A - Z, 0 - 9, F1 - F12, or Bksp Ctrl followed by A - Z, F1 - F12, Bksp, Enter, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Ins, or Del Shift followed by F1 - F12 or Tab. The possible key names are: A - Z Enter PgDn 0 - 9 Up Home F1 - F12 Down End Esc Left Ins Bksp Right Del Tab PgUp All key names must be spelled as shown. Alphabetic keys can be specified in upper-case or lower-case. You cannot specify a punctuation key. The prefix and key name must be separated by a dash. For example: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 113 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ AddFile = Alt-F10 ; This is okay AddFile = Alt F10 ; The space will cause an error If you prefer, you can use a numeric value instead of a key name. Use the ASCII code for an ASCII, extended ASCII, or control character. Use the scan code preceded by an at-sign [@] for extended key codes like F1 or the cursor keys. In general, you will find it easier to use the names described above rather than key numbers. * Name = Path: This directive takes a path specification, but not a filename. The path should include both a drive and path (e.g., C:\NDOS) to avoid any possible ambiguities. A trailing backslash [\] at the end of the path name is acceptable but not required. Any default path is described in the text. * Name = File: This directive takes a filename. We recommend that you use a full filename including the drive letter and path to avoid any possible ambiguities. Any default filename is described in the text. * Name = Anything else: This directive takes a string in the format shown. The text describes the default value and any additional requirements for formatting the string correctly. No comments are allowed. NDOS contains a fixed-length area for storing strings entered in NDOS.INI, including filenames, paths, and other strings. This area is large and is unlikely to overflow; if it does, you will receive an error message. If this occurs, reduce the complexity of your NDOS.INI file or contact our technical support department for assistance. Initialization Directives The directives in this section control how NDOS starts and where it looks for its files. NSTARTPath = Path: Sets the drive and directory where NDOS should look for the NSTART and NEXIT batch files. Alias = nnnn (1024): Sets the amount of memory in bytes allocated for the alias list. The allowable range of values is 256 to 32767 bytes. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 114 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ AutoExecPath = Path: Sets the path used to find AUTOEXEC.BAT if NDOS is started as a primary shell with the /P option in CONFIG.SYS (see page 102). The default is the root directory of the boot drive. Environment = nnnn (512): Sets the amount of memory allocated to the environment in bytes. The allowable range of values is 256 to 32000 bytes. EnvFree = nnnn (128): Sets the minimum amount of memory in bytes that will be available in the environment for secondary shells. NDOS will enlarge the environment for each secondary shell, if necessary, so that there is at least this much free environment space when the shell starts. The allowable range of values is 128 to 32000 bytes. History = nnnn (1024): Sets the amount of memory allocated to the history list in bytes. The allowable range of values is 512 to 8192 bytes. LogName = File: Sets the log filename and/or path. If only a path is given, NDOS will use the default log filename (NDOSLOG). Using LogName does not turn logging on, you must use a LOG ON command to do so. PauseOnError = YES | No: "Yes" tells NDOS to pause with the message "Error in NDOS.INI, press any key to continue processing" after displaying any error message related to a specific line in the NDOS.INI file. "No" continues processing with no pause after an error message is displayed. Swapping = swap type [, swap type] ...: Sets the type of swapping NDOS should use. NDOS runs in two parts, a resident portion that is always in memory and a transient portion that can be stored in EMS memory, in XMS memory, on a RAM disk, or on your hard disk while application programs are running. The resident portion uses about 4K of memory in the primary shell and about 1.5K in secondary shells. The transient portion uses about 90K of memory. NDOS will perform most quickly if the transient portion is swapped to the fastest memory or device available. See page 42 for explanations of XMS and EMS memory. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 115 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ Swapping for the primary shell normally requires about 96K of EMS memory, or 90K of XMS memory or disk space. Secondary shells normally require 32K of EMS, or 25K of XMS or disk space. If you have a large environment, alias list, or history list, more memory will be required in both primary and secondary shells. The EMS requirements are larger because EMS memory is allocated in 16K increments; NDOS does not actually use more memory when swapping to EMS. The swap type may be: EMS: NDOS will swap to EMS expanded memory if it is available. You must have expanded memory and an EMS memory manager (version 3.2 or later) for this option. XMS: NDOS will swap to XMS extended memory if it is available (you must have an 80286, 386, or 486 computer for this option, and an XMS memory manager). d:\path: NDOS will create a swap file in the drive and directory specified. The file will be called NDOSSWAP.NNN where "NNN" is the shell number (unless you use the UniqueSwapName directive to generate a unique swap filename; see page 129). This swap file is created as a hidden system file to avoid accidental deletion and will not be visible with a normal DIR command. Swapping to a RAM disk will generally be faster than swapping to a hard disk. Do not use a floppy disk for swapping because its performance is likely to be unacceptably slow. None: No swapping. The transient portion of NDOS will remain in memory at all times. This option will reduce memory available for application programs by about 90K compared to the other swap types, and should be used only when no other swapping options are available. You can specify multiple swap types and NDOS will try them in the order listed. Swap type "None" is always appended to your list of possible swap types as a "last resort", even if you don't include it explicitly. This allows NDOS to start even if the other swap types you specify don't work. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 116 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ For example, if your system has EMS memory and a RAM disk set up as drive D:, the directive: Swapping = EMS, D:\, C:\SWAP will tell NDOS to try EMS memory first, then the RAM disk, and finally the \SWAP directory on drive C:. If all of these options fail (because there isn't enough free space available), the transient portion of NDOS will remain in memory (swap type "None"). The default Swapping specification is: Swapping = EMS, XMS, x:\, None where "x" is the boot drive (for the primary shell) or the COMSPEC drive (for secondary shells). (Disk swapping will not be included as part of the default if the boot drive is A: or B:, because floppy disk swapping is too slow to be useful on most systems.) The default is usually adequate for most systems. UMBEnvironment = Yes | NO: "Yes" attempts to load the master environment into a UMB (Upper Memory Block). This reduces the NDOS base memory requirements but may cause problems with some programs that try to access the master environment directly. This option requires a 386 or 486 computer and appropriate support software. (See pages 43 and 131 for more information on UMBs.) UMBLoad = Yes | NO: "Yes" attempts to load the resident portion of NDOS into a UMB (Upper Memory Block). This reduces the size of the resident portion in base memory from about 4K bytes to 448 bytes, plus the environment size (unless you have also enabled UMBEnvironment). This option requires a 386 or 486 computer and appropriate support software and appropriate support hardware and software. See pages 43 and 131 for more information on UMBs. Configuration Directives These directives control the way that NDOS operates. Some can be changed with the SETDOS command while NDOS is running. Any ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 117 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ corresponding SETDOS command is listed in the description of each directive; information on SETDOS is on page 283. ANSI = AUTO | Yes | No: Tells NDOS whether an ANSI driver is installed and should be used for the CLS and COLOR commands. NDOS normally determines this itself, but if you are using a non-standard ANSI driver or your loading sequence is unusual, you may need to explicitly inform NDOS. Also see SETDOS /A. BatchEcho = YES | No: Sets the default batch ECHO mode. "Yes" enables echoing of all batch file commands unless ECHO is explicitly set off in the batch file. "No" disables batch file echoing unless ECHO is explicitly set on. Also see SETDOS /V. BeepFreq = nnnn (440): Sets the default BEEP command frequency in Hz. This is also the frequency for NDOS "error" beeps (if you press an illegal key, for example). To disable all NDOS error beeps set this or BeepLength to zero; if you do the BEEP command will still be operable, but will not produce sound unless you explicitly specify the frequency and duration. BeepLength = nnnn (2): Sets the default BEEP length in system clock ticks (approximately 1/18 of a second per tick). BeepLength is also the default length for NDOS "error" beeps (if you press an illegal key, for example). CursorIns = nnnn (100): This is the shape of the cursor for insert mode during command line editing and all commands which accept line input (DESCRIBE, ESET, etc.). The size is a percentage of the total character cell size, between 0% and 100%. Because of the way video BIOSes map the cursor shape, you may not get a smooth progression in cursor shapes as CursorIns and CursorOver change. Also see SETDOS /S. CursorOver = nnnn (10): This is the shape of the cursor for overtype mode during command line editing and all commands which accept line input. The size is a percentage of the total character cell size, between 0% and 100%. Also see SETDOS /S. DescriptionMax = nnnn (40): Controls the description length limit for DESCRIBE (see page 193). The allowable range is 20 to 120 characters. CommandSep = c (^): This is the character used to separate multiple commands on the same line. You cannot ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 118 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ use any of the redirection characters (| > < ) or any of the whitespace characters (space, tab, comma, or equal sign). Also see SETDOS /C. EditMode = Insert | OVERSTRIKE: This directive lets you start the command line editor in either insert or overstrike mode. Also see SETDOS /M. EscapeChar = c (Ctrl-X [-]): Sets the character used to suppress the normal meaning of the following character. See page 86 for a description of the escape character and special escape sequences. You cannot use any of the redirection characters (| > < ) or the whitespace characters (space, tab, comma, or equal sign) as the escape character. Also see SETDOS /E. HistMin = nnnn (0): Sets the minimum command line size to save in the command history list. Any command line whose length is less than this value will not be saved. Legal values range from 0 (save everything) to 256 (disable all command history saves). HistWinColor = Color: Sets the default colors for the command line history window. If this directive is not used the colors will be reversed from the current colors on the screen. HistWinHeight = nn (12): Sets the height of the command line history window in lines, including the border. Legal values range from 5 to the height of your screen; any value which would cause the bottom of the window to be off the screen will be adjusted so that the entire window remains on the screen. HistWinLeft = nn (40): Sets the horizontal position of the left side of the command line history window. Legal values range from zero (the left edge of the screen) to the number of columns on your screen minus ten. Any value which would cause the right side of a minimum-width window to be off the screen will be adjusted so that the entire window remains on the screen. HistWinTop = nn (1): Sets the vertical position of the top of the command line history window. Legal values range from zero (the top of the screen) to the number of rows on your screen minus five. Any value which would cause the bottom of a minimum-height window to be off the screen will be adjusted so that the entire window remains on the screen. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 119 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ HistWinWidth = nn (36): Sets the width of the command line history window in characters, including the border. Legal values range from ten to the width of your screen; any value which would cause the right side of the window to be off the screen will be adjusted so that the entire window remains on the screen. LineInput = Yes | NO: This directive controls how NDOS gets its input from the command line. "Yes" forces NDOS to use line input via the DOS service INT 21H 0AH "Get Line" which is the way that COMMAND.COM gets input. This will disable command-line editing, history recall, and filename completion, and is normally used only for rare memory-resident programs (TSRs) which do not work properly unless the command processor uses line input. If you have a particular program that requires line input, you can use SETDOS /L to temporarily change modes. See APPNOTES.DOC for any specific programs which require this option. NoClobber = Yes | NO: If set to Yes, will prevent standard output redirection (see page 59) from overwriting an existing file, and will require that the output file already exist for append redirection. Also see SETDOS /N. ParameterChar = c. Sets the character used after a percent sign to specify all or all remaining command line arguments in a batch file or alias (e.g. %& or %n&; see pages 92 and 165) . The default is the ampersand [&]. Also see SETDOS /P. ScreenRows = nnnn: Sets the number of screen rows used by the video display. Normally, NDOS detects the screen size automatically, but if you have a non-standard display you may need to set it explicitly. This value does not affect screen scrolling, which is controlled by your video BIOS or ANSI driver. ScreenRows is used only by the LIST and SELECT commands, the paged output options of other commands (e.g., TYPE /P), and error checking in the screen output commands. Also see SETDOS /R. UpperCase = Yes | NO: "Yes" specifies that filenames should be displayed in the traditional upper-case by internal commands like COPY and DIR. "No" allows the normal NDOS lower-case style. Also see SETDOS /U. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 120 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ Color Directives These directives control the colors that NDOS uses for its displays. Screen border colors can only be set in StdColors. "BORder" color specifications included in other directives will be ignored. ColorDir = ext1 ext2 ...:colora;ext3 ext4 ... :colorb ...: Sets the directory colors. The format is the same as that used for the COLORDIR environment variable (see DIR on page 195 or SELECT on page 275). If you set the COLORDIR environment variable it will override this directive. You may find it useful to use the COLORDIR variable for experimenting, then to set permanent directory colors with a ColorDir directive in NDOS.INI. ListColors = Color: Sets the colors used by the LIST and SELECT commands. If this directive is not used, LIST and SELECT will use the current default colors set by the CLS or COLOR command or by the StdColors directive, below. StdColors = Color: Sets the standard colors to be used when CLS is used without a color specification, and for LIST and SELECT if ListColors is not used. Using this directive is similar to placing a COLOR command in AUTOEXEC.BAT. StdColors takes effect the first time CLS, LIST, or SELECT is used after the transient portion of NDOS starts (i.e., when NSTART is run), but will not affect the color of error or other messages displayed during the NDOS loading and initialization process. If ANSI.SYS or a compatible driver is not loaded, the colors will not be "sticky" -- you may lose them when you run an application. Key Mapping Directives The directives in this group allow you to change the keys used for NDOS command line editing and other internal functions. They take effect only inside NDOS itself and do not affect other programs (including the NDOS external help program, NDOSHELP.EXE). The description of each directive below explains the function of the corresponding key. Using the directive allows you to assign a different or additional key to perform the function described. For example, to assign function key F3 to invoke the NDOS HELP facility: Help = F3 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 121 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ Any directive can be used multiple times to assign multiple keys to the same function. For example: ListFind = F ;F does a find in LIST ListFind = F5 ;F5 also does a find in LIST Use some care when you reassign keystrokes. If you assign a default key to a different function, it will no longer be available for its original use. For example, if you assign F1 to the AddFile directive (a part of filename completion), the F1 key will no longer invoke the NDOS HELP facility, so you will probably want to assign a different key to NDOSHELP. Some keys are interpreted by your system's BIOS and are not passed on to NDOS. For example, Ctrl-S tells the BIOS to pause screen output temporarily, and on some systems Ctrl-P toggles Print Screen mode. Keys which are interpreted by the BIOS generally cannot be assigned with key mapping directives, because NDOS never receives these keystrokes and therefore cannot act on them. You may not be able to remap the F11 and F12 keys if your keyboard is not 100% IBM-compatible, or if you have an ANSI driver which does not support these keys. This limitation is usually due to DOS and your ANSI driver, and is not inherent in NDOS. NDOS processes all command line editing key assignments before looking for keystroke aliases. For example, if you assign Shift-F1 to NDOSHELP and also assign Shift-F1 to a key alias, the key alias will be ignored. Assigning a new keystroke for a function does not deassign the default keystroke for the same function. If you want to deassign one of the standard NDOS keys without assigning it to another function, use the NormalKey directive described below or the corresponding directive for keys in the other key groups (NormalEditKey, NormalHWinKey, or NormalListKey). General Input Keys This first set of Key Mapping Directives applies to all input. These directives are effective whenever NDOS requests input from the keyboard, including command line editing and the DESCRIBE, ESET, INPUT, LIST, and SELECT commands. (Scrolling through the command history list is controlled by NextHist and PrevHist (see page 124-125), not by the Up and Down directives below.) See page 48 for more information about command line editing. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 122 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ Backspace = Key (Bksp): Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. BeginLine = Key (Home): Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. Del = Key (Del): Deletes the character at the cursor. DelToBeginning = Key (Ctrl-Home): Deletes from the cursor to the start of the line. DelToEnd = Key (Ctrl-End): Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line. DelWordLeft = Key (Ctrl-L): Deletes the word to the left of the cursor. DelWordRight = Key (Ctrl-R, Ctrl-Bksp): Deletes the word to the right of the cursor. See ClearKeyMap in Advanced Directives below if you need to remove the default mapping of Ctrl-Bksp to this function. Down = Key (Down): Scrolls the display down one line in LIST; moves the cursor down one line in SELECT and in the command history window. EndLine = Key (End): Moves the cursor to the end of the line. EraseLine = Key (Esc): Deletes the entire line. ExecLine = Key (Enter): Executes or accepts a line. Ins = Key (Ins): Toggles insert/overstrike mode during line editing. Left = Key (Left): Moves the cursor left one character; moves the display left eight columns in LIST. NormalKey = Key: Deassigns a general input key in order to disable the usual meaning of the key within NDOS, and/or make it available for keystroke aliases. This will cause NDOS to treat the keystroke as a "normal" key with no special function. For example: NormalKey = Ctrl-End will disable Ctrl-End, which is the standard "delete to beginning of line" key. Ctrl-End could then be assigned to a keystroke alias. Another key could be assigned the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 123 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ "delete to end of line" function with the DelToEnd directive (above). Right = Key (Right): Moves the cursor right one character; scrolls the display right eight columns in LIST. Up = Key (Up): Scrolls the display up one line in LIST; moves the cursor up one line in SELECT and in the command history window. WordLeft = Key (Ctrl-Left): Moves the cursor left one word; scrolls the display left 40 columns in LIST. WordRight = Key (Ctrl-Right): Moves the cursor right one word; scrolls the display right 40 columns in LIST. Command Line Editing Keys The following directives apply only to command line editing. They are only effective at the NDOS prompt. AddFile = Key (F10): Keeps the current filename completion entry and inserts the next matching name. CommandEscape = Key (Alt-255): Allows direct entry of a keystroke that would normally be interpreted as an editor command. DelHistory = Key (Ctrl-D): Deletes the displayed history list entry and displays the previous entry. EndHistory = Key (Ctrl-E): Displays the last entry in the history list. Help = Key (F1): Invokes the NDOS HELP facility. NextFile = Key (F9, Tab): Gets the next matching filename. See ClearKeyMap in Advanced Directives below if you need to remove the default mapping of Tab to this function. NextHistory = Key (Down): Recalls the next command from the command history. NormalEditKey = Key: Deassigns a command line editing key in order to disable the usual meaning of the key while editing a command line and/or make it available for keystroke aliases. This will cause NDOS to treat the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 124 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ keystroke as a "normal" key with no special function. For an example see the NormalKey directive on page 123. PrevFile = Key (F8, Shift-Tab): Gets the previous matching filename. See ClearKeyMap in Advanced Directives below if you need to remove the default mapping of Tab to this function. PrevHistory = Key (Up): Recalls the previous command from the command history. SaveHistory = Key (Ctrl-K): Saves the command line in the history list without executing it. History Window Keys HistWinBegin = Key (Ctrl-PageUp): Moves to the first line of the history when in the history window. HistWinDel = Key (Ctrl-D): Deletes a line from within the history window. HistWinEdit = Key (Ctrl-Enter): Moves a line from the history window to the prompt for editing. HistWinEnd = Key (Ctrl-PageDown): Moves to the last line of the history when in the history window. HistWinExec = Key (Enter): Executes the selected line in the history window. HistWinOpen = Key (PageUp): Brings up the history window while at the command line. NormalHWinKey = Key: Deassigns a history window key in order to disable the usual meaning of the key within the history window. This will cause NDOS to treat the keystroke as a "normal" key with no special function. For an example see the NormalKey directive on page 123. LIST Keys The keys in the last group of Key Mapping Directives are effective only inside the LIST command. ListFind = Key (F): Prompts and searches for a string. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 125 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ ListHighBit = Key (H): Toggles the LIST "strip high bit" option, which can aid in displaying files from certain word processors. ListNext = Key (N): Finds the next matching string. ListPrint = Key (P): Prints the file on LPT1. ListWrap = Key (W): Toggles the LIST wrap option on and off. The wrap option wraps text at the right margin. NormalListKey = Key: Deassigns a LIST key in order to disable the usual meaning of the key within LIST. This will cause NDOS to treat the keystroke as a "normal" key with no special function. For an example see the NormalKey directive on page 123. Advanced Directives These directives are generally used for unusual circumstances, or for diagnosing problems. Most often they are not needed in normal use. ClearKeyMap: Clears all current key mappings. ClearKeyMap is a special directive which has no value or "=" after it. Use ClearKeyMap to make one of the keys in the NDOS default map (Tab, Shift-Tab, or Ctrl-Bksp) available for a keystroke alias, or in the [Secondary] section of NDOS.INI to clear key mappings inherited from the primary shell. ClearKeyMap should appear before any key mapping directives. If you want to clear some but not all of the default mappings, use ClearKeyMap, then recreate the mappings you want to retain (e.g. with "Tab=NextFile", etc.). CritFail = Yes | NO: This is the same as /F on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS. It intercepts all DOS critical errors and returns a Fail to each. We do not recommend this on a normal system, because you will not have a chance to react to a critical error and correct the problem that caused it. It is intended for use on bulletin boards or other systems where unattended operation is required without user prompts. DiskReset = Yes | NO: Enables or disables disk resets after COPY, DEL/ERASE, DESCRIBE, MOVE, and REN/RENAME, and before DIR. Set to Yes if you have problems with disk change detection on non-standard or cached floppy disk drives, or with network software which doesn't ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 126 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ always properly flush data to the disk. Such problems are very rare, so normally No is the best choice. Setting DiskReset to Yes may reduce the performance of DIR, COPY, MOVE, and RENAME when using a "staged-write" disk cache such as SmartDrive 4.0 by Microsoft, PC-Kwik by PC Kwik Corporation, HyperDisk by HyperWare, or the Norton Cache included with Norton Utilities. DRSets = YES | No. When running under DR-DOS, NDOS will normally retrieve environment variables created by any SET commands in the DR-DOS CONFIG.SYS file and place them in the NDOS master environment. Set DRSets to No to disable this feature. DVCleanup = YES | No. Controls the cleanup of NDOS resources (the shell number and any disk swap file) when you Close a NDOS window from the DESQview menu. See page 144 for more details. FineSwap = Yes | NO: "Yes" enables "fine-grained" checksums during disk swapping. This should be used only to diagnose unusual swapping problems. FullINT2E = Yes | NO: Enables full support for the COMMAND.COM "back door" (interrupt 2E) which a few programs use to execute commands. Effective only in a primary shell loaded via the SHELL= command in CONFIG.SYS. See Appendix C on page 322 below for details on using INT 2E. Also, see APPNOTES.DOC for information on any programs known to require this option. If this directive is not used or is set to NO, INT 2E will return immediately to the calling program without taking any action. Setting FullINT2E to YES adds about 100 bytes to the resident size of the primary shell. Inherit = YES | No: Aliases and the history list are normally passed to secondary shells automatically. "No" disables this feature. MessageServer = YES | No: For compatibility with COMMAND.COM in MS-DOS 4.x and 5.x, NDOS includes a "message server" that retrieves error message text for DOS external commands like DISKCOPY and FORMAT. The message server increases the size of the resident portion of NDOS by about 200 bytes. "No" disables the message server and saves this space, but will cause more cryptic error messages such as "Parse error 3" or "Extended error 7" from some DOS external commands. The message server is automatically disabled by NDOS except in the primary NDOS shell loaded from CONFIG.SYS when running under DOS 4.x or 5.x. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 127 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ NetwareNames = Yes | NO. Set to Yes to include strings in the resident portion of NDOS which Novell Netware searches for when it loads. NetwareNames should be Yes for Netware systems to avoid problems with destroyed environment variables during LOGIN. If NetwareNames is set to Yes and you boot from a Netware drive (a rare situation), the TEMPNDOS or TEMP variables must be SET explicitly to an appropriate drive and directory for each user to avoid conflicts with pipe files. In all other circumstances, NDOS and Netware will automatically set the proper drive and directory for pipe files. Setting NetwareNames to Yes increases NDOS low DOS memory usage by 128 bytes. NextINIFile = File. The full path and name of the file must be specified. All subsequent shells will read the specified INI file, and ignore any [Secondary] section in the original NDOS.INI. If you have a diskless or floppy- based workstation, NextINIFile will allow you to shift NDOS.INI to a network drive for secondary shells, and avoid all access to the original boot drive. Reduce = YES | No: Set to "No" to disable the smaller swap size used by NDOS secondary shells. For diagnosing unusual swapping problems only. ReserveTPA = YES | No: Set to "No" to prevent NDOS from reserving memory for its transient portion while at the command prompt. For diagnosing unusual TSR or swapping problems only. ReserveTPA is forced to YES regardless of any INI file setting if you are running under Windows 3 in real or standard mode. This is necessary to avoid undesirable interactions between NDOS and Windows. StackSize= nnnn (4096): Set the NDOS internal stack size. The allowable range of values is 4096 to 8192. You may need to increase the stack size if you are using extremely complex combinations of batch files and nested "prefix" commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, and you receive a "NDOS internal stack overflow" error. For virtually all users the default stack size will be sufficient. Increasing this value also increases the size of the NDOS transient portion and the size of the NDOS swap area. SwapReopen = Yes | NO: Set to "Yes" to enable reopening of the NDOS swap file if it is closed by another program. This is required when swapping NDOS to Novell Netware drives or when using other applications which close the NDOS swap file. In all other circumstances, it is only ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 128 Using the NDOS.INI File ___________________________________________________________________ useful for diagnostic purposes. Setting SwapReopen to "Yes" also disables the reduced swapping size normally used in NDOS secondary shells. UniqueSwapName = Yes | NO. Set to Yes to change the disk swap filename from NDOSSWAP.nnn to a unique name generated by NDOS, with an extension of "NSW" (eg A1GD6NNW.NSW). This prevents conflicts between swap files in different shells; it is only necessary when you are using disk swapping with a COMMAND.COM primary shell. The default is No. UniqueSwapName only works in DOS 3.0 and above and applies only to disk swapping. Examples The following examples will give you an idea of the types of things that can be done with the NDOS.INI file. The comments on each directive explain what it does. First, a very simple example that just sets up swapping and environment size, leaving everything else at its default value: Swapping = ems, c:\ ;try EMS, then C: root Environment = 1024 ;set environment size Here's something a little fancier that changes a number of the default settings: Swapping = xms, h:\, c:\ ;try XMS, then RAM disk, ; then C: root Environment = 1792 ;set env size Alias = 6144 ;set alias size History = 1024 ;set history size UmbEnv=Y ;master environment in UMB BatchEcho = No ;default is ECHO OFF EditMode = Insert ;editor in insert mode CursorO = 100 ;overstrike cursor 100% CursorI = 10 ;insert cursor 10% ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 129 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 7, USING NDOS WITH YOUR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE This section of the manual explains how to get the most from NDOS with your particular system. A few general techniques and concepts are explained here, but if you have questions about how to make NDOS run most efficiently with a particular hardware setup or a specific application, you should also see the file called APPNOTES.DOC which comes with NDOS. If you have questions about some of the terms and concepts here, see Chapter 4, "General Concepts," on page 34, the Glossary on page 329, and the Index. This section begins with a discussion of hardware considerations and includes some tips for installing NDOS most effectively to run with several types of software, as well as certain popular programs. It concludes with some techniques for resolving unintended interactions between programs, even if those interactions do not include NDOS itself. Hardware This section discusses hardware considerations. The CPU The CPU or "Central Processing Unit" is the chip which performs or directs all of the work done by your computer. All PC CPU chips are part of or compatible with the Intel "80x86" family. These include the 8088, 8086, 80188, 80186, 80286, 386, 486, NEC V20, and NEC V30, plus "SX" versions and other variations of some of those chips. NDOS is compatible with and will run equally well on all of these chips. Some systems have a numeric coprocessor as a companion to the CPU. The numeric coprocessor performs many arithmetic calculations faster than the CPU. NDOS does not use or access the numeric coprocessor in any way. You can determine which CPU chip your system has by using the NDOS _CPU internal variable: c:\> echo %_cpu Similarly, you can find out if you have a numeric coprocessor with _NDP: c:\> echo %_ndp ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 130 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ See pages 75-76 for details about _CPU and _NDP. Memory NDOS does its best to detect and properly access all types of memory that your computer can have: Base memory, Expanded (EMS) Memory, Extended (XMS) Memory, and Upper Memory Blocks (UMBs). NDOS always uses standard, documented methods to use the memory that you have installed. NDOS uses base memory (the area from 0 to 640K on most machines, which is sometimes called "low memory" or "DOS memory") for its resident portion and the master environment, and to hold its transient portion while your system is at the command prompt or executing a NDOS command or batch file. NDOS may use EMS memory or an XMS Extended Memory Block (EMB) to swap its transient portion, according to the Swapping directive in your NDOS.INI file (see page 115). NDOS uses UMBs for several purposes: * to move the NDOS resident portion out of base memory, if you specify "UMBLoad = Yes" in your NDOS.INI file. * to move the master environment out of base memory, if you specify "UMBEnvironment = Yes" in your NDOS.INI file. * to load memory-resident programs (TSRs) "high" using the LOADHIGH or LH command under MS-DOS 5.0 or above. To load NDOS or the master environment into a UMB, you must be using a memory manager or XMS driver which provides both the ability to remap memory into the area between 640K and 1MB (to create the UMBs) and XMS or DOS 5.0 UMB support (to manage the UMBs). These are generally the same requirements which must be met to load TSRs "high." To give NDOS access to UMBs, you need hardware and software combinations like the following: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 131 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ 386 and 486 systems (including 386SX computers): Hardware: Sufficient installed RAM. Software: 386MAX or Blue Max by Qualitas, QEMM 5.0 or later by Quarterdeck, EMM386.SYS from DOS 5.0, or a similar 386 memory manager. HIMEM.SYS alone is not sufficient. 80286 systems: Hardware: Chips and Technologies NEAT chip set, or an EMS 4.0 or EEMS memory board, plus sufficient installed RAM. Software: Qualitas' MOVE-EM 1.02 or later with HIMEM.SYS by Microsoft, or QRAM and QEXT by Quarterdeck. Other memory-management software may also work. The lists above are examples only. Look for specific information about your memory management program in APPNOTES.DOC. If you want to use the NDOS LOADHIGH command as well as put NDOS and the master environment in high memory, you must also be running MS-DOS 5.0 or above. NDOS never accesses extended memory directly. It always uses an XMS driver like HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.SYS, 386MAX, QEXT, or QEMM. NDOS can also access any RAM disk you create in extended memory by using a program like VDISK.SYS or RAMDRIVE.SYS. NDOS does not use the XMS "High Memory Area" (HMA), a 64K byte area just above 1 MB on 80286, 386, and 486 systems. If you want to know whether NDOS sees your system's memory accurately, check the output of the MEMORY command. It should correspond to your computer's memory configuration. The MEMORY command's output depends to some extent on your memory manager. If you are using QEMM, the report may not be the same as you expect. Because QEMM turns your extended memory into either XMS or EMS memory as required, the same memory is shown both ways in the MEMORY report. If 1 MB of extended memory managed by QEMM is available, MEMORY will report 1 MB of free XMS memory and 1 MB of free EMS memory as well, even though it is all the same memory. This is not a bug but a result of QEMM flexibility. Memory-related problems with NDOS are usually due to programs which overwrite the extended memory block (EMB) that NDOS uses ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 132 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ for swapping its transient portion. When you exit from such a program, your system will hang, because NDOS tried to swap itself back into base memory but its code and data in XMS have been destroyed by the program. The same problem can occur with EMS swapping but is less common because EMS memory is generally better defended against wayward programs. You can diagnose this kind of problem easily by changing to disk swapping with the NDOS.INI Swapping directive, and rebooting. If the problem goes away with disk swapping, then the program in question is probably destroying the NDOS swap area in XMS or EMS memory. NDOS EMS swapping sometimes has difficulty with EMS drivers which do not fully meet the EMS 3.2 specification (NDOS supports, but does not require, EMS 4.0 drivers). If you have trouble accessing EMS for swapping, check APPNOTES.DOC to see if there are any known problems with your EMS board or the associated driver software. Video NDOS is compatible with most display adapters and monitors. Although NDOS can normally detect your video parameters automatically, you may have to configure it to use the system most efficiently. NDOS uses two methods of displaying text on the screen: * NDOS calls DOS to write the text of prompts and normal messages. If you use an ANSI driver, DOS will transmit the calls to it. Otherwise, DOS will use your BIOS to display text on the screen. DOS text display calls will work on all DOS systems, regardless of video type. * The DRAWBOX, DRAWHLINE, DRAWVLINE, LIST, SELECT, SCRPUT, and VSCRPUT commands bypass DOS, the BIOS, and any ANSI driver. They write directly to video memory. These commands will only work on systems with 100% IBM- compatible video systems. On other computers, results will be unpredictable at best. If you have such a system you probably know it already, because most application programs have similar problems. EGA and VGA systems can display text in standard 25-line mode, plus modes with 43, 50, or more lines. NDOS normally detects the number of lines automatically. If it doesn't, you can use the NDOS.INI ScreenRows directive or the SETDOS /R command to set the NDOS screen length. NDOS uses ScreenRows or SETDOS /R to set the display length that it uses for the LIST and ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 133 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ SELECT command, as well as commands that have a "pause" option (TYPE /P, DIR /P, etc.). NDOS never attempts to manipulate your video hardware in order to set the number of rows actually displayed on the screen (the "video mode"); to do so, you must use the software that came with your video board or other software tailored to your system. NDOS does not handle display scrolling at the command prompt. If you put the screen in 43-line or 50-line mode and find that it still scrolls at the 25th line, your ANSI driver is probably not properly supporting your extended screen length. This is not a bug in NDOS. The video cursor shape that NDOS uses is defined as a percentage of a character cell height. You can set the height independently for insert and overstrike mode with the CursorIns and CursorOver directives in NDOS.INI or with the SETDOS /S command. If you don't use either, NDOS sets the height to 10% of the character cell height for overstrike mode and 100% (a block cursor) for insert mode. If you have trouble with the cursor, use SETDOS /S to find the values that work for your system. Some video boards may not give a "smooth" response to varying SETDOS /S values. For example, a value of 20% may generate a very small cursor while a value of 30% may generate a half-height cursor. NDOS can't do anything about this behavior, so you will have to experiment to find the cursor values that you want to use. If the cursor disappears and you can't fix it with SETDOS /S, you probably have a screen color problem. The cursor is shown in the color of the underlying character cell. If that cell has (for example) the color attribute of black on black, the cursor will be invisible. If you are using an ANSI driver, you can fix this problem easily by clearing the screen to a known color with the CLS command. If the cursor still doesn't reappear, you will have to determine what is setting your screen attributes to an invisible color. For example, you might be using an ANSI driver that assumes a 25-line video mode on an EGA/VGA system running in 43-line or 50-line mode. This can cause the driver to set portions of the screen to an invisible color when the screen is cleared. If you are using an EGA or VGA adapter, we encourage you to try UltraVision from Personics Corp. It gives you excellent control over your video system, includes a wide variety of text-mode screen fonts, has its own ANSI driver, and works superbly with NDOS. We use it and wouldn't be without it. A ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 134 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ special version for laptop and notebook computers dramatically improves the readability of their smaller displays. Most versions of DOS include a copy of ANSI.SYS, a device driver that is normally installed with a DEVICE= line in your CONFIG.SYS file. There are a number of more powerful and faster versions available as public-domain, shareware, and retail products. We use the free utility by PC Magazine, ANSI.COM, because it can be enabled, disabled, loaded, and unloaded without rebooting, and because it is small and fast and works well inside windows of multitasking systems. It is available on most bulletin boards and online systems. Another excellent choice is ANSI-UV.SYS which is included with UltraVision. NDOS normally detects automatically whether an ANSI driver is installed. If you have an ANSI driver installed and NDOS doesn't recognize it, try the command SETDOS /A1 which forces NDOS to use ANSI commands. Use SETDOS /A2 to tell NDOS you do not have an ANSI driver installed. These options can also be set with the ANSI directive in NDOS.INI. Hard Drives and Floppy Disks NDOS uses your disks for a wide variety of purposes, and many NDOS commands are designed to help you create, move, delete, view, and otherwise manage disk files. NDOS never tries to manipulate the structure of your hard disk directly. It never modifies the FAT, root directory, or other system areas of the disk directly, and it doesn't read or write data on your disk itself. It always calls on DOS to perform these actions, just like most application programs do. As a result, NDOS is compatible with all disk sizes, formats, and structures that your DOS version supports. One common question we're asked about NDOS and disks is whether NDOS will handle a hard disk larger than 32 MB. The answer depends on how your system is configured. Early versions of DOS do not support hard disks over 32 MB unless a disk partitioning driver like SpeedStor or Disk Manager is used. Later versions of DOS support large hard disks directly, without a partitioning driver. If your system supports large hard disks, either directly through DOS or with a partitioning driver, NDOS will support them also. If your system doesn't support large hard disks, neither will NDOS. NDOS will generally access your disk very quickly, but the speed depends on what you are trying to do. If you find that ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 135 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS is slower at performing a particular function than you are used to, you may have asked it to do more than you ask of traditional DOS commands. In particular, if you use file descriptions, remember that NDOS has to access the description file as well as the actual files that you are manipulating. Some users notice that the common commands DEL and DIR appear slower with NDOS under certain circumstances. With DEL, this slowdown may be because NDOS uses a newer method of file deletion instead of an older method that is no longer recommended (but is commonly used). The new method is necessary to enable NDOS to display the names of the files you are deleting, and to support NDOS "extended wildcards" (see page 64). You can force NDOS to use the older method with the DEL /Q option as long as you don't use extended wildcards. For DIR, any perceived speed decrease is from NDOS directory sorting. NDOS must read all filenames before it can display any of them. The sort itself is quite fast, but DOS is relatively slow at retrieving the entire list of filenames and passing them on to NDOS. Once the NDOS DIR display starts, it should go as fast as or faster than the traditional DIR display. Whenever NDOS is interrupted by a Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break, it performs a "disk reset" to clear out DOS disk buffers and reset internal DOS disk parameters. This helps ensure that modified data has been written to disk even though the operation was interrupted. A disk reset is also performed before a REBOOT command. If you have trouble with recognition of floppy disk changes, with CD-ROM drivers, or with network disk access, you can try forcing NDOS to perform a disk reset after file processing commands, and before a DIR. To do so use a DiskReset = Yes directive in NDOS.INI (see page 126). Such problems are very rare and normally DiskReset = Yes is not necessary. Laptop and Notebook Computers NDOS makes a great addition to any laptop or notebook computer, but some of these systems have unusual characteristics which you must consider when you install NDOS or make any change to your CONFIG.SYS file. Many of these computers boot from a floppy drive or a hard disk just like a desktop computer. On these machines, you can generally install NDOS just as you would on any other computer. However, some laptop and notebook computers, including many Tandy laptops, boot from ROM ("Read Only ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 136 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ Memory" chips inside the computer). You need to take some precautions with these machines. First, systems which boot from ROM often can be configured to use either the ROM boot feature or a standard floppy or hard drive boot up. The following comments only apply when you use the ROM boot feature. ! If your system allows you to boot from ROM but load CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT from a hard disk or floppy, you need to be cautious. If you make a mistake in a hard-disk based CONFIG.SYS that keeps your system from booting, there may be no way to tell the ROM boot program to ignore the bad CONFIG.SYS file. You may have to take drastic measures like opening the case and disconnecting the hard drive to get the system to ignore your mistaken CONFIG.SYS and boot properly. If you have a system that boots from ROM and reads CONFIG.SYS from the hard disk, we strongly recommend that you change the configuration to boot from the hard disk or a floppy before you make any change to your CONFIG.SYS file, whether it is related to NDOS or not. This will allow you to boot from a boot-up floppy disk if you make an error in the CONFIG.SYS on your hard drive. Once you are satisfied that everything is working properly, you can switch back to ROM bootup. The second, and related, issue with systems that boot from ROM is that they may consider the ROM to be a disk drive of sorts. A system with drive C: as the hard disk may view the ROM as drive D:. When you boot from ROM, the ROM drive is the current drive, and that is where NDOS will look for the NSTART and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. But they will be on your hard drive or floppy disk, and NDOS won't be able to find them. (This doesn't happen with COMMAND.COM on these systems because the manufacturer has modified it to get around the problem.) If you run into this problem, you can fix it easily with some changes to your CONFIG.SYS and NDOS.INI files. First, modify the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS so that it tells NDOS where to find NDOS.INI. You can do this by placing the full path to NDOS.INI on the line, like this (see page 101 for more details): shell=c:\nu\ndos.com @c:\ndos.ini /p (change the drive and path shown if NDOS.COM is not in the directory C:\NDOS on your system). This tells NDOS to look for NDOS.INI on drive C:, even though the boot drive might be (for example) drive D:. Then add two lines to the NDOS.INI file (see pages 114-115 for details on these directives): ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 137 Hardware ___________________________________________________________________ NSTARTPath=c:\ AutoExecPath=c:\ These tell NDOS to look for NSTART and AUTOEXEC.BAT in the root directory of drive C:, even though the boot drive may be different. If you have a system like this, NDOS may set the COMSPEC to the ROM drive. You can avoid this by setting the COMSPEC yourself on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS (see page 101). For example, the SHELL= line above could be modified to read: shell=c:\nu\ndos.com c:\nu @c:\ndos.ini /p The second "C:\NDOS" tells NDOS to use this directory as the COMSPEC path. Finally, if you have a laptop or notebook computer with a color (CGA, EGA, or VGA) video board and a monochrome screen, you may need to use the NDOSHELP /BW option or run NUCONFIG to adjust the HELP colors. Critical Errors A "critical" error is an error that gives you the "Abort, Retry, Fail" message. With NDOS running, this message appears as follows: [Error message] R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)? The error message on the first line explains the error that has occurred, and the device on which it occurred. The second line prompts for your choice of action (the Fail choice will not be displayed under DOS 2). A critical error usually indicates a hardware malfunction. The error may be that the device doesn't exist, there is no disk in the drive, the network has gone down, or a data error occurred. In most cases you will choose R to retry the operation, or A to abort the operation. ! Choosing I(gnore) can be risky: it will cause NDOS to proceed as if the error had not occurred. This can produce additional errors, and may lead the command which generated the original error to perform its functions improperly. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 138 Software ___________________________________________________________________ F(ail) will tell NDOS that the operation it was attempting has failed, which will generally produce another error message. For example, if you attempt to do a directory on drive A: with no disk in the drive, and answer F to the resulting critical error, you will get an additional error message, "Invalid drive A". Many programs install their own critical error handlers. If you get a critical error message within an application and the second line does not read as shown above, the message did not come from NDOS. Any problem in handling your response properly is due to the application, not to NDOS. Choosing A(bort) within an application may abort the entire application and not just the operation being performed. The specific action depends on which critical error handler is in use (the one by NDOS or the application), and how the application's critical error handler (if any) is designed. If you are using NDOS on a system that must run unattended (for example, a bulletin board), you can use the /F startup option in CONFIG.SYS or the CritFail directive in NDOS.INI (see pages 101 and 126) to provide an automatic F(ail) response to all critical errors. However, we do not recommend this on a normal system, because you will not have a chance to react to a critical error and correct the problem that caused it. Software You should find that NDOS is compatible with all your PC software. We have designed it carefully so that it uses only standard, documented methods to do its job. It works properly with application software, utilities, networks, multitaskers and task switchers, memory-resident (TSR) programs, and system software like disk caches, memory managers, and device drivers. We test NDOS regularly with hundreds of popular software products in order to catch and correct compatibility problems before you encounter them. The following sections discuss using NDOS with two major kinds of software: multitasking and task switching programs, and networks. For specific information about any individual software package, including the latest information about products mentioned here, see the APPNOTES.DOC file distributed with NDOS. It contains the latest information we have available when your copy of NDOS was shipped. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 139 Software ___________________________________________________________________ If you need to diagnose a problem that isn't covered below or in APPNOTES.DOC, see page 4. NDOS and DOS NDOS is compatible with all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS from 3.3 through 6.0, and with DR-DOS 3.4, 5.0, and above. Some specific considerations for DR-DOS users are discussed in APPNOTES.DOC. MS-DOS users using the APPEND command may need to set up some aliases to invoke APPEND; see APPNOTES.DOC for details. If you use the FORMAT /S command from MS-DOS or PC-DOS, version 4.0 or above, FORMAT will copy the file pointed to by the COMSPEC environment variable (see page 106) and name it COMMAND.COM. In most cases this means that NDOS.COM will be copied to the floppy disk, but with the name COMMAND.COM. Such a disk should boot properly and start NDOS, but its contents is sure to be confusing to others. We recommend that you use the Norton SAFE FORMAT in place of DOS's FORMAT command. SAFE FORMAT will transfer MS-DOS's COMMAND.COM file to the floppy disk. Alternatively, you can copy COMMAND.COM manually to the floppy disk (use an alias or batch file if you format bootable disks frequently), or rename the file that FORMAT copies to NDOS.COM and place a proper CONFIG.SYS file for NDOS on the floppy disk. Using NDOS with Task Switchers and Multitaskers Task switchers are programs that allow you to switch quickly among multiple applications, with one application running at a time. Multitaskers are more complex programs which appear to run multiple applications at the same time, with one or more programs executing "in the background" while you work with another program on the screen. For convenience, in the text below we will refer to both multitaskers and task switchers as "multitaskers," and to each window or partition they use as a "window," even though some do not have windowed displays. NDOS works well as both the primary shell (loaded when your system boots) and the secondary shell (loaded in a window) with most multitaskers. Most multitaskers have a pre-configured "DOS" window. In some programs, this window always runs COMMAND.COM. Others run whatever program COMSPEC points to, which means they will run NDOS if you boot up with NDOS. We recommend that you always ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 140 Software ___________________________________________________________________ set up a NDOS window explicitly, with the configuration you want, rather that relying on the multitasker's generic "DOS" window. Many multitaskers also run the command processor when you start certain kinds of windows, such as windows that run a .BAT file. In general, this use of the command processor is transparent. The multitasker will run NDOS for you automatically when it needs to, and you won't need to do anything about it. If you find that your multitasker is running COMMAND.COM when you meant to run NDOS, check the COMSPEC setting that is in effect when you start the multitasker. You may also need to check the way a particular window is configured. When you set up a NDOS window, be sure to specify the full path to NDOS.COM, and any command-line options you want (see page 104 for information on command line options). To set parameters (swapping, alias space, etc.) to be used by all NDOS secondary shells run by your multitasker, use the [Secondary] section in NDOS.INI (see page 110). To set these parameters separately for a specific window, create a copy of NDOS.INI just for that window and use the @d:\path\inifile option on your command line for the window to tell NDOS where to find NDOS.INI. To change the configuration of a specific window without creating a separate copy of NDOS.INI, use the //iniline option on your command line for the window (see example below). NDOS allows you to place a command to be executed as the last parameter on your NDOS command line. This command is executed before NDOS displays its first prompt. You can use this feature to run a batch file (or any other command) each time a NDOS window is started by your multitasker. For example, if you are setting up NDOS to run as a DOS application under Windows 3.1, your command line might look this: c:\nu\ndos.com //swapping=f:\ c:\winstart.btm This tells Windows to load NDOS, includes a NDOS.INI directive to tell NDOS to swap to drive F:, and passes NDOS the command C:\WINSTART.BTM. You can place commands in C:\WINSTART.BTM to be executed whenever such a window is started (for example, to change your PROMPT to show that you're in a window, or to load a TSR for just that window). The command to be executed (C:\WINSTART.BTM in this example), must be the last thing on the NDOS command line; no NDOS switches or options can be placed after it because anything after the command will be interpreted as parameters for the command. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 141 Software ___________________________________________________________________ This command feature is similar to what's provided by the NSTART batch file, but NSTART is executed every time NDOS loads, whereas a file like WINSTART will be executed only when a NDOS window is started from your multitasker. A batch file started this way will be run after NSTART. If you use KEYSTACK inside a window of a multitasker, and the KSTACK.COM program has been loaded before the multitasker, you may find that stacked keystrokes "bleed through" from one window to another. You can solve this problem by loading KSTACK.COM in a startup batch file (see above) for each window where it is needed. If KSTACK is loaded before the multitasker as well, include a /I on the command line when loading KSTACK inside the window. If you don't, KSTACK will detect that it is already installed and will not install again. Multitasking and Disk Swapping When NDOS is loaded as the primary shell, it acts as a "traffic cop" for copies of the transient portion of NDOS swapped to disk. Each secondary shell is assigned a unique shell number, which is used as the extension of its disk swap file (NDOSSWAP.001, NDOSSWAP.002, etc.). These shell numbers avoid filename conflicts between multiple copies of NDOS running in different windows but creating swap files in the same disk directory. However, if NDOS is not loaded before the multitasker, this capability will not be available. In this case, the copy of NDOS in each window will use a swap file called NDOSSWAP.000. To avoid a conflict in this situation, you must either use the UniqueSwapName directive in NDOS.INI, or force every copy of NDOS to place its swap file in its own unique directory by using the "Swapping=d:\path" directive in NDOS.INI. If you don't follow this rule, your system will hang when you switch windows or when you exit from an application. This problem will occur only in those rare situations where NDOS is loaded within a window but is not loaded as your primary shell, and if NDOS disk swapping is used in more than one window at a time. The problem will not occur if NDOS is loaded as the primary shell (the usual case), or if NDOS can use EMS or XMS swapping for all simultaneous shells. Note that since the default swapping option uses disk swapping if insufficient EMS or XMS memory is available, you can be invoking disk swapping in your multitasker's windows without specifically requesting it. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 142 Software ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS and Microsoft Windows NDOS works well as both the primary shell, loaded before Windows 3.0 or 3.1, and as a secondary shell loaded inside any window. It works in any Windows mode (Real, Standard, or Enhanced). The previous general information about multitaskers applies to Windows as well. You should read it before continuing with this section. To run NDOS as a secondary shell from within Windows, you will need to create a Program Manager icon to run NDOS. The generic "DOS Prompt" icon supplied by Microsoft will only run COMMAND.COM. You can set up an NDOS icon from the Program Manager File, New menu selection. First, create a new program item and set the command line to "C:\NDOS\NDOS.COM" (use the appropriate drive and path for your system). As discussed above, you can put the name of a batch file at the end of the command line. To install a special NDOS icon, use the Program Manager File, Properties menu selection. Click on the Change Icon button and type in the full path name of your new NDOS icon file. We supply the NDOS.ICO Windows icons with NDOS. Of course, you can create your own with any icon editor. For more flexibility, you can use the Windows PIF editor to create an NDOS.PIF file. If you run Windows in 386 Enhanced mode, NDOS will work properly in either a full-screen or a windowed session. The .PIF file determines the mode that NDOS will start in. If you don't use a .PIF file, NDOS will always start in full-screen mode. Your batch files can determine whether they are running in a secondary shell under Windows, and the current Windows mode, with the NDOS _WIN environment variable (see page 76). You can easily set up the Windows File Manager so that it will consider .BTM files to be "executable". Open your WIN.INI file with any editor and find the section labeled "[extensions]". Add the following line to the end of the section: btm=c:\nu\ndos.com /c ^.btm (adjust this to show the proper path for NDOS.COM on your system). It is not possible to execute .BTM files from the Program Manager by modifying the Programs= setting in WIN.INI; if you try to do so, the system will hang when you attempt to actually invoke a BTM file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 143 Software ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS and DESQview NDOS works well as both the primary shell loaded before DESQview, and as the secondary shell loaded inside any DESQview window. The previous general information about multitaskers applies to DESQview as well. You should read it before continuing with this section. To use NDOS as a secondary shell with DESQview, you must add it to your DESQview "Open Window" menu. To do this, select the Add a Program option, then press the "O" key (for Other Program). Press Enter and you will get an Add a Program window. You'll need to modify settings on the standard first screen, and on the second "advanced options" screen. Set the Program Name to C:\NDOS\NDOS.COM (adjust the drive and path for your own computer). Set the Parameters to whatever NDOS startup options you want, but do not use /C or /P. For other DESQview parameters, the defaults are workable with the following changes: To run NDOS in a full-screen window: Writes Text Directly to Screen: Y Virtualize Text/Graphics: N Close on Exit to DOS: Y Uses its Own Colors: Y To run NDOS in a window smaller than the full screen: Writes Text Directly to Screen: N Virtualize Text/Graphics: Y or T Close on Exit to DOS: Y Uses its Own Colors: Y NDOS is written to be "DESQview-aware", and will not "bleed through" to other windows when running full-screen commands such as NDOSHELP, LIST, or SELECT. If you use NDOS commands that work with an ANSI driver (CLS, COLOR, and the COLORDIR environment variable), you will need to load the ANSI driver in your NDOS window. Drivers like PC Magazine's ANSI.COM may work in full-screen windows, but we've found that the only ANSI driver which works properly in a window smaller than the full screen is Quarterdeck's DVANSI.COM. You can set up a startup batch file to load your ANSI driver or take other actions when a DESQview NDOS window is opened, as discussed in the general section on multitaskers above. Just place the batch filename (with drive and path if necessary) as the last thing on the Parameters line. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 144 Software ___________________________________________________________________ You should normally exit a DESQview NDOS window with the EXIT command, rather than with the Close option on DESQview's main menu. If you do use the Close option while at the NDOS prompt, NDOS will be notified of your action and will clean up its resources (for example, the shell number and disk swap file in use in that window). However this notification has a side-effect: it disables the Quit option on the DESQview main menu (this is a feature of DESQview). To disable the notification and reenable the Quit option, you can use a DVCleanup = No directive in NDOS.INI. If you do so, be sure to exit NDOS windows with the EXIT command to avoid leaving stray swap files on your disk or inadvertently using up NDOS shell numbers. DESQview will work properly with the UMBLoad and UMBEnvironment directives set to Yes for the primary shell in NDOS.INI, but may not work properly if these directives are also active in secondary shells. If you have trouble with secondary shells and are using either of these directives, try placing the following lines in the [Secondary] section of NDOS.INI: UMBLoad = No UMBEnvironment = No If you want to use DESQview's DOS Services program, check APPNOTES.DOC for the details on how to set it up for use with NDOS. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 145 Software ___________________________________________________________________ Using NDOS on a Network NDOS works well with DOS-compatible networks. This section will give you some tips on using NDOS properly on a network, and on the locations to use for NDOS files on a network. In general, you'll find that you can load and run your network software normally under NDOS. Network drives will be accessible as normal drives once the network is loaded, and files on the network will be accessible just as if they were on a local hard disk. Some networks support file and directory names beginning with a double backslash, or with a server name followed by a colon, to identify files by their location on the network. NDOS detects such names and passes them through to the network unaltered, allowing the network software to process them properly. In rare situations, you may have trouble loading network software under NDOS. To the best of our knowledge, all DOS- compatible networks do work with NDOS. If yours doesn't, our experience suggests that the most common cause is a network bug, an old version of your network software, or a conflict in the way NDOS and your network are configured. Most bugs have now been corrected by network vendors, and should not appear on your system. If you have any questions about compatibility with your particular network, first check for a listing in APPNOTES.DOC; then of course feel free to contact our technical support department for assistance. If you need to boot a diskless workstation from a network drive, you must have the network drive accessible at boot time. If this condition is satisfied (so NDOS can find its files on the network drives), the normal approach can be used to start NDOS from the network. Some networks with large server disk drives (256 MB or more) may report values that are too small if the FREE command and the %@DISKFREE, %@DISKTOTAL, and %@DISKUSED variable functions are used for the server drive. If this occurs, it is because the network software does not provide a way to return larger values to NDOS. ! When you use NDOS on a network, pay attention to where files are stored in order to ensure that two NDOS users do not attempt to access the same NDOS file at the same time. You will need to pay particular attention to disk swapping and pipes. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 146 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ If NDOS uses disk swapping (either because of an explicit directive in NDOS.INI or because default swapping is used and no EMS or XMS memory is available), you should be sure that two users don't use the same directory simultaneously for their disk swap files. If they do, the filenames (NDOSSWAP.000, NDOSSWAP.001, etc.) will conflict and each user will write over the other's files, possibly causing one or both systems to hang. To take care of this, use the Swapping directive in NDOS.INI to assign each user's swap files to a different directory on the network drive. Pipes are a method of passing information from one program to another, and are invoked with the pipe symbol [|] on the command line (see page 60). Pipes work by taking the output from one program, storing it in a temporary file, then telling a second program to obtain its input from that file. The temporary files, with names like P1.$00 and P2.$00, are placed by default in the root directory of the boot drive, but can be placed on a different drive and directory by setting the TEMP or TEMPNDOS environment variable (see page 106). The same cautions given for disk swapping must be followed for pipe temporary files; that is, you must ensure that each user's temporary pipe files go to a separate directory. To do this, just be sure that each network user running NDOS has TEMP or TEMPNDOS set to a unique directory. If you boot NDOS from a local hard disk, the pipe temporary files will go to that disk and the environment variable setting will not be necessary. Solving Software Compatibility Problems Any DOS program running on your computer can potentially interact with any other program running at the same time. Of course, most program interactions are ones you want: your print spooler intercepts printer output and saves it to print later, or your disk cache intercepts disk requests and speeds them up by retrieving data from memory. If you've used the PC for any length of time, however, you'll know that you can also get interactions you don't want. If you load just the wrong combination of TSRs and device drivers, your system may slow to a crawl. Perhaps you can't load your favorite Personal Information Manager with Windows running. And so on. As publishers of a product that replaces part of the operating system, we're very familiar with these issues -- not because NDOS is more likely to cause problems, but because it ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 147 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ sometimes gets blamed first when a problem appears. Our technical support department has developed a set of reliable techniques for finding out what's causing an apparent compatibility problem with NDOS and other software. We are presenting these techniques here as a series of things to try when there seems to be a compatibility problem. Some may not make sense for the particular problem you're investigating. Others may not yield useful results. But as a group, they'll help you resolve many of the common software interactions that do appear, whether with NDOS or anything else. Some of our suggestions help you figure out what's going on, but aren't intended to help you fix it. For example, when we suggest that you remove all your TSRs to look for the problem, we aren't suggesting that as a permanent solution, but only as a diagnostic test. Before you get started, be sure to check APPNOTES.DOC to see if we've already solved the problem you're facing. The first thing to consider is whether the particular combination of software that's not working used to work together. If so, think carefully about what you have changed and see if reversing the change solves the problem. If it does, then you can narrow your search, using the following techniques to find out what it is about that specific change that is causing the problem. Second, make sure that your problem can be reproduced relatively easily, and make sure you know exactly what sequence of commands or other steps reproduces it. Most interactions are very easy to reproduce, but if you think there's an interaction and it occurs once every ten days, it's going to be difficult to know when you have fixed it. Also, the process of carefully documenting how to reproduce a problem often helps you realize what the problem is without further effort. Third, if you have a problem with a specific application hanging or working improperly, try cleaning up the "atmosphere" in which that program runs. This is the single most useful tool we know for finding compatibility problems. By "cleaning up the atmosphere" we mean all of the following, and any other similar things you may be able to think of about your particular system after reading our suggestions below: Check the length of your PATH variable. NDOS lets you make it longer than the standard limit of 123 characters. Some programs can't handle long PATHs and may behave ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 148 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ strangely. If your PATH is over the normal limit, reduce its size using the PATH or ESET command and see if the application starts working. If so, use a batch file or alias to set up an alternate path for running that one program, for example: setlocal path d:\myprog d:\myprog\myprog.exe endlocal The SETLOCAL/ENDLOCAL pair saves and restores the environment; when you're done, the old PATH will be restored automatically (see page 287). Next, check how much environment space is in use in your system. The NDOS MEMORY command reports the total environment space and the amount free; a simple subtraction tells you how much is in use. Some programs use outdated techniques and simply don't work right if there's a lot of information in the environment (these programs don't usually care how big the total environment space is, only how much of it is actually in use). In most cases, these problems show up when the amount of space in use gets up to around 1K (1024) bytes or so, but they can occur at any point. To test for this, use the following simple batch file: setlocal unset var1 var2 var3 ... [command to run the program in question] endlocal where VAR1, VAR2, etc. are variables you can remove from the environment to decrease the space in use before running the program. If reducing the environment space in use makes things work, contact the program's manufacturer and report the problem. You have found a legitimate bug. DOS allows an environment of up to 32K and all programs should be able to work with an environment that large. Until the manufacturer fixes the bug, use the batch file above as a workaround. Next, look for a multi-program interaction. Remove all the device drivers and TSRs you possibly can and still have enough software present to demonstrate the problem. For example, you can't look for a network problem if you don't load the network, but you probably can check it without your disk cache running. When you do this, and ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 149 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ any time you modify your boot configuration, be sure you have a bootable floppy disk handy. If you run a partitioning disk driver like SpeedStor, Vfeature, or Disk Manager, you probably can't remove it for diagnostic purposes without temporarily losing access to some or all of your hard disk. The same may be true of disk compression programs like Stacker, depending on the mode in which they are installed. Most other device drivers and TSRs can be removed without causing trouble. Check your system and software manuals if you are unsure of which programs can safely be removed. Once you know what you can take out, don't skimp or guess where the interaction might be. Take out everything you possibly can from CONFIG.SYS, NSTART, and AUTOEXEC.BAT that loads or accesses another program . In CONFIG.SYS, remove all possible DEVICE and INSTALL statements. In AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove all the lines you can that load memory-resident programs (and remember that some DOS utilities, like MODE, can be memory-resident). Of course, save copies of your configuration files before you delete anything. Better yet, use the REM command to remove lines temporarily without deleting them. REM can be used on any line in AUTOEXEC.BAT, in NSTART, and in CONFIG.SYS if you are running DOS 4.0 or above. In earlier versions, REM will work in CONFIG.SYS but will also generate a harmless "unrecognized command" error message during bootup. If you want to remove everything in AUTOEXEC.BAT you can simply rename it to any other name, and rename it back when you are done testing. Clean out your configuration files all at once, not one line at a time. If that solves the problem, you're on the right track, and you can put the lines back one at a time until you find the culprit. If it doesn't solve the problem, you won't waste time removing lines one by one. If you do find a suspect program, first try booting your system with COMMAND.COM, without changing anything else about your configuration. If the problem remains, then it's not related to an interaction with NDOS. If the problem isn't there under COMMAND.COM, try fiddling with the program's configuration. If you were loading it high, try loading it low. If you can change the way it uses memory, try doing so. If it's a driver that's used by other programs (like your mouse driver) and is quite old, consider obtaining an update from the manufacturer. All of these techniques will help you ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 150 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ narrow down what it is about the program that's causing a problem. Once you have done that, you may have a simple workaround. If not, contact our technical support crew and we'll try to verify the problem, then resolve it with the manufacturer of the other software. Rarely, some problems can be resolved by modifying the order in which you load drivers and TSRs. If you've found a problem with a particular driver or TSR, try loading it earlier or later than you were and see if the problem goes away. Next, try modifying the atmosphere in another way: change the way NDOS is configured. In particular, try changing the NDOS swapping type using the Swapping directive in NDOS.INI (see page 115). This technique is especially appropriate if the system hangs every time you exit a particular application. If that solves the problem, there's probably a memory conflict. Another program is trying to use the same memory space NDOS uses for swapping. See if you can control the other program's memory usage. If you can configure NDOS and the other program to work together, you're all set. If they work together only in a useless combination (for example, with NDOS swapping turned off), contact us. We'll try to figure out what the other program is doing to damage the NDOS swap space and get the manufacturer to take care of the problem. You can also change the UMB-related configuration settings (UMBLoad and UMBEnvironment) to help diagnose compatibility problems. Problems with these directives are rare, but if you're at an impasse, try setting both of these values to "No" in NDOS.INI. Some of the advanced directives in NDOS.INI (see page 126) may help solve very rare configuration problems, but unless you are an experienced DOS user and understand the side effects of each directive, they should be used only as diagnostic tools, and not as a workaround or fix. Any of the following can be tried: FineSwap = Yes FullINT2E = Yes Inherit = No LineInput = Yes (or SETDOS /L1) Reduce = No ReserveTPA = No SwapReopen = Yes StackSize = nnnn (increase value to 5120 or more) ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 151 Solving Software Compatibility Problems ___________________________________________________________________ If you've tried all these techniques and haven't found the problem, contact our technical support department. We have more tricks up our sleeve, and a very high success rate at resolving software interactions. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 152 NDOS Commands ___________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 8, COMMAND REFERENCE GUIDE The following pages are a complete guide and reference to the NDOS commands that are available from the command line, in aliases, and in batch files. Nearly all of these commands are internal NDOS commands, which means that NDOS performs the activity you have requested without running another program. External commands require loading and running a separate program, either an executable (.EXE or .COM) program or a batch (.BTM or .BAT) program. DOS is shipped with a number of external utility programs (such as FORMAT and DISKCOPY), and any program or application you install on your system becomes a new external command. The advantage of internal commands is that they run almost instantly. When you give NDOS an internal command, it interprets the command line and carries out the necessary activities without having to look for, load, and run another program. The advantage of external commands is that they can be large, varied, and complex without taking space inside the system command processor. External commands can also be renamed or replaced easily. If you want to rename the external DOS command XCOPY to MYCOPY, for example, all you need to do is find the file called XCOPY.EXE on your DOS disk or directory and change its name to MYCOPY.EXE. If you want to replace XCOPY with a more efficient program, you can do so. NDOS adds this flexibility to internal commands. You can rename or replace any internal command by using an ALIAS, and you can enable or disable internal commands whenever you wish. NDOS Commands NDOS has over 80 internal commands, many more than any version of DOS. NDOS neither replaces nor interferes with external DOS commands like ASSIGN, BACKUP, CHKDSK, DISKCOPY, SUBST, or XCOPY. Once NDOS is installed, you can continue to use those utilities like you always have. Also, NDOS has been designed so that it is compatible with virtually all traditional internal commands, even though it enhances many of those commands with additional options and capabilities. Once you have installed NDOS, you can continue using the commands that you already know and get the same results. A few of the NDOS commands are the same as traditional commands, some are enhanced with new features, and many are unique to NDOS. The best way to learn the NDOS commands is to use them and experiment with them. The following lists ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 153 NDOS Commands ___________________________________________________________________ categorize the available commands by topic and will help you find the ones that you need. Most of this chapter is an alphabetic list of the commands and how to use each one. We urge you to browse through this chapter occasionally and look for commands that might help simplify your computing life. In the following summary lists, commands that are unique to NDOS are marked with a number sign [#]. Those which are enhanced traditional commands are marked with an asterisk [*]. And those which are identical to traditional commands have no marks at all. System Configuration Commands: BREAK CHCP CTTY DATE FREE # LH/LOADHIGH MEMORY # PROMPT * REBOOT # SETDOS # SWAPPING # TIME VER VERIFY VOL * File and directory management: ATTRIB * COPY * DEL/ERASE * DESCRIBE # MOVE # REN/RENAME * TRUENAME # Subdirectory management: CD/CHDIR * CDD # DIR * DIRS # MD/MKDIR * POPD # PUSHD # RD/RMDIR * Commands normally used in batch files and aliases (many are also useful at the command line): ALIAS # BEEP # CALL CANCEL # COLOR # DELAY # DRAWBOX # DRAWHLINE # DRAWVLINE # ECHO * ECHOS # ENDLOCAL # GOSUB # GOTO * FOR * IF * IFF # INKEY # INPUT # KEYSTACK # LOADBTM # PAUSE * QUIT # REM * RETURN # SCREEN # SCRPUT # SETLOCAL # SHIFT * TEXT # TIMER # UNALIAS # VSCRPUT # Other commands: ? # CLS * ESET # EXCEPT # EXIT * GLOBAL # HISTORY # LIST # LOG # NDOSHELP # PATH * SELECT # SET * TEE # TYPE * UNSET # Y # ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 154 How to Use the Command Descriptions ___________________________________________________________________ As you can see, most NDOS commands are either enhanced traditional commands or are entirely new. If you are comfortable using traditional commands, you can switch to NDOS without making any changes in your habits. But you will miss many powerful NDOS enhancements and new commands unless you take a few minutes to see what's available here. Make sure you don't skip a section of this reference just because you already know how to use a traditional command with the same name. We have made no attempt to document external DOS commands in this reference, partly because they are explained in your DOS manual, and partly because the number and name of DOS external commands, and the options available with each command, vary widely from one version of DOS to another and from one computer manufacturer to another. The NDOS HELP system does include information on standard DOS external commands. If you come across terms or concepts in this chapter that you are unsure about, please refer to Chapter 4, "General Concepts," the Glossary on page 329, or the Index. How to Use the Command Descriptions Each of the NDOS commands is described in detail on the following pages. The descriptions are arranged alphabetically, and each includes examples that will help you learn to use the commands. Each description begins with the name of the command on the left side of the page and a word in parentheses on the right side. The commands marked "New" are unique to NDOS. Those marked "Enhanced" are similar to traditional commands but add new features and options. The commands marked "Compatible" follow the syntax and features of the traditional command with the same name. The name is followed by a sentence or two that briefly describes the command's purpose or major function. That sentence should help you determine quickly whether you have found the command you are seeking. The next part of each description shows the command's format or syntax. The format line uses certain conventions to describe how the command should be entered and to create reference points for the text describing the command: Words in UPPER CASE must be spelled exactly as they are shown (although you can type them in using either upper ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 155 How to Use the Command Descriptions ___________________________________________________________________ or lower case, or a combination). If a word is shown partly in upper case (for example BLInk), only the upper case portion is required, the rest is optional. Words shown in italics (for example source or filename) are meant to be replaced by other words or values. Each of these words is explained directly beneath the format line, and discussed in more detail in the text description of the command. When the word stands for a filename, the name may be a simple filename like MYFILE.TXT or it may include a drive letter and/or a full path, like C:\MYDIR1\MYDIR2\MYFILE.TXT. If the command can work on multiple files, you can use the NDOS wildcards, multiple filenames, or an include list (see pages 64, 66, and 67). Anything followed by an ellipsis (three periods [...]) may be repeated as often as you wish. Text shown in [square brackets] is optional. Text outside of square brackets must be entered literally (if it is capitalized) or replaced by other words or values (if it is in italics). Vertical bars | represent a choice; you can pick one option or another but not both. For example, the following format shows that the command may be followed by the word ON or the word OFF, but not both: COMMAND [ ON | OFF ] A slash followed by a letter, like [/X], is an "option" or "switch" which controls the effect of a command. Many commands have several switches, and you are usually free to use none, one, or several to make a command behave as you wish. If you use a single switch, you must precede it with a slash. If you use several switches, in most cases you can put them together with one slash or use separate slashes. For example, if you wanted to use switches X, Y, and Z for a command, you could type them three different ways: command /x /y /z command /x/y/z command /xyz A few switches, particularly in the DIR and SELECT commands, use two or more characters. If you need to follow a multi-letter switch with another switch, the second switch must have its own slash to avoid ambiguity. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 156 How to Use the Command Descriptions ___________________________________________________________________ Included in the format section is an explanation of each replaceable argument and a one or two word explanation of each switch. Many descriptions also list related commands to help you find the exact command you want. After the command format, you'll find a description of the command's usage. This description normally starts with the basic functions of a command and gradually adds more details. We've also included many examples to help you see the command in action. In the examples, characters in normal type represent input from the user as well as NDOS prompts, responses, or lines in a batch file. The last part of each description is a detailed explanation of the options or switches available for each command, in alphabetical order. Occasionally, we've included more examples in this section to demonstrate how a switch is used or how multiple switches interact. Pay careful attention to the information about switch placement. Some switches have different effects based on where they appear in the command line. The effects of switches occasionally vary from one command to another in order to retain compatibility with traditional commands. In the Usage and Options sections you may see the symbol ##. This indicates a more in-depth discussion or an advanced topic which you can skip if you are new to the command; come back to this topic later for more details, or if you're having trouble with the command. In most cases the remainder of the section after such a symbol is devoted to similar information. The ## doesn't mean that only advanced users will need the information -- you may find it useful even if you're relatively new to computers or to NDOS. But it does mean that you can skip the marked section and still understand and use the basic features of the command. If a ## appears before the "Usage" heading, it indicates that the entire command is generally used only in unusual situations or by more advanced users. When you see a ## in the list of options, remember that the options are listed alphabetically, so there may be more basic options discussed later in the list, after a more complex or advanced option marked with ##. Don't stop reading the option list the first time you see the mark. A ! to the left of a paragraph means that paragraph contains a caution or warning you may need to observe when using the feature it discusses. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 157 ___________________________________________________________________ ? (New) Purpose: Display a list of NDOS commands. Format: ? Usage: ? displays a list of NDOS internal commands. For help with these commands, and with external DOS commands, see the NDOSHELP command. When you use the ? command, you will see a display like this: c:\> ? ? ALIAS ATTRIB BEEP BREAK CALL CANCEL CD CDD CHCP CHDIR CLS COLOR COPY CTTY DATE DEL DELAY DESCRIBE DIR DIRS DRAWBOX DRAWHLINE DRAWVLINE ECHO ECHOS ENDLOCAL ERASE ESET EXCEPT EXIT FOR FREE GLOBAL GOSUB GOTO HELP HISTORY IF IFF INKEY INPUT KEYSTACK LH LIST LOADBTM LOADHIGH LOG MD MEMORY MKDIR MOVE PATH PAUSE POPD PROMPT PUSHD QUIT RD REBOOT REM REN RENAME RETURN RMDIR SCREEN SCRPUT SELECT SET SETDOS SETLOCAL SHIFT SWAPPING TEE TEXT TIME TIMER TRUENAME TYPE UNALIAS UNSET VER VERIFY VOL VSCRPUT Y If you have disabled a command with the SETDOS /I command, it will not appear in the list. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 158 ___________________________________________________________________ ALIAS (New) Purpose: Create new command names that execute one or more commands or redefine default options for existing commands; assign commands to keystrokes; load or display the list of defined alias names. Format: ALIAS [/P /R file...] [name[=][value]] file: One or more files to read for alias definitions. name: Name for an alias, or the key to execute the alias. value: Text (commands, etc.) to be substituted for the alias name. /P(ause) /R(ead file) See also: UNALIAS and page 88. Usage: The ALIAS command lets you create new command names or redefine the NDOS internal commands. It also lets you assign one or more commands to a single keystroke. An alias is often used to execute a complex series of commands with a few keystrokes or to create "in memory batch files" that run much faster than disk-based batch files. For example, if you would rather type D instead of DIR /W you would use the command: c:\> alias d = dir /w Now when you type a single d as a command, NDOS will translate it into a DIR /W command. The marks around DIR /W in the ALIAS command are back quotes, below the tilde [~] on most PC keyboards. They are NOT single quotes [']. An alias can represent more than one command. For example: c:\> alias letters = `cd \letters ^ text` creates a new command called LETTERS. The command first uses CD to change to a subdirectory called \LETTERS and then runs a program called TEXT. The caret [^] is the NDOS command separator and tells NDOS that the two commands are distinct and should be executed sequentially. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 159 ___________________________________________________________________ When you type alias commands at the command line or in a batch file, you MUST use back quotes around the definition if it contains multiple commands or any replaceable parameters (which are discussed below) to prevent premature expansion of the arguments. You MAY use back quotes [`] around other definitions, but they are not required. To avoid confusion, we recommend that you always use back quotes around alias definitions you type at the command line or enter in a batch file. Aliases may invoke internal NDOS commands, external commands, or other aliases. (However, an alias may not invoke itself, except in special cases where an IF or IFF command is used to prevent an infinite loop.) The two aliases below demonstrate alias nesting (one alias invoking another). The first line defines an alias which runs a program called WP.EXE that is in the E:\WP51\ subdirectory. The second alias changes directories with the PUSHD command, runs the WP alias, and then returns to the original directory with the POPD command: c:\> alias wp = e:\wp51\wp.exe c:\> alias w = `pushd c:\wp ^ wp ^ popd` The second alias above could have included the full path and name of the WP.EXE program instead of calling the WP alias. However, writing two aliases makes the second one easier to read and understand, and makes the first alias available for independent use. If you rename the WP.EXE program or move it to a new directory, only the first alias needs to rewritten. If you put an asterisk [*] immediately before a command in the value of an alias definition (the part after the equal sign), it tells NDOS not to attempt to interpret that command as another (nested) alias. An asterisk used this way must be preceded by a space or caret [^] and followed immediately by an internal or external command name. The asterisk is used to make sure that NDOS interprets the following word as the name of an internal or external command instead of as an alias which may have the same name. It also allows two popular uses of aliases. By using an asterisk, you can redefine the default options for any NDOS command. For example, suppose that you always want to use the DIR command with the /2 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 160 ___________________________________________________________________ (two column) and /P (pause at the end of each page) options. The following line will do just that: c:\> alias dir = *dir /2/p If you didn't include the asterisk, NDOS would interpret the second DIR on the line as the name of the alias itself and attempt to repeatedly re-invoke the DIR alias, rather than running the DIR command. This would cause an "Alias loop" or "Command line too long" error. The asterisk tells NDOS to interpret the second DIR as a command but not as an alias. An asterisk also helps you keep the names of internal NDOS commands from conflicting with the names of external programs. For example, suppose you have a program called LIST.COM. Normally, the NDOS internal command will run anytime you type LIST. But two simple aliases will give you access to both the LIST.COM program and the LIST command: c:\> alias list = c:\util\list.com c:\> alias display = *list The first line above defines LIST as an alias for the LIST.COM program. If you stopped there, the external program would run every time you typed LIST and you would not have easy access to the internal NDOS LIST command. The second line renames the internal LIST command as DISPLAY. The asterisk is needed in the second command to tell NDOS that the following word means the internal command LIST, not the LIST alias which runs your external program. Another way to understand the asterisk is to remember that when NDOS processes a command it always checks for an alias first, then looks for an internal or external command, or a batch file (see page 36). The asterisk at the beginning of a command name simply tells NDOS to skip over the usual check for aliases when processing that command, and go straight to checking for an internal command, external command, or batch file. You can also use an asterisk before a command that you enter at the command line or in a batch file. If you do, NDOS won't try to interpret that command as an alias. This can be useful when you want to be sure you are running the true, original command and not an alias with the same name, or temporarily defeat the purpose of an alias which changes the meaning or behavior of a ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 161 ___________________________________________________________________ command. For example, above we defined an alias for DIR which made directories display in two-column paged mode by default. If you wanted to see a directory display in the normal single-column, non-paged mode, you could enter the command *DIR and the alias would be ignored during that one command. You can also use an asterisk in the name of an alias. When you do, the characters following the asterisk are optional when you invoke the alias command. (Use of an asterisk in the alias name is unrelated to the use of an asterisk in the alias value discussed above.) For example, with this alias: c:\> alias wher*eis = dir /sp the new command, WHEREIS, can be invoked as WHER, WHERE, WHEREI, or WHEREIS. Now if you type: c:\> where myfile.txt NDOS will expand the WHEREIS alias and process the command: dir /sp myfile.txt If you want to assign an alias to a keystroke, use the keyname on the left side of the equal sign, preceded by an at-sign [@]. For example, to assign the command DIR /W to the F5 key, type c:\> alias @F5 = dir /w Keynames must be in the form [Prefix-]Keyname The key prefix can be any one of the following: No prefix followed by F1 - F12 Alt followed by A - Z, 0 - 9, or F1 - F12 Ctrl followed by A - Z, F1 - F12, Bksp, Enter, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDn, Ins, or Del Shift followed by F1 - F12 The possible key names are: A - Z Left PageDown 0 - 9 Right Home ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 162 ___________________________________________________________________ F1 - F12 PageUp End All key names must be spelled as shown. Alphabetic keys can be specified in upper-case or lower-case. You cannot specify a punctuation key. The prefix and key name must be separated by a dash. You can also define a keystroke alias by using "@" plus a scan code for one of the permissible keys (see Appendix B on page 315 for a list of scan codes). Some keys are interpreted by your system's BIOS and are not passed on to NDOS (for example, Ctrl-S tells the BIOS to pause screen output temporarily). Such keystrokes cannot normally be used for keystroke aliases, because NDOS never receives them. You may not be able to remap F11 and F12 if your keyboard is not 100% IBM-compatible, or if you have an ANSI driver which does not support these keys. This limitation is due to DOS and your ANSI driver, not NDOS. When you define keystroke aliases, the assignments will only be in effect at the NDOS command line, not inside application programs. Be careful not to assign aliases to keys that are already used at the command-line (like F1 for Help). The command-line meanings take precedence and the keystroke alias will never be invoked. If you want to use one of the command-line keys for an alias instead of its normal meaning, you must first disable its regular use with the NormalKey or NormalEditKey directive in your NDOS.INI file. See page 122 for instructions. If you define a keystroke alias like this: c:\> alias @f5 = dir /w then, when you press the F5 key, NDOS will enter the value, "dir /w" on the command line for you. You can type additional parameters if you wish and then press Enter to execute the command. With this particular alias, you can define the files that you want to display after pressing F5 and before pressing Enter to execute the command. If you want the keystroke alias to take action automatically without waiting for you to edit the command line or press Enter, you must end the value with a carriage return. To enter the carriage return into your alias use the NDOS escape character (normally ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 163 ___________________________________________________________________ Ctrl-X, shown here as an up arrow []) twice, followed by an "r." For example, this command will assign an alias to the F6 key that uses the CDD command to take you back to the previous default directory: c:\> alias @f6 = cdd -r If you define a keystroke alias in an ALIAS /R file and you want an the alias to start automatically, use a single character before the "r" at the end of the line. The double is only required when the alias is defined on the command line or in a batch file. If you want to see a list of all current ALIAS commands, type c:\> alias You can also view the definition of a single alias. If you want to see the definition of the alias LIST, you can type c:\> alias list You can save the list to a file called ALIAS.LST this way: c:\> alias > alias.lst You can then reload all the alias definitions in the file the next time you boot up with the command c:\> alias /r alias.lst This is much faster than defining each alias individually in a batch file. If you keep your alias definitions in a separate file which you load from AUTOEXEC.BAT, you can edit them with a text editor, reload the edited file with the ALIAS /R command, and know that the same alias list will be loaded the next time you boot your computer. When you define aliases in a file that will be read with the ALIAS /R command, you should NOT use back quotes around the value, even if back quotes would normally be required when defining the same alias at the command line or in a batch file. To remove an alias, use the UNALIAS command. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 164 ___________________________________________________________________ ## Alias commands can use command-line arguments or replaceable parameters like those in batch files. NDOS numbers the command line arguments from %1 to %127. It is up to the alias to determine the meaning of each argument. Arguments that are referred to in an alias, but which are missing on the command line, appear as empty strings inside the alias. The parameter %n& has a special meaning. NDOS interprets it to mean "the entire command line, from argument n to the end." If n is not specified, it has a default value of one, so %& means "the entire command line after the alias name." The special parameter %# contains the number of command line arguments. For example, the following alias will change directories, perform a command, and return to the original directory: c:\> alias in `pushd %1 ^ %2& ^ popd` When this alias is invoked as: c:\> in c:\comm mycomm /xmodem /2400 the first replaceable parameter, %1, has the value "c:\comm." %2 is "mycomm," %3 is "/xmodem," and %4 is "/2400". NDOS expands the command line into these three separate commands: pushd c:\comm mycomm /xmodem /2400 popd ## This next example uses the IFF command to redefine the defaults for SET only if no other options are entered on the command line. This ALIAS command should be entered on one line: c:\> alias set = `iff %#==0 then ^ *set /p ^ else ^ *set %& ^ endiff` This example modifies the SET command so that if SET is entered with no arguments, it is replaced by SET /P (pause after displaying each page), but if SET is followed by an argument, it behaves normally. Note the use of asterisks (*set) to prevent alias loops. ## If an alias uses replaceable parameters, NDOS will delete command line arguments up to and including the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 165 ___________________________________________________________________ highest referenced argument. For example, if you have an alias which refers only to %1 and %4, then the first and fourth arguments passed to the alias will be used, the second and third arguments will be discarded, and any additional arguments beyond the fourth will be appended to the end of the expanded command after the value portion of the alias. If an alias uses no replaceable parameters, all of the command line arguments will be appended to the expanded command. ## Aliases also have full access to all variables in the environment, NDOS internal variables, and NDOS variable functions. For example, you can create a simple command-line calculator this way (enter this on one line): c:\> alias calc = echo The answer is: %@eval[%&] Now, if you enter c:\> calc 5 * 6 NDOS will display The answer is: 30 ## Aliases created in the primary shell will be inherited automatically in a secondary shell. However, an alias created in a secondary shell will not be passed back to a primary or parent shell. Options: /P(ause): This option is only effective when ALIAS is used to display existing definitions. It pauses the display after each page and waits for a keystroke before continuing. /R(ead file): This option loads an alias list from a file. The format of the file is the same as that of the ALIAS display: name=value where name is the name of the alias and value is its value. You can use an equal sign [=] or space to separate the name and value. Back quotes should NOT be used around the value. You can add comments to the file by starting each comment line with a colon [:]. You can load multiple files with one ALIAS /R command ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 166 ___________________________________________________________________ by placing the names one after another on the command line, separated by spaces: c:\> alias /r alias1.lst alias2.lst Lines in an ALIAS /R file can be up to 511 characters long. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 167 ___________________________________________________________________ ATTRIB (New) Purpose: Change or view file and subdirectory attributes. Format: ATTRIB [/D /P /Q /S] [+|-[AHRS]] files files: A file, directory, or list of files or directories, on which to operate. /D(irectories) /Q(uiet) /P(ause) /S(ubdirectories) Attribute flags: +A Set the archive attribute -A Clear the archive attribute +H Set the hidden attribute -H Clear the hidden attribute +R Set the read-only attribute -R Clear the read-only attribute +S Set the system attribute -S Clear the system attribute Usage: Every file and subdirectory has four attributes that can be turned on (set) or turned off (cleared): Archive, Hidden, Read-only, and System. DOS sets the Archive attribute every time a file is updated or changed. Backup utilities often use this attribute to find files that have changed since the last general backup. DOS prevents programs from altering or erasing files that have the Read-only attribute set (but applications can change the attribute first and then update or erase the file). Files with Hidden and/or System attributes are normally not visible in directory listings. The ATTRIB command lets you set or clear any attribute(s) for any file, group of files, or subdirectory. You can view file attributes by entering ATTRIB without specifying new attributes (i.e. without the [+|-[AHRS]] part of the format), or with the DIR /T command. For example, you can set the read-only and hidden attributes for the file MEMO: c:\> attrib +rh memo Attribute options apply to the file(s) that follow the options on the ATTRIB command line. The example below shows how to set different attributes on different ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 168 ___________________________________________________________________ files with a single command. It sets the archive attribute for all .TXT files, and changes TEST.COM to system and not modified: c:\> attrib +a *.txt +s -a test.com ## You may know that DOS also supports "D" (subdirectory) and "V" (volume label) attributes. These attributes cannot be altered with ATTRIB; they are designed to be controlled only by DOS itself. Options: /D(irectories): If you don't use this option, ATTRIB will only modify file attributes. If you use the /D option, ATTRIB will also modify the attributes of subdirectories (yes, you can have a hidden subdirectory): c:\> attrib /d +h c:\mydir /P(ause): Wait for a key to be pressed after each screen page before continuing the display. /Q(uiet): This option turns off the ATTRIB normal screen output. It is most useful in batch files. /S(ubdirectories): If you use the /S option, the ATTRIB command will be applied to all matching files in the current or named directory and all of its subdirectories. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 169 ___________________________________________________________________ BEEP (New) Purpose: Beep the speaker or play simple music. Format: BEEP [frequency duration ...] frequency is in Hertz (cycles per second). duration is in 1/18th second intervals Usage: BEEP generates a sound through your computer's speaker. It is normally used in batch files to signal that an operation has been completed, or that the computer needs attention. Because BEEP allows you to specify the frequency and duration of the sound, you can also use it to play simple music or to create different kinds of signals for the user. You can include as many frequency and duration pairs as you wish. No sound will be generated for frequencies less than 20 Hz, allowing you to insert short delays. The default value for frequency is 440 Hz; the default value for duration is two. This batch file fragment runs a program called DEMO, then plays a few notes and waits for you to press a key: demo ^ beep 440 4 600 2 1040 6 pause Finished with the demo - hit a key... The following table gives the frequency values for a five octave range (middle C is 262 Hz): C 131 262 523 1046 2093 C#/Db 139 277 554 1108 2217 D 147 294 587 1174 2349 D#/Eb 156 311 622 1244 2489 E 165 330 659 1318 2637 F 175 349 698 1397 2794 F#/Gb 185 370 740 1480 2960 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 170 ___________________________________________________________________ G 196 392 784 1568 3136 G#/Ab 208 415 831 1662 3322 A 220 440 880 1760 3520 A#/Bb 233 466 932 1864 3729 B 248 494 988 1976 3951 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 171 ___________________________________________________________________ BREAK (Compatible) Purpose: Display, enable, or disable Ctrl-C and Ctrl-BREAK checking. Format: BREAK [ON | OFF] Usage: The Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Break keys are used by many programs (including NDOS) as a signal to interrupt the current operation. BREAK controls how often DOS checks to see if you've entered one of these keystrokes. Normally, BREAK is turned off, and DOS only checks for Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Break keystrokes during normal DOS input or output operations involving the screen, keyboard, serial port, and printer. However many programs don't use DOS for these operations, and it can be difficult to interrupt them. When BREAK is turned ON, DOS checks for Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Break every time a program calls DOS. Since most programs use DOS to access files and perform other functions, turning BREAK on makes it much more likely that a Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break will be noticed. If you turn BREAK on, programs will run slightly slower than normal (the difference is not usually noticeable), but you will be able to break out of some programs more easily. Turning BREAK on or off only affects when DOS detects Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Break and notifies the program you're running. Any program can choose to ignore these signals, in which case the BREAK setting won't affect that program's behavior. Also, any external program can change the BREAK setting on its own. Type BREAK by itself to display the current BREAK status: c:\> break BREAK is OFF Type BREAK plus ON or OFF to set the BREAK status: c:\> break on BREAK is off by default. You can change the default by adding a BREAK=ON command to your CONFIG.SYS file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 172 ___________________________________________________________________ CALL (Compatible) Purpose: Execute one batch file from within another. Format: CALL file file: The batch file to execute. See also CANCEL and QUIT. Usage: CALL allows batch files to call other batch files (batch file nesting) without starting a secondary copy of the command processor. The calling batch file is suspended while the called (second) batch file runs. When the second batch file finishes, the original batch file resumes execution at the next command. If you execute a batch file from inside another batch file without using CALL, the first batch file is terminated before the second one starts. The following batch file fragment compares an input line to "wp" and calls another batch file if it matches: input Enter your choice: %%option if "%option" == "wp" call wp.bat NDOS supports batch file nesting up to ten levels deep. The current ECHO state will be inherited by a called batch file. ## A called batch file will return to the calling file after processing the last line in the called file, or when a QUIT command is executed. A called batch file should always return in this way, or terminate all batch files with CANCEL. Restarting (or CALLing) the original batch file from within a called file will prevent NDOS from detecting that you've left the second file, and it may cause an infinite loop or a stack overflow. ## CALL returns an exit code which matches the batch file return code. You can test this exit code with the %_? environment variable (see page 74), and use it with conditional commands (&& and ||; see page 83). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 173 ___________________________________________________________________ CANCEL (New) Purpose: Terminate batch file processing. Format: CANCEL See also: CALL and QUIT. Usage: The CANCEL command ends all batch file processing, regardless of the batch file nesting level. Use QUIT to end a nested batch file and return to the previous batch file. You can CANCEL at any point in a batch file. If CANCEL is used from within an alias it will end execution of both the alias and any batch file(s) which are running at the time. The following batch file fragment compares an input line to "end" and terminates all batch file processing if it matches: input Enter your choice: %%option if "%option" == "end" cancel ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 174 ___________________________________________________________________ CD/CHDIR (Enhanced) Purpose: Display or change the current directory. Format: CD [ path | - ] or CHDIR [ path | - ] path: The directory to change to, including an optional drive name. See also: CDD, MD, PUSHD, RD, and CDPATH on page 107. Usage: CD and CHDIR are synonyms. You can use either one. CD lets you navigate through the DOS subdirectory structure by changing the current working directory. If you enter CD and a directory name, the named directory becomes the new current directory. For example, to change to the subdirectory C:\FINANCE\MYFILES: c:\> cd \finance\myfiles c:\finance\myfiles> Every disk drive on the system has its own current directory. Specifying both a drive and a directory in the CD command will change the current directory on the specified drive, but will not change the default drive. For example, to change the default directory on drive A: c:\> cd a:\utility c:\> Notice that this command does not change to drive A:. Use the CDD command to change both the drive and directory together. You can change to the parent directory with CD ..; you can also go up one additional directory level with each additional [.]. For example, CD .... will go up three levels in the directory tree. You can move to a sibling directory -- one that branches from the same parent directory as the current subdirectory -- with the command CD ..\newdir. If you enter CD with no argument or with only a disk drive name, it will display the current directory on the default or named drive. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 175 ___________________________________________________________________ CD saves the current directory before changing to a new directory. You can switch back to the previous directory by entering CD -. (There must be a space between the CD command and the hyphen.) You can switch back and forth between two directories by repeatedly entering CD -. The saved directory is the same for both the CD and CDD commands. Automatic directory changes (see page 54) also modify the saved directory, so you can use CD - to return to a directory that you exited with an automatic directory change. ## CD never changes the default drive. If you change directories on one drive, switch to another drive, and then enter CD -, the directory will be restored on the first drive but the current drive will not be changed. ## If CD can't change to the specified directory, it will look for the CDPATH environment variable. CD will append the specified directory name to each directory in CDPATH and attempt to change to that directory, until the first match or the end of the CDPATH argument. This lets you use CDPATH as a quick way to find commonly used subdirectories which have unique names. For example, if you are currently in the directory C:\WP\LETTERS\JANUARY and you'd like to change to C:\FINANCE\REPORTS, you could enter the command: c:\wp\letters\january> cd \finance\reports However if the C:\FINANCE directory is listed in your CDPATH variable, and is the first directory in the list with a REPORTS subdirectory, you can simply enter the command: c:\wp\letters\january> cd reports and NDOS will change to C:\FINANCE\REPORTS. ## DOS will not accept directory names longer than 64 characters. You must be sure that the complete directory name from the root to your deepest subdirectory fits within the 64 character restriction. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 176 ___________________________________________________________________ CDD (New) Purpose: Change the current disk drive and directory. Format: CDD path path: The name of the directory (or drive and directory) to change to. See also: CD, MD, PUSHD, RD, and CDPATH on page 107. Usage: CDD is similar to the CD command, except that it also changes the default disk drive if one is specified. CDD will change to the directory and drive you name. To change from the root directory on drive A: to the subdirectory C:\WP: a:\> cdd c:\wp c:\wp> You can change to the parent directory with CDD ..; you can also go up one additional directory level with each additional [.]. For example, CDD .... will go up three levels in the directory tree. CDD saves the current drive and directory before changing to a new directory. You can switch back to the previous drive and directory by entering CDD -. (There must be a space between the CDD command and the hyphen.) You can switch back and forth between two drives and directories by repeatedly entering CDD -. The saved directory is the same for both the CD and CDD commands. Drive changes and automatic directory changes (see page 54) also modify the saved directory, so you can use CDD - to return to a directory that you exited with a drive change or an automatic directory change. ## If CDD can't change to the specified directory, it will look for the CDPATH environment variable. CDD will append the specified directory name to each directory in CDPATH and attempt to change to that drive and directory, until the first match or the end of the CDPATH argument. This allows you to use CDPATH as a quick way to find commonly used subdirectories which have unique names. For example, if you are currently in the directory C:\WP\LETTERS\JANUARY and you'd like to change to D:\SOFTWARE\UTIL, you could enter the command: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 177 ___________________________________________________________________ c:\wp\letters\january> cdd d:\software\util However if the D:\SOFTWARE directory is listed in your CDPATH variable, and is the first directory in the list with a UTIL subdirectory, you can simply enter the command: c:\wp\letters\january> cdd util and NDOS will change to D:\SOFTWARE\UTIL. ## DOS will not accept directory names longer than 64 characters. You must be sure that the complete directory name from the root to your deepest subdirectory fits within the 64 character restriction. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 178 ___________________________________________________________________ CHCP (Compatible) Purpose: Display or change the current system code page. Format: CHCP [n] n: A system code page number. ## Usage: Code page switching allows you to select different character sets for language support. To use code page switching, you must have an EGA or VGA display and MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.3 or above. If you enter CHCP without a number, the current code page is displayed. c:\> chcp Active code page: 437 If you enter CHCP plus a code page number, the system code page is changed. For example, to set the code page to multilingual: c:\> chcp 850 Before using CHCP, you must first load the device drivers (in CONFIG.SYS); make sure the information file (COUNTRY.SYS) is available; load national language support (using the NLSFUNC command); and prepare the specified code page for the devices (using the MODE command with the CODEPAGE PREPARE option). CHCP accepts one of the two prepared system code pages. An error message is displayed if a code page is selected that has not been prepared for the system. See your DOS manual for more information on CHCP. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 179 ___________________________________________________________________ CLS (Enhanced) Purpose: Clear the video display and move the cursor to the upper left corner; optionally change the default display and border colors. Format: CLS [[BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg] [BORder bc] fg: The new foreground color bg: The new background color bc: The new border color The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: COLOR. Usage: CLS can be used to clear the screen without changing colors, or to clear the screen and change the screen colors simultaneously. These three examples show how to clear the screen to the default colors, to bright white letters on a blue background, and to bright yellow letters on a magenta background with a blue border: c:\> cls c:\> cls bright white on blue c:\> cls bri yel on mag bor blu As shown in the last example, color names plus the words BRIGHT, BLINK, and BORDER may be shortened to the first three letters. If you use BRIGHT and/or BLINK, NDOS will apply the appropriate attribute to the foreground characters (PC displays do not allow a bright or blinking background). CLS is often used in batch files to clear the screen before displaying text. ## If ANSI.SYS or a compatible driver is not loaded, the colors will not be "sticky" -- you may lose them after you run an application. If NDOS thinks you have an ANSI driver loaded, it first tries an ANSI clear screen. If that doesn't work, NDOS will call the BIOS to clear the screen. You can force NDOS to recognize the ANSI state with the SETDOS /A option (see page 283) or the ANSI directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 180 ___________________________________________________________________ If your display accommodates more than 25 rows by 80 columns and CLS doesn't clear the whole screen, your ANSI driver probably does not support the large display size properly. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 181 ___________________________________________________________________ COLOR (New) Purpose: Change the default display colors. Format: COLOR [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg [BORder bc] fg: The new foreground color bg: The new background color bc: The new border color The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: CLS. Usage: COLOR is normally used in batch files before displaying text. To set screen colors to bright white on blue, you can use either of these commands: c:\> color bright white on blue c:\> color bri whi on blu As the examples show, you may shorten color names plus the words BRIGHT, BLINK, and BORDER to the first three letters. If you have an ANSI driver (such as ANSI.SYS) installed, COLOR will not change anything on the screen. It will only set the default colors for subsequent screen displays. If you are not using an ANSI driver, COLOR will change the display colors of every character on the screen. However, the colors will not be "sticky" -- you may lose them after you run an application. ## If you see odd characters like "[44;37m" when you try to set the screen colors, NDOS probably thinks you have an ANSI driver loaded when you don't. Use SETDOS /A2, or ANSI = No in NDOS.INI, to tell NDOS you have no ANSI driver. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 182 ___________________________________________________________________ COPY (Enhanced) Purpose: Copy data between disks, directories, files, or physical hardware devices (such as your printer or serial port). Format: COPY [/C /H /M /N /P /Q /S /R /U /V] source[+] ... [/A /B] destination [/A /B] source: A file or list of files or a device to copy from. destination: A file, directory, or device to copy to. /A(SCII) /P(rompt) /B(inary) /Q(uiet) /C(hanged) /R(eplace) /H(idden) /S(ubdirectories) /M(odified) /U(pdate) /N(othing) /V(erify) See also: ATTRIB, MOVE, and REN. Usage: The NDOS COPY command accepts all traditional syntax and options and adds several new features. The simplest use of COPY is to make a copy of a file, like this example which makes a copy of a file called file1.abc: c:\> copy file1.abc file2.def You can also copy a file to another drive and/or directory. The following command copies file1 to the \MYDIR directory on drive E: c:\> copy file1 e:\mydir You can copy several files at once by using wildcards: c:\> copy *.txt e:\mydir (See page 64 for an explanation of how NDOS interprets the wildcard characters [*] and [?].) NDOS also lets you copy several files at one time. The following command copies three files from the current directory to the \MYDIR directory on drive E: c:\> copy file1 file2 file3 e:\mydir ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 183 ___________________________________________________________________ The way COPY interprets your command line depends on how many arguments (file, directory, or device names) are on the line, and whether the arguments are separated with [+] signs or spaces. If there is only one argument on the line, COPY assumes it is the source, and uses the current drive and directory as the destination. For example, the following command copies all the .DAT files on drive A: to the current directory on drive C: c:\> copy a:*.dat If there are two or more arguments on the line and [+] signs are not used, then COPY assumes that the last argument is the destination and copies all source files to this new location. If the destination is a drive, directory, or device name then the source files are copied individually to the new location. If the destination is a filename, the first source file is copied to the destination, and any additional source files are then appended to the new destination file. For example, the first of these commands copies the .DAT files from the current directory on drive A: individually to C:\MYDIR (which must already exist as a directory); the second appends all the .DAT files together into one large file called C:\DATA (assuming C:\DATA is not a directory): c:>\ copy a:*.dat c:\mydir\ c:>\ copy a:*.dat c:\data When you copy to a directory, if you add a backslash [\] to the end of the name as shown in the first example above, COPY will display an error message if the name does not refer to an existing directory. You can use this feature to keep COPY from treating a mistyped destination directory name as a filename and attempting to append all your source files to a destination file, when you really meant to copy them individually to a destination directory. ## A plus [+] tells COPY to append two or more files to a single destination file. If you list several source files separated with [+] and don't specify a destination, COPY will use the name of the first source file as the destination, and append each subsequent file to the first file. In this case the destination file will always be created in the current directory, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 184 ___________________________________________________________________ even if the first source file is in another directory or on another drive. For example, the following command will append the contents of C:\MEMO2 and C:\MEMO3 to C:\MEMO1 and leave the combined contents in the file named C:\MEMO1: c:\> copy memo1+memo2+memo3 To append the same three files but store the result in BIGMEMO: c:\> copy memo1+memo2+memo3 bigmemo To append C:\MEM\MEMO2 and C:\MEM\MEMO3 to D:\DATA\MEMO1, and leave the result in C:\MEM\MEMO1: c:\mem> copy d:\data\memo1+memo2+memo3 ## You cannot append files to a device (such as a printer); if you try to do so, COPY will ignore the [+] signs and copy the files individually. If you attempt to append several source files to a destination directory or disk, COPY will append the files and place the copy in the new location with the same name as the first source file. ## If your destination has wildcards in it, COPY will attempt to match them with the source names. For example, this command copies the .DAT files from drive A: to C:\MYDIR and gives the new copies the extension .DX: c:\> copy a:*.dat c:\mydir\*.dx This feature can give you unexpected results if you use it with multiple source filenames. For example, suppose that drive A: contains XYZ.DAT and XYZ.TXT. The command c:\> copy a:\*.dat a:\*.txt c:\mydir\*.dx will copy A:XYZ.DAT to C:\MYDIR\XYZ.DX. Then it will copy A:XYZ.TXT to C:\MYDIR\XYZ.DX, overwriting the first file it copied. ## COPY also understands include lists (see page 67), so you can specify several different kinds of files in the same command. This command copies the .TXT, .DOC, and ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 185 ___________________________________________________________________ .BAT files from the E:\MYDIR directory to the root directory of drive A: c:\> copy e:\mydir\*.txt;*.doc;*.bat a:\ ## COPY does not change a file's attributes. The destination file will have the same attributes as the source file. Options: The /A(SCII) and /B(inary) options apply to the preceding filename and to all subsequent filenames on the command line until another /A or /B is entered. The other options (/C, /H, /M, /N, /P, /Q, /R, /S, /U, /V) apply to all filenames on the command line, no matter where you put them. For example, either of the following commands could be used to copy a font file to the printer in binary mode: c:\> copy /b myfont.dat prn c:\> copy myfont.dat /b prn Some options do not make sense in certain contexts, in which case COPY will ignore them. For example, you cannot prompt before replacing an existing file when the destination is a device such as the printer -- there's no such thing as an "existing file" on the printer. If you use conflicting output options, like /Q and /P, NDOS will take a "conservative" approach and give priority to the option which generates more prompts or more information. Options used in less common situations have been marked with ## below. Remember that the options are in alphabetical order, so more basic options are interspersed with those marked with ##. ## /A(SCII): If you use /A with a source filename, NDOS will copy the file up to, but not including, the first Ctrl-Z (Control-Z or ASCII 26) character in the file. If you use /A with a destination filename, NDOS will add a Ctrl-Z to the end of the file (some application programs use the Ctrl-Z to mark the end of a file). NDOS defaults to /A when appending files. ## /B(inary): If you use /B with a source filename, NDOS will copy the entire file. Using /B with a destination filename prevents NDOS from adding a Ctrl-Z to the end of the destination file. NDOS defaults to /B for normal file copies. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 186 ___________________________________________________________________ /C(hanged files): Copy files only if the destination file exists and is older than the source (see also /U). This option is useful for updating the files in one directory from those in another without copying any newly created files. ## /H(idden): Copy all matching files including those with the hidden and/or system attribute set (see ATTRIB). /M(odified): Copy only those files with the archive bit set (see ATTRIB), i.e. those which have been modified since the last backup. The archive bit will NOT be cleared after copying. ## /N(othing): Do everything except actually perform the copy. This option is most useful for testing what the result of a complex COPY command will be. /P(rompt): Ask the user to confirm each source file by pressing Y or N. An N response will skip that particular file and continue with the rest of the command. /Q(uiet): Turn off the display of the files copied. This option is most often used in batch files. /R(eplace): Prompt the user before overwriting an existing file. /S(ubdirectories): Copy the subdirectory tree starting with the files in the source directory plus each subdirectory below that. The destination must be a directory; if it doesn't exist, COPY will attempt to create it. COPY will also attempt to create needed subdirectories on the tree below the destination, including empty source directories. /U(pdate): Copy each source file only if it is newer than a matching destination file or if a matching destination file does not exist (see also /C). This option is useful for keeping one directory matched with another with a minimum of copying. ## /V(erify): Verify each disk write. This is the same as executing the VERIFY ON command, but is only active during the COPY. /V does not read back the file and compare its contents with what was written; it only verifies that the data written to disk is physically readable. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 187 ___________________________________________________________________ CTTY (Compatible) Purpose: Change the default console device. Format: CTTY device device: The new console device. ## Usage: Normally, NDOS uses the keyboard as the standard input device and the display as the standard output device. Together, the keyboard and display are known as the console or CON. The CTTY command allows you to substitute another device that can perform standard character I/O for the console. For example to change the console to the first serial port: c:\> ctty com1 Change the console back to the standard keyboard and display (this command must be entered from the current console, e.g. a terminal attached to COM1, or from a batch file): c:\> ctty con CTTY works only for programs and commands that use standard DOS input and output functions. This includes all NDOS internal commands except DRAWBOX, DRAWHLINE, DRAWVLINE, LIST, SCREEN, SCRPUT, SELECT, and VSCRPUT. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 188 ___________________________________________________________________ DATE (Compatible) Purpose: Display and optionally change the system date. Format: DATE [mm-dd-yy] mm: The month (01 - 12) dd: The day (01 - 31) yy: The year (80 - 99 = 1980 - 1999, or enter a four- digit year) See also: TIME. Usage: If you simply type DATE without any parameters, NDOS will display the current system date and time, and prompt you for a new date. Press ENTER if you don't wish to change the date. If you type a new date, it will become the current system date, which is included in the directory entry of each file as it is created or altered: c:\> date Wed Sep 16, 1992 9:30:06 Enter new date (mm-dd-yy): You can also enter a new system date by typing the DATE command plus the new date on the command line: c:\> date 9/16/92 You can use hyphens, slashes, or periods to separate the month, day, and year entries. A full four-digit year can be entered if you wish. The format for the date entry depends on the country code defined in the CONFIG.SYS file or by the CHCP command. The default format is U.S. (mm-dd-yy). The European format is dd-mm-yy; the Japanese is yy-mm-dd. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 189 ___________________________________________________________________ DEL/ERASE (Enhanced) Purpose: Erase one file, a group of files, or entire subdirectories. Format: DEL [/N /P /Q /S /X /Y /Z] file... or ERASE [/N /P /Q /S /X /Y /Z] file... file: The file, subdirectory, or list of files or subdirectories to erase. /N(othing) /X (remove empty subdirectories) /P(rompt) /Y(es to all prompts) /Q(uiet) /Z(ap hidden and read-only files) /S(ubdirectories) Usage: DEL and ERASE are synonyms, you can use either one. Use the DEL and ERASE commands with caution; the files and subdirectories that you erase may be impossible to recover without specialized utilities and a lot of work. To erase a single file, simply enter the filename: c:\> del letters.txt Like all NDOS file processing commands, DEL accepts multiple filenames, wildcards (see page 64), and include lists (see page 67). For example, to erase all the files in the current directory with a .BAK or .PRN extension: c:\> del *.bak *.prn If you enter a subdirectory name, or a filename composed only of wildcards (* and/or ?), DEL asks for confirmation (Y or N) unless you specified the /Y option. If you respond with a Y, DEL will delete all the files in that subdirectory (except hidden, system, and read-only files, unless you have used the /Z option). ## DEL returns a non-zero exit code if no files are deleted. You can test this exit code with the %_? environment variable (see page 74), and use it with conditional commands (&& and ||; see page 83). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 190 ___________________________________________________________________ Options:## /N(othing): Do everything except actually delete the file(s). This is useful for testing what the result of a DEL would be. /P(rompt): Ask the user to confirm each erasure by pressing Y or N. An N response will skip that particular erasure. /Q(uiet): Don't display filenames as they are deleted. DEL will run fastest if you specify the /Q option and the filename doesn't use the extended NDOS wildcards. /S(ubdirectories): Delete the specified files in this directory and all of its subdirectories. This is like a GLOBAL DEL, and can be used to delete all the files in a subdirectory tree or even a whole disk. It should be used with caution! ## /X (remove empty subdirectories): Remove empty subdirectories after deleting (only useful when used with /S). ! ##/Y(es): The reverse of /P -- it assumes a Y response to everything, including deleting an entire subdirectory tree. NDOS normally prompts before deleting files when the name consists only of wildcards or a subdirectory name (see above); /Y overrides this protection, and should be used with extreme caution! ! ##/Z(ap): Delete read-only, hidden, and system files as well as normal files. Files with the read- only, hidden, or system attribute set are normally protected from deletion; /Z overrides this protection, and should be used with extreme caution. Because EXCEPT works by hiding files, /Z will override an EXCEPT command. For example, to delete the entire subdirectory tree starting with C:\UTIL, including hidden and read-only files, without prompting (use this command with CAUTION!): c:\> del /s/x/y/z c:\util\ ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 191 ___________________________________________________________________ DELAY (New) Purpose: Pause for a specified length of time. Format: DELAY [seconds] seconds: the number of seconds to delay. Usage: DELAY is useful in batch file loops while waiting for something to occur. To wait for ten seconds: delay 10 A simple loop could make a tone with the BEEP command to get the operator's attention and then DELAY for 60 seconds while it waits for the user to respond. ## For delays shorter than one second, use the BEEP command with an inaudible frequency (below 20 Hz). You can cancel a delay by pressing Ctrl-C or Ctrl- Break. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 192 ___________________________________________________________________ DESCRIBE (New) Purpose: Create, modify, or delete file and subdirectory descriptions. Format: DESCRIBE file ["description"] ... file: The file or files to operate on. "description": The description to attach to the file. Usage: DESCRIBE adds descriptions to DOS files and subdirectories. The descriptions are displayed by DIR in single-column mode and by SELECT. Descriptions let you identify your files in much more meaningful ways than DOS allows in an eight-character filename. You enter a description on the command line by typing the DESCRIBE command, the filename, and the description in quotation marks, like this: c:\> describe memo.txt "Memo to Bob about party" If you don't put a description on the command line, DESCRIBE will prompt you for it: c:\> describe memo.txt Describe "memo.txt" : Memo to Bob about party If you use wildcards or multiple filenames with the DESCRIBE command and don't include the description text, you will be prompted to enter a description for each file. If you do include the description on the command line, all matching files will be given the same description. Each description can be up to 40 characters long. You can change this limit with the DescriptionMax directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118). DESCRIBE can edit descriptions longer than DescriptionMax (up to a limit of 120 characters), but will not allow you to lengthen the existing text. NDOS stores the descriptions in each directory in a hidden file called DESCRIPT.ION. Use the ATTRIB command to "unhide" this file if you need to copy or delete it. The description file is modified appropriately whenever you perform an internal command which affects it (such ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 193 ___________________________________________________________________ as COPY, MOVE, DEL, or RENAME), but not if you use an external program (such as XCOPY) or a visual shell. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 194 ___________________________________________________________________ DIR (Enhanced) Purpose: Display information about files and subdirectories. Format: DIR [/1 /2 /4 /A[[:][-]rhsda] /B /C /D /F /J /K /L /M /N /O[[:][-]deginsu] /P /S /T /U /V /W] [file...] file: The file, directory, or list of files or directories to display. /1 (one column) /L(ower case) /2 (two columns) /M (suppress footer display) /4 (four columns) /N (reset DIR options) /A(ttribute select) /O (sort order ) /B(are) /P(ause) /C(ompression specs) /S(ubdirectories) /D(isable colorization) /T (aTtribute display) /E (use upper case display) /U (sUmmary information) /F(ull path) /V(ertical sort) /J(ustify names) /W(ide) /K (suppress header display) See also: ATTRIB, DESCRIBE, SELECT, and SETDOS. Usage: DIR can be used to display information about files from one or more of your disk directories, in a wide range of formats. Depending on the options chosen, you can display the filename, attributes, and size; the time and date of the last change to the file; and the file description. You can also display information in one, two, four, or five columns, sort the files several different ways, use color to distinguish file types, and pause after each full screen. The various DIR displays are controlled through options or switches. The best way to learn how to use the many options available with the DIR command is to experiment. You will soon know which options you want to use regularly. You can select those options permanently by using the ALIAS command. You may want to mix several options. For example, to display all the files in the current directory, in 2 columns, sorted vertically (down one column then down the next), and with a pause at the end of each page: c:\> dir /2/p/v ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 195 ___________________________________________________________________ To set up this format as the default, using an alias: c:\> alias dir=*dir /2/p/v You can also preset DIR parameters and switches by including the SET command with the DIRCMD environment variable. You can use any valid combination of DIR parameters and switches with the SET DIRCMD command, including the location and name of a file. Do not place any spaces before or between parameters and switches in the SET DIRCMD command. For example, to use the DIRCMD environment variable to set the wide display format (/w) as the default format, include the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: set dircmd=/w If you use DIR with other parameters on the command line after setting the DIRCMD, these additional parameters are inserted before the parameters in the SET DIRCMD command. All parameters are then executed as if you typed them all out on the command line. You can change the DIRCMD default settings by typing the SET command at the command prompt with a new parameter or switch after the equal sign [=]. The new default settings are effective for all subsequent DIR commands until you use SET DIRCMD again on the command line or until you restart NDOS. To clear all default settings, type the following: set dircmd= For more information about setting environment variables, see the SET command. This next example displays all the files on all directories of drive C:, including hidden and system files, pausing after each page: c:\> dir /s/a/p c:\ DIR allows wildcard characters (* and ?) in the filename. If you don't specify a filename, DIR defaults to *.* (display all non-hidden files and subdirectories in the current directory). To display all of the .WKS files in the current directory: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 196 ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> dir *.wks If you link two or more filenames together with spaces, DIR will display all of the files that match the first name and then all of the files that match the second name. You may use a different drive and path for each filename. This example lists all of the .WKS and then all of the .WK1 files in the current directory: c:\> dir *.wks *.wk1 If you link multiple filenames with a semicolon [;] (an "include list", see page 67), DIR will display the matching filenames in a single listing. Only the first filename in an include list can have a path; the other files must be in the same path. This example displays the same files as the previous example, but the .WKS and .WK1 files are intermixed: c:\> dir *.wks;*.wk1 If you have an ANSI driver loaded, you can display the file and subdirectory names in color by setting the COLORDIR environment variable. The format for COLORDIR is: ext ... :[BRIght][BLInk] fg [ON bg]; ... where "ext" is a file extension (one to three characters) or one of the following file types: DIRS - directories RDONLY - read-only files HIDDEN - hidden files SYSTEM - system files ARCHIVE - files modified since the last backup For example, to display the .COM and .EXE files in red, the .C and .ASM files in bright cyan, and the read-only files in blinking green (this should be entered on one line): c:\> set colordir=com exe:red; c asm:bright cyan; rdonly:blink green If you don't specify a background color, DIR will use the current screen background color. COLORDIR will not work properly unless you have an ANSI driver loaded. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 197 ___________________________________________________________________ If you have COLORDIR set and attempt to redirect the output of DIR to a character device, such as a serial port or the printer, non-colorized filenames will be displayed on the device but colorized names will still be displayed on the screen. This will not occur if the output of DIR is redirected to a disk file. When displaying file descriptions, DIR adds a right arrow [] at the end of the line if the description is too long to fit on the screen. This symbol will alert you to the existence of additional description text. ## The DIRCMD environment variable switches are appended to the command you type at command line. Therefore, if a switch from the DIRCMD conflicts with one you type at the command line, the conflict is handled in the same way as if you typed both conflicting switches at the command line. DIR usually chooses one to use. ## Extended wildcards (for example "BA[KXC]" for .BAK, .BAX, and .BAC files) can be used in directory color specifications. See page 64 for more information on extended wildcards. ## When sorting filenames and extensions, NDOS normally assumes that sequences of digits should be sorted numerically (for example, the file DRAW2 would come before DRAW03 because 2 is numerically smaller than 03), rather than strictly alphabetically (where DRAW2 would come second because "2" is after "0" in alphanumeric order). You can defeat this behavior and force a strict alphabetic sort with the /O:a option. ## If a country code was defined in the CONFIG.SYS file or by the CHCP command, DIR will display the date in the format for that country. The default date format is U.S. (mm-dd-yy). The separator character in the file time will also be affected by the country code. ## DIR can handle directories of any size, limited only by available memory. Each filename requires 32 bytes of free base memory plus the size of the description (if any); a system with 128K of free base memory can display up to 4,000 files per directory. ## Options on the command line apply only to the filenames which follow the option, and options at the end of the line apply to the preceding filename only. This allows you to specify different options for different groups of files, yet retains compatibility with the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 198 ___________________________________________________________________ traditional DIR command when a single filename is specified. Options: /1: Single column display -- display the filename, size, date, time, and description. This is the default. /2: Two column display -- display the filename, size, date, and time. /4: Four column display -- display the filename and size, in K (kilobytes) or MB (megabytes). ## /A(ttribute select): Display only those files that have the specified attribute(s) set. Preceding the attribute character with a hyphen [-] will display those files that don't have that attribute set. The attributes are: R Read-only D Subdirectory H Hidden A Archive S System If no attributes are listed at all (e.g. DIR /A), DIR will display all files and subdirectories including hidden and system files. If attributes are combined, all the specified attributes must match for a file to be included in the listing. For example, /A:RHS will display only those files with all three attributes set. See page 168 for more information on file attributes. ## /B(are): Suppress the header and summary lines, and display file or subdirectory names only, in a single column. This option is most useful when you want to redirect a list of names to a file or another program. /C(ompression): Display compression specifications for filenames, if applicable. Use /CH to display file compression ratio; /CH uses host allocation unit size. ## /D(isable colorization): Temporarily disable directory colorization. Required when COLORDIR is set and DIR output is redirected to a character device like the printer (e.g. PRN or LPT1) or serial port (e.g. COM1 or COM2). /E (case): Display filenames in the traditional upper case; also see SETDOS /U (page 283) and the UpperCase directive in NDOS.INI (page 120). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 199 ___________________________________________________________________ ## /F(ull path): Display each filename with its drive letter and path in a single column, without other information. /J(ustify): Justify (align) filename extensions and display them in the traditional format. ## /K: Suppress the header (disk and directory name) display. /L(ower case): Display filenames in lower case; also see SETDOS /U (page 283) and the UpperCase directive in NDOS.INI (page 120). ## /M: Suppress the footer (file and byte count total) display. /N: Reset the DIR options to the default values. This is useful when you want to display some files in one format, and then change back to the defaults for another set of files. /O(rder): Set the sorting order. You may use any combination of the following sorting options; if multiple options are used the listing will be sorted with the first sort option as the primary key, the next as the secondary key, and so on: - Reverse the sort order for the next option a Sort names and extensions in standard ASCII order, rather than sorting numerically when digits are included in the name or extension d Sort by date and time (oldest first) e Sort by extension g Group subdirectories together i Sort by the file description n Sort by filename (this is the default) r Reverse the sort order for all options s Sort by size u Unsorted /P(ause): Wait for a key to be pressed after each screen page before continuing the display. /S(ubdirectories): Display file information from the current directory and all of its subdirectories. DIR will only display headers and summaries for those directories with files that match the filename(s) and attributes (if /A is used) that you specify on the command line. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 200 ___________________________________________________________________ ## /T (aTtribute display): Display the filenames and attributes only. The attributes are displayed in the format RHSA, where: R Read-only H Hidden S System A Archive /U (sUmmary information): Only display the number of files, the total file size, and the total amount of disk space used. /V(ertical sort): Display the filenames sorted vertically rather than horizontally (used with the /2, /4 or /W options). /W(ide): Display filenames only, horizontally across the screen (five columns on an 80-character wide display). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 201 ___________________________________________________________________ DIRS (New) Purpose: Display the current directory stack. Format: DIRS See also: PUSHD and POPD. Usage: The PUSHD command adds the current default drive and directory to the directory stack, a list that NDOS maintains in memory. The POPD command removes the top entry of the directory stack and makes that drive and directory the new default. The DIRS command displays the contents of the directory stack, with the most recent entries on top (i.e., the next POPD will retrieve the first entry that DIRS displays). For example, to change directories and then display the directory stack: c:\> pushd c:\database c:\database> pushd d:\wordp\memos d:\wordp\memos> dirs c:\database c:\ The directory stack holds 255 characters, enough for about 10 to 20 typical drive and directory entries. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 202 ___________________________________________________________________ DRAWBOX (New) Purpose: Draw a box on the screen. Format: DRAWBOX ulrow ulcol lrrow lrcol style [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg [FILl bgfill] [SHAdow] ulrow: Row for upper left corner ulcol: Column for upper left corner lrrow: Row for lower right corner lrcol: Column for lower right corner style: Box drawing style: 0 No lines (box is drawn with blanks) 1 Single line 2 Double line 3 Single line on top and bottom, double on sides 4 Double line on top and bottom, single on sides fg: Foreground character color bg: Background character color bgfill: Background fill color (for the inside of the box) The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: DRAWHLINE and DRAWVLINE. Usage: DRAWBOX is useful for creating attractive screen displays in batch files. DRAWBOX detects other lines and boxes on the display, and creates the appropriate connector characters when possible (not all types of lines can be connected with the available characters). For example, to draw a box around the entire screen with bright white lines on a blue background (enter this on one line): drawbox 0 0 24 79 1 bri whi on blu fill blu Only the first three characters of the color name and the keywords BRIGHT, BLINK, FILL, and SHADOW are required. If you use SHADOW, a drop shadow is created by changing the characters in the row under the box and the two columns to the right of the box to normal intensity ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 203 ___________________________________________________________________ text with a black background (this will make characters displayed in black disappear entirely). The row and column values are zero-based, so on a standard 25 line by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. DRAWBOX checks for valid row and column values, and displays a "Usage" error message if any values are out of range. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 204 ___________________________________________________________________ DRAWHLINE (New) Purpose: Draw a horizontal line on the screen. Format: DRAWHLINE row column len style [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg row: Starting row column: Starting column len: Length of line style: Line drawing style: 1 Single line 2 Double line fg: Foreground character color bg: Background character color The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: DRAWBOX and DRAWVLINE. Usage: DRAWHLINE is useful for creating attractive screen displays in batch files. It detects other lines and boxes on the display, and creates the appropriate connector characters when possible (not all types of lines can be connected with the available characters). For example, the following command draws a double line along the top row of the display with green characters on a blue background: drawhline 0 0 80 2 green on blue Only the first three characters of the color name and the attributes BRIGHT and BLINK are required. The row and column values are zero-based, so on a standard 25 line by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. DRAWHLINE checks for a valid row and column, and displays a "Usage" error message if either value is out of range. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 205 ___________________________________________________________________ DRAWVLINE (New) Purpose: Draw a vertical line on the screen. Format: DRAWVLINE row column len style [BRIght][BLInk] fg ON bg row: Starting row column: Starting column len: Length of line style: Line drawing style: 1 Single line 2 Double line fg: Foreground character color bg: Background character color The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: DRAWBOX and DRAWHLINE. Usage: DRAWVLINE is useful for creating attractive screen displays in batch files. It detects other lines and boxes on the display, and creates the appropriate connector characters when possible (not all types of lines can be connected with the available characters). For example, to draw a double width line along the left margin of the display with bright red characters on a black background: drawvline 0 0 25 2 bright red on black Only the first three characters of the color name and the attributes BRIGHT and BLINK are required. The row and column values are zero-based, so on a standard 25 line by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. DRAWVLINE checks for a valid row and column, and displays a "Usage" error message if either value is out of range. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 206 ___________________________________________________________________ ECHO (Enhanced) Purpose: Display a message, enable or disable batch file or command line echoing, or display the echo status. Format: ECHO [ON | OFF | message] message: Text to display. See also: ECHOS, SCREEN, SCRPUT, SETDOS and TEXT. Usage: NDOS has a separate echo capability for batch files and for the command line. In a batch file, if you turn ECHO on, each line of the file is displayed before it is executed. If you turn ECHO off, each line is executed without being displayed. ECHO can also be used in a batch file to display a message on the screen. Regardless of the ECHO state, a batch file line that begins with the [@] character will not be displayed. To turn off batch file echoing, without displaying the ECHO command, use this line: @echo off ECHO commands in a batch file will send messages to the screen while the batch file executes, even if ECHO is set OFF. For example, this line will display a message in a batch file: echo Processing your print files... If you want to echo a blank line from within a batch file, enter: echo. You cannot use the command separator character [^] or the NDOS redirection symbols (| > <) in an ECHO message, unless you enclose them in quotation marks or precede them with the escape character (see page 86). NDOS defaults to ECHO ON in batch files. The current ECHO state is inherited by called batch files. You can change the default setting to ECHO OFF with the SETDOS /V0 command or the BatchEcho directive in NDOS.INI (see page 118). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 207 ___________________________________________________________________ If you turn the command line ECHO on, NDOS will display each command before it is executed. This will let you see the command line after NDOS has expanded all aliases and variables. The command line ECHO is most useful when you are learning how to use the advanced features of NDOS. This example will turn command line echoing on: c:\> echo on NDOS defaults to ECHO OFF during keyboard input. The keyboard ECHO state is independent of the batch file ECHO state; changing ECHO in a batch file has no effect on the display at the command prompt, and vice versa. To see the current echo state, use the ECHO command with no arguments. This displays either the batch file or command line echo state, depending on where the ECHO command is performed. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 208 ___________________________________________________________________ ECHOS (New) Purpose: Display a message without a trailing carriage return and line feed. Format: ECHOS message See also: ECHO, SCREEN, SCRPUT, TEXT, and VSCRPUT. Usage: ECHOS is useful for outputting text when you don't want NDOS to add a carriage return/linefeed pair. You can use ECHOS when you need to redirect control sequences to your printer; this example sends the sequence "Esc P" to the printer on LPT1: c:\> echos eP > lpt1: You cannot use the command separator character [^] or the NDOS redirection symbols [|><] in an ECHOS message, unless you enclose them in quotation marks or preceded them with the escape character (see page 86). ## ECHOS does not translate or modify the message text. For example, carriage return characters are not translated to carriage return/linefeed pairs. ECHOS sends only the characters you enter (after NDOS escape character and back quote processing as described above). The only character you cannot put into an ECHOS message is the NUL character (ASCII 0). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 209 ___________________________________________________________________ ENDLOCAL (New) Purpose: Restore the saved disk drive, directory, environment, and alias list. Format: ENDLOCAL See also: SETLOCAL. ## Usage: The SETLOCAL command in a batch file saves the current disk drive, default directory, all environment variables, and the alias list. ENDLOCAL restores everything that was saved by the previous SETLOCAL command. For example, this batch file fragment saves the drive, current working directory, and environment variables, changes the drive and directory, sets some environment variables, runs the program TEST1, and then restores the original values: setlocal cdd d:\test set path=c:\;c:\dos;c:\util set lib=d:\lib test1 endlocal SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL can only be used in batch files, not in aliases or from the command line. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 210 ___________________________________________________________________ ESET (New) Purpose: Edit environment variables and aliases. Format: ESET [/M] variable name... variable name: The name of an environment variable or alias to edit. /M(aster environment) See also: ALIAS, UNALIAS, SET, and UNSET. Usage: ESET allows you to edit environment variables and aliases using the NDOS line editing commands (see page 48). For example, to edit the executable file search path: c:\> eset path path=c:\;c:\dos;c:\util To create and then edit an alias: c:\> alias d dir /d/j/p c:\> eset d d=dir /d/j/p ESET will search for environment variables first and then aliases. If you have an environment variable and an alias with the same name, ESET will only be able to edit the environment variable. NDOS normally limits environment variable and alias names to 80 characters, and their contents to 255 characters. However if you use special techniques to create a longer environment variable, ESET will edit it provided the variable contains no more than 511 characters of text. Option: ## /M(aster environment): Edit an environment variable in the master environment rather than the local environment. This option is only useful from a secondary command shell (for example, when an application has "shelled to DOS"). /M only works for environment variables; it cannot be used to edit the primary shell's aliases. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 211 ___________________________________________________________________ EXCEPT (New) Purpose: Perform a command on all available files except those specified. Format: EXCEPT (file) command file: The file or files to exclude from the command. command: The command to execute, including all appropriate arguments and switches. See also: ATTRIB. Usage: EXCEPT provides a means of executing a command on a group of files and/or subdirectories, and excluding a subgroup from the operation. The command can be a NDOS internal command or alias, an external command, or a batch file. You may use wildcards to specify the files to exclude from the command. The first example erases all the files in the current directory except those beginning with MEMO and those ending in .WKS. The second example copies all the files and subdirectories on drive C: to drive D: except those in C:\MSC and C:\DOS, using the COPY command: c:\> except (memo*.* *.wks) erase *.* c:\> except (c:\msc c:\dos) copy c:\*.* d:\ /s ## If you use EXCEPT with filename completion (see page 52) to get the filenames inside the parentheses, type a space after the open parenthesis before entering a partial filename or pressing Tab. Otherwise, the command line editor will treat the open parenthesis as the first character of the filename to be completed. ## EXCEPT prevents operations on the specified file(s) by setting the hidden attribute, performing the command, and then clearing the hidden attribute. If the command is aborted in an unusual way, you may need to use the ATTRIB command to "unhide" (-H) the file(s). ## EXCEPT will not work with programs or commands that ignore the hidden attribute or which work explicitly with hidden files, including DEL /Z and the /H (process hidden files) switch available in some NDOS file processing commands. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 212 ___________________________________________________________________ ## You can use command grouping (see page 84) to execute multiple commands with a single EXCEPT. For example, the following command copies all files in the current directory whose extensions begin with .DA, except the .DAT files, to the D:\SAVE directory, then changes the first two characters of the extension of the copied files to .SA. This example should be entered on one line: c:\data> except (*.dat) (copy *.da* d:\save ^ ren *.da* *.sa*) ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 213 ___________________________________________________________________ EXIT (Enhanced) Purpose: Return from a secondary command processor. Format: EXIT [value] value: The exit code to return (0 - 255). Usage: Some application programs will start a secondary copy of the command processor to allow you to execute DOS commands. To return to the application again, type: c:\> exit ## If you specify a value, EXIT will return that value to the program that started NDOS. For example: c:\> exit 255 ## The value is a number you can use to inform the program of some result, such as the success or failure of a batch file. This feature is most useful for systems which use batch files to automate their operation, such as bulletin boards, or custom application programs like databases that shell to NDOS to perform certain tasks. ## You cannot EXIT from the primary command processor. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 214 ___________________________________________________________________ FOR (Enhanced) Purpose: Repeat a command for several values of a variable. Format: FOR [/A[[:][-]rhsda]] %var IN ([@]set) [DO] command ... %var: The variable to be used in the command ("FOR variable"). set: A set of values for the variable. command: A command or group of commands to be executed for each value of the variable. /A(ttribute select) Usage: NDOS begins the FOR command by creating a set. It then executes a command for every member of the set. The command can be a NDOS internal command or alias, an external command, or a batch file. Normally, the set is a list of files specified with wildcards. For example, if you use this line in a batch file: for %x in (*.txt) do list %x NDOS will create a list of all files in the current directory with the extension .TXT. It sets the FOR variable %x equal to each of the filenames in turn, and executes the LIST command for each of the files. The set can include multiple files or an include list, like this: for %x in (d:\*.txt;*.doc;*.asc) do type %x The set can also be made up of text instead of filenames. For example, to display the free space on drives C:, D:, and E:, you could use: for %drive in (c d e) do free %drive: When the set is made up of text or several separate filenames (not an include list), the elements must be separated by spaces, tabs, commas, or the switch character (normally a slash [/]). ## You can also set the FOR variable equal to each line in a file by placing an [@] in front of the filename. If you have a file called DRIVES.TXT that contains a list of drives on your computer, one drive name per line ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 215 ___________________________________________________________________ (with a ":" after each drive letter), you can print the free space on each drive this way: for %d in (@drives.txt) do free %d > prn ## Because the [@] is also a valid filename character, FOR first checks to see if the file exists with the [@] in its name (e.g., @DRIVES.TXT). If so, the filename is treated as a normal argument. If it doesn't exist, FOR uses the filename (without the [@]) as the file from which to retrieve text. ## NDOS will accept either % or %% in front of the variable name. You can use either form whether the FOR command is typed from the command line or is part of an alias or batch file. The variable name can be up to 80 characters long. The word DO is optional. ## If you use a single-character FOR variable name NDOS will give that name priority over any environment variable which starts with the same letter, in order to maintain compatibility with the traditional FOR command. For example, the following command tries to add a: and b: to the end of the PATH, but will not work as intended: c:\> for %p in (a: b:) do path %path;%p The "%p" in "%path" will be interpreted as the FOR variable %p followed by the text "ath", which is not what was intended. To get around this, use a different letter or a longer name for the FOR variable, or use square brackets around the variable name (see page 71). ## The following example uses FOR with variable functions to delete the .BAK files for which a corresponding .TXT file exists in the current directory (this should be entered on one line): c:\docs> for %file in (*.txt) do if exist %@name[%file].txt del %@name[%file].bak ## You can use command grouping (see page 84) to execute multiple commands for each element in the list. For example, the following command copies each .WKQ file in the current directory to the D:\WKSAVE directory, and then changes the extension of each file in the current directory to .SAV. This example should be entered on one line: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 216 ___________________________________________________________________ c:\text> for %file in (*.wkq) do (copy %file d:\wksave\ ^ ren %file *.sav) ## In a batch file you can use GOSUB to execute a subroutine for every element in the set. Within the subroutine the FOR variable can be used just like any environment variable. This is a convenient way to execute a complex sequence of commands for every element in the set without CALLing another batch file. ## One unusual use of FOR is to execute a collection of batch files or other commands with the same parameter. For example, you might want to have three batch files all operate on the same data file. The FOR command could look like this (this should all be entered on one line): c:\> for %x in (filetest fileform fileprnt) do %x datafile NDOS will expand this to three separate commands: filetest datafile fileform datafile fileprnt datafile ## The variable that FOR uses (the %X in the example above) is created in the environment and then erased when the FOR command is done. Because of this, you must be careful not to use the name of one of your environment variables as a FOR variable. For example, a command that begins c:\> for %path in (... will write over your current path setting and then erase the path variable completely. ## FOR statements can be nested. The permissible nesting level depends on the amount of free space in the NDOS internal stack. ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 217 ___________________________________________________________________ Options: ## /A(ttribute select): Process only those files that have the specified attribute(s). /A will be used only when processing wildcard filenames in the set. It will be ignored for filenames without wildcards or other items in the set. Preceding the attribute character with a hyphen [-] will process those files that DON'T have that attribute set. The attributes are: R Read-only D Subdirectory H Hidden A Archive S System If no attributes are listed at all (e.g. FOR /A ...), FOR will process all files including hidden and system files. If attributes are combined, all the specified attributes must match for a file to be included. For example, /A:RHS will include only those files with all three attributes set. See page 168 for more information on file attributes. For example, to process only those files with the archive attribute: for /a:a %%f in (*.*) echo %%f needs a backup! ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 218 ___________________________________________________________________ FREE (New) Purpose: Display the total disk space, total bytes used, and total bytes free on the specified (or default) drive(s). Format: FREE [drive: ...] drive: One or more drives to include in the report. See also: MEMORY. Usage: FREE provides the same disk information as the external DOS command CHKDSK, but without the wait, since it does not check the integrity of the file and directory structure of the disk. A colon [:] is required after each drive letter. This example displays the status of drives A: and C: c:\> free a: c: Volume in drive A: is unlabeled 1,213,952 bytes total disk space 1,115,136 bytes used 98,816 bytes free Volume in drive C: is DEVELOPMENT 42,496,000 bytes total disk space 36,851,712 bytes used 5,644,288 bytes free If you are using DOS 4.0 or later, the disk serial number will appear after the drive label or name. Some networks with large server disk drives (256 MB or more) may report disk space values that are too small when FREE is used. If this occurs, it is because the network software does not provide a way to return larger values to NDOS. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 219 ___________________________________________________________________ GLOBAL (New) Purpose: Execute a command in the current directory and its subdirectories. Format: GLOBAL [/H /I /Q] command command: The command to execute, including arguments and switches. /H(idden directories) /Q(uiet) /I(gnore exit codes) Usage: GLOBAL performs the command first in the current directory and then in every subdirectory under the current directory. The command can be a NDOS internal command or alias, an external command, or a batch file. The first example erases all the files with a .BAK extension in every directory on C. The second example copies the files in every directory on drive A: to the directory C:\TEMP: c:\> global erase *.bak a:\> global copy *.* c:\temp ## You can use command grouping (see page 84) to execute multiple commands in each subdirectory. For example, the following command copies each .TXT file in the current directory and all of its subdirectories to drive A:. It then changes the extension of each of the copied files to .SAV: c:\> global (copy *.txt a: ^ ren *.txt *.sav) ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. Options:## /H(idden directories): Forces GLOBAL to look for hidden directories. If you don't use this switch, hidden directories are ignored. ## /I(gnore exit codes): If this option is not specified, GLOBAL will terminate if the command returns a non-zero exit code. Use /I if you want command to continue in ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 220 ___________________________________________________________________ additional subdirectories even if it returns an error in a previous subdirectory. /Q(uiet): Do not display the directory names as each directory is processed. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 221 ___________________________________________________________________ GOSUB (New) Purpose: Execute a subroutine in the current batch file. Format: GOSUB label label: The batch file line label at the beginning of the subroutine. See also: CALL, GOTO and RETURN. ## Usage: NDOS allows subroutines in batch files. A subroutine begins with a label (a colon followed by a word) and ends with a RETURN command. The subroutine is invoked with a GOSUB command from another part of the batch file. The RETURN command ends a subroutine; execution of the batch file will continue with the command following the original GOSUB. GOSUB allows you to create subroutines within a batch file (to call other batch files, see CALL). The subroutine must start with a label that begins with a colon [:] and which appears on a line by itself. NDOS ignores case differences when matching labels. The subroutine must end with a RETURN statement. After the RETURN, NDOS will continue processing the batch file with the command following the GOSUB command. The following batch file fragment calls a subroutine which displays the directory and returns: echo Calling a subroutine gosub subr1 echo Returned from the subroutine quit :subr1 dir /a/w return If the label doesn't exist, the batch file is terminated with the error message "Label not found." GOSUB saves the IFF state, so IFF statements inside a subroutine won't interfere with IFF statements in the part of the batch file from which the subroutine was called. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 222 ___________________________________________________________________ Subroutines can be nested. The permissible nesting level depends on the amount of free space in the NDOS internal stack. ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 223 ___________________________________________________________________ GOTO (Compatible) Purpose: Branch to a specified line inside the current batch file. Format: GOTO [/I] label label: The batch file line label to branch to. /I(FF continues) See also: GOSUB. Usage: After a GOTO command in a batch file, the next line to be executed will be the one immediately after the label. The label must begin with a colon [:] and appear on a line by itself. NDOS ignores case differences when matching labels. This batch file fragment checks for the existence of the file CONFIG.SYS. If the file exists, NDOS jumps to C_EXISTS and copies all the files from the current directory to the root directory on A:. Otherwise, NDOS prints an error message and exits. if exist config.sys goto C_EXISTS echo CONFIG.SYS doesn't exist - exiting. quit :C_EXISTS copy *.* a:\ If the label doesn't exist, the batch file is terminated with the error message "Label not found." To avoid errors in the processing of nested IFF statements, if /I is not used GOTO cancels all active IFF statements. This means that a normal GOTO (without /I) inside an IFF statement must branch outside all IFF statements, and may not branch to any label that is between an IFF and the corresponding ENDIFF. This includes branches inside the current IFF statement. Options:## /I(FF continues): Prevents GOTO from canceling IFF statements. Use this option only if you are absolutely certain that your GOTO command is branching entirely within the current active IFF statement, and not into another IFF statement or a different IFF nesting level. Using /I under any other conditions will cause an error later in your batch file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 224 ___________________________________________________________________ HISTORY (New) Purpose: Display, add to, clear, or read the history list. Format: HISTORY [/A command /F /P /R filename] /A(dd) /P(ause) /F(ree) /R(ead) See also: LOG Usage: NDOS keeps a list of the commands you have entered on the command line. See page 49 for information on command recall, which allows you to use the history list to repeat or edit commands you have typed. The HISTORY command lets you view and manipulate the command history list directly. If no parameters are entered, HISTORY will display the current command history list: c:\> history With the options explained below, you can clear the list, add new commands to the list without executing them, save the list in a file, or read a new list from a file. The number of commands saved in the history list depends on the length of each command line. The history list size can be specified at startup from 256 to 8192 characters (see page 115). The default size is 1024 characters. ## You can use the HISTORY command as an aid in writing batch files. Any time you have executed a series of commands that you'd like to save as the basis for a batch file, simply redirect the output of HISTORY to a file: c:\> history > newbatch Then edit the output file to contain only the commands you want in the batch file, and save it under the appropriate name. If you know you're going to use HISTORY this way, you may want to use the /F switch to clear the history first, so that your output file isn't cluttered with too many extraneous commands. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 225 ___________________________________________________________________ ## You can disable the history list or specify a minimum command line length to save with the HistMin directive in the NDOS.INI file. Options:## /A(dd): Add a command to the history list. This performs the same function as the Ctrl-K key at the command line (see page 49). /F(ree): Erase all entries in the command history list. /P(rompt): Wait for a key after displaying each page of the list. ## /R(ead): Read the command history from the specified file and append it to the history list currently held in memory. You can save the history list by redirecting the output of HISTORY to a file. This example saves the command history to a file called HISTFLE and reads it back again immediately. If you leave out the second line, NDOS will append the contents of the file to the current history list instead of replacing the current history list with the file copy: c:\> history > histfile c:\> history /f c:\> history /r histfile If you need to save your history at the end of each day's work, you might use commands like this in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: if exist c:\histfile history /r c:\histfile alias shut*down history > c:\histfile This restores the previous history list if it exists, then defines an alias which will save the history before shutting off the system. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 226 ___________________________________________________________________ IF (Enhanced) Purpose: Execute a command if a condition or set of conditions is true. Format: IF [NOT] condition [.AND. | .OR. | .XOR. [NOT] condition ...] command condition: A test to determine if the command should be executed. command: The command to execute if the condition is true. See also: IFF. Usage: IF is normally used only in aliases and batch files. It is always followed by one or more conditions and then a command. NDOS first evaluates the conditions. If they are true, NDOS executes the command. Otherwise, the command is ignored. If you add a NOT before a condition, the command is executed only when the condition is false. You can link conditions with .AND., .OR., or .XOR., and you can nest IF statements. The conditions can test strings, numbers, the existence of a file or subdirectory, the errorlevel returned from the preceding external command, and the existence of alias names and internal commands. The command can be an alias, a NDOS internal command, an external command, or a batch file. The entire IF statement, including all conditions and the command, must fit on one line. ## You can use command grouping (see page 84) to execute multiple commands if the condition is true. For example, the following command tests if any .TXT files exist. If they do, they are copied to drive A: and their extensions are changed to .TXO: if exist *.txt (copy *.txt a: ^ ren *.txt *.txo) (The IFF command provides a more structured method of executing multiple commands if a condition or set of conditions is true.) ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 227 ___________________________________________________________________ FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. Conditions: The following conditional tests are available in both the IF and IFF commands. They fit into three categories: string tests, numeric tests, and system tests. The tests can use environment variables, NDOS internal-variables and variable functions (see pages 73 and 77), filenames, and literal text and values as their arguments. Spaces are required on either side of the test condition in all cases, except == which will work with or without spaces around it. If you use one of the string or numeric tests like == or GE, NDOS decides whether to compare the values as numbers or as strings by examining the first character of each value. If both values begin with a digit, NDOS performs a numeric comparison. If either value does not begin with a digit, a string comparison is done. To force a string comparison, use double quotation marks around the values you are testing. The difference between numeric and string comparisons is best explained by looking at the way values with and without blanks are tested. For example, consider comparing the values 2 and 19. Numerically, 2 is smaller, but as a string it is "larger" because its first digit is larger than the first digit of 19. So the first of these conditions will be true, and the second will be false: if 2 lt 19 ... if "2" lt "19" ... String Tests: For the string tests, NDOS ignores case differences. When you compare strings, you should always enclose the arguments in double quotation marks in order to avoid syntax errors which may occur if one of the argument values is empty. string1 == string2 string1 EQ string2 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 228 ___________________________________________________________________ If string1 is equal to string2, then the condition is true. string1 != string2 string1 NE string2 If string1 is not equal to string2, then the condition is true. string1 LT string2 If string1 is less than string2, then the condition is true. string1 LE string2 If string1 is less than or equal to string2, then the condition is true. string1 GT string2 If string1 is greater than string2, then the condition is true. string1 GE string2 If string1 is greater than or equal to string2, then the condition is true. This first batch file fragment runs a program called MONOPROG if a monochrome monitor is attached to the system: if "%_monitor" == "mono" monoprog The second batch file fragment tests for a string value: input "Enter your selection : " %%cmd if "%cmd" == "WP" goto wordproc if "%cmd" NE "GRAPHICS" goto badentry This example calls GO.BTM if the first two characters of the file MYFILE contain the string "GO" (enter this example on one line): if "%@substr[%@line[myfile,0],0,2]"=="GO" call go.btm ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 229 ___________________________________________________________________ Numeric Tests: The numeric tests available are exactly the same as the string tests (==, EQ, !=, NE, LT, LE, GT, and GE), but compare values as numbers instead of strings. Both values must begin with a digit or NDOS will perform a string test instead. The first example below tests whether there is more than 500K of free base memory; the second tests for more than 2 MB of free EMS memory: c:\> if %@dosmem[k] gt 500 echo Over 500K free c:\> if %@ems[m] gt 2 echo Over 2 MB EMS free This example shows how to implement a simple loop inside a batch file. The lines between the labels :loop and :loopdone will be executed 100 times: set limit=100 set counter=1 :loop if %counter gt %limit goto loopdone rem DO SOME WORK HERE set counter=%@eval[%counter + 1] goto loop :loopdone System Tests: The final conditions test the system status. You can also use NDOS pseudo-variables and variable functions to test other parts of the system status. ERRORLEVEL [condition] n This test retrieves the exit code of the preceding external program. By convention, programs return an exit code of 0 when they are successful and a number between 1 and 255 to indicate an error. The condition can be any of the numeric operators listed above (EQ, !=, GT, etc.). If no relational operator is specified, the default is GE. The comparison between the exit code and n is done numerically. Not all programs return an explicit exit code. For programs which do not, the behavior of ERRORLEVEL is undefined and may be erratic. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 230 ___________________________________________________________________ EXIST filename If the file exists, the condition is true. You can use wildcards in the filename, in which case the condition is true if any file matching the wildcards exists. ISALIAS aliasname If the specified name is an alias, the condition is true. [ISDIR | DIREXIST] path If the subdirectory exists, the condition is true. For compatibility with DR-DOS, DIREXIST may be used as a synonym for ISDIR. ISINTERNAL command If the specified command is an active, internal NDOS command, the condition is true. Commands can be activated and deactivated with the SETDOS /I command. The first batch file fragment below tests for the existence of A:\JAN.DOC before copying it to drive C:. if exist a:\jan.doc copy a:\jan.doc c:\ This example tests the exit code of the previous program and stops batch file processing if an error occurred: if errorlevel==0 goto success echo "External Error -- Batch File Ends!" cancel Combining Tests: You can negate the result of any test with NOT, and combine tests of any sort with .AND., .OR., and .XOR. Test conditions are always scanned from left to right -- there is no implied order of precedence, as there is in some programming languages. When two tests are combined with .AND., the result is true if both of the individual tests are true. When two tests are combined with .OR., the result is ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 231 ___________________________________________________________________ true if either (or both) of the individual tests are true. When two tests are combined with .XOR., the result is true only if one of the tests is true and the other is false. This example runs a program called HIGHRES if either an EGA or VGA video adapter is in use: if "%_video"=="EGA" .or. "%_video"==vga highres ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 232 ___________________________________________________________________ IFF (New) Purpose: Allow IF/THEN/ELSE conditional execution of commands. Format: IFF [NOT] condition [.AND. | .OR. | .XOR. [NOT] condition ...] THEN ^ commands [ELSEIFF condition THEN ^ commands ] ... [ELSE ^ commands ] ^ ENDIFF condition: A test to determine if the command(s) should be executed. commands: One or more commands to execute if the condition(s) is true. If you use multiple commands, they must be separated by carets or be placed on separate lines of a batch file. See also: IF Usage: IFF is similar to the IF command, except that it can perform one set of commands when a condition or set of conditions is true and different commands when the conditions are false. IFF can execute multiple commands when the conditions are true or false; IF normally executes only one command. IFF imposes no limit on the number of commands and is generally a "cleaner" and more structured command than IF. IFF is always followed by one or more conditions, which NDOS evaluates. If they are true, NDOS executes the commands that follow the word THEN. Additional conditions can be tested with ELSEIFF. If none of these conditions are true, NDOS executes the commands that follow the word ELSE. In both cases, after the selected commands are executed, processing continues after the word ENDIFF. If you add a NOT before the condition, the THEN commands are executed only when the condition is false and the ELSE commands are executed only when the condition is true. You can link conditions with .AND., .OR., or .XOR., and you can nest IFF statements up to 15 deep. The conditions can test strings or numbers, the existence of a file or subdirectory, the errorlevel returned from ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 233 ___________________________________________________________________ the preceding external command, and the existence of alias names and internal commands. See the IF command for a list of the possible conditions. The commands can include any NDOS internal command or alias, external command, or batch file. The following batch file fragment tests the monitor type (monochrome or color), and sets the appropriate colors and prompt (enter the "prompt" lines on one line of the batch file): iff "%_monitor" == "color" then color bright white on blue ^ cls prompt=$e[s$e[1;1f$e[41;1;37m$e[K Path: $p$e[u$e[44;37m$n$g else prompt=$e[s$e[1;1f$e[0;7m$e[K Path: $p$e[u$e[0m$n$g endiff The alias in this second example checks to see if the argument is a subdirectory. If so, the alias deletes the subdirectory's files and removes it (enter this on one line): c:\> alias prune `iff isdir %1 then ^ del /p /sxz %1 ^ rd %1 ^ else ^ echo Not a directory!^endiff` ## If you do a GOTO inside an IFF, NDOS normally assumes you are jumping outside of all active IFF statements. If you attempt to GOTO another part of the same IFF, the middle of another IFF, or a different IFF nesting level, you will eventually receive an "unknown command" error on a subsequent ELSE, ELSEIFF, or ENDIFF statement. You can override this restriction with GOTO /I, but do so only if you are absolutely certain that your GOTO command is branching entirely within the current active IFF statement. Using /I under any other conditions will cause an error later in your batch file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 234 ___________________________________________________________________ INKEY (New) Purpose: Get a single keystroke from the user and store it in an environment variable. Format: INKEY [/K"keys" /Wn] [prompt] %%varname prompt: Optional text that is displayed as a prompt. varname: The variable that will hold the user's keystroke. /K (valid keystrokes) W(ait) See also: INPUT and KEYSTACK. Usage: INKEY optionally displays a prompt for user input. Then it waits for a specified time or indefinitely for a keystroke, and places the keystroke into an environment variable. It is normally used in batch files and aliases to get a menu choice or other single- key input from the user. Along with the INPUT command, INKEY allows great flexibility in reading user input from within a batch file or alias. If prompt text is included in an INKEY command, it is displayed while INKEY waits for input. The following batch file fragment prompts for a character and stores it in the variable NUM: inkey Enter a number from 1 to 9: %%num INKEY reads standard input for the keystroke, so it will accept keystrokes from a redirected file or from the KEYSTACK. You can supply a list of valid keystrokes with the /K option. Standard keystrokes with ASCII values between 1 and 255 are stored directly in the environment variable. Extended keystrokes (for example, function keys and cursor keys) are stored as a string in decimal format, with a leading @ (for example, the F1 key is @59). The Enter key is stored as an extended keystroke, with the code @28. See Appendix B (page 315) for a list of the ASCII and extended key codes. If you press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-BREAK while INKEY is waiting for a key, execution of an alias will be terminated, and execution of a batch file will be ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 235 ___________________________________________________________________ suspended while you are asked whether to cancel the batch job. Options: /K["keys"]: Specify the permissible keystrokes. The list of valid keystrokes should be enclosed in double quotation marks. For alphabetic keys the validity test is not case-sensitive. You can specify extended keys by enclosing their names in square brackets (within the quotation marks), for example: inkey /k"ab[Alt-F10]" Enter A, B, or Alt-F10 %%var If an invalid keystroke is entered NDOS will echo the keystroke if possible, beep, move the cursor back one character, and wait for another keystroke. Key names within square brackets are entered in the form: Prefix-Keyname The key prefix is optional, and can be any one of the following: Alt followed by A - Z, 0 - 9, F1 - F12, or Bksp Ctrl followed by A - Z, F1 - F12, Bksp, Enter, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Ins, or Del Shift followed by F1 - F12 or Tab. The possible key names are: A - Z Enter PageDown 0 - 9 Up Home F1 - F12 Down End Esc Left Ins Bksp Right Del Tab PageUp All key names must be spelled as shown. The prefix must be separated from the key name with a dash. /W(ait): Timeout period, in seconds, to wait for a response. If no keystroke is entered by the end of the timeout period, INKEY returns with the variable unchanged. You can specify /W0 to return immediately if there are no keys waiting in the keyboard buffer. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 236 ___________________________________________________________________ For example, the following batch file fragment waits up to ten seconds for a character, then tests to see if a "Y" was entered: set net=N inkey /K"YN" /w10 Load the network (Y/N)? %%net iff "%net" == "Y" then rem Commands to load the network go here endiff ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 237 ___________________________________________________________________ INPUT (New) Purpose: Get a string from the keyboard and save it in an environment variable. Format: INPUT [/Wn] [prompt] %%varname prompt: Optional text that is displayed as a prompt. varname: The variable that will hold the user's input. /W(ait) See also: INKEY and KEYSTACK. Usage: INPUT optionally displays a prompt for user input. Then it waits for a specified time or indefinitely for the user's entry. It places any characters typed by the user into an environment variable. INPUT is normally used in batch files and aliases to get multi- key input from the user. Along with the INKEY command, INPUT allows great flexibility in reading user input from within a batch file or alias. If prompt text is included in an INPUT command, it is displayed while INPUT waits for input. Standard NDOS command line editing keys may be used to edit the input string as it is entered. All characters entered up to, but not including, the carriage return are stored in the variable. The following batch file fragment prompts for a string and stores it in the variable FNAME: input Enter the filename: %%fname INPUT reads standard input, so it will accept text from a re-directed file or from the KEYSTACK. Option: /W(ait): Timeout period, in seconds, to wait for a response. If no keystroke is entered by the end of the timeout period, INPUT returns with the variable unchanged. If you enter a key before the timeout period, INPUT will wait indefinitely for the remainder of the line. You can specify /W0 to return immediately if there are no keys waiting in the keyboard buffer. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 238 ___________________________________________________________________ KEYSTACK (New) Purpose: Feed keystrokes to a program or command automatically. Format: KEYSTACK [/Wn] ["abc"] [keyname] [!] ... "abc": Literal characters to be placed in the Keystack. keyname: Name or code for a key to be placed in the Keystack. !: Signal to clear the Keystack and the keyboard buffer. /W(ait) Usage: KEYSTACK takes a series of keystrokes and feeds them to a program or command as if they were typed at the keyboard. When the program has used all of the keystrokes in the keystack buffer, it will begin to read the keyboard for input, as it normally would. KEYSTACK will only work if the memory-resident program KSTACK.COM has been loaded. KSTACK is usually loaded from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (see page 105). (It can also be loaded with an INSTALL= directive in CONFIG.SYS if your version of DOS supports INSTALL=; see your DOS manual for details). If KSTACK is not loaded the KEYSTACK command will display an error message. If you are using a multitasking system such as DESQview or Windows, see page 142 for information on loading KSTACK within a window. Characters entered within double quotation marks ("abc") will be stored "as is" in the keyboard buffer. The only items allowed outside double quotation marks are key names, key codes, and the /W option. Key names are entered in the form: [Prefix-]Keyname The key prefix can be left out, in which case any of the key names can be used except A - Z or 0 - 9. If the key prefix is used it can be any one of the following: Alt followed by A - Z, 0 - 9, F1 - F12, or Bksp ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 239 ___________________________________________________________________ Ctrl followed by A - Z, F1 - F12, Bksp, Enter, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Ins, or Del Shift followed by F1 - F12 or Tab. The possible key names are: A - Z Enter PageDown 0 - 9 Up Home F1 - F12 Down End Esc Left Ins Bksp Right Del Tab PageUp All key names must be spelled as shown. The prefix and key name must be separated by a dash. For example, Alt-F10 This is okay Alt F10 The space will cause an error If you prefer, you can use a numeric value instead of a key name. Use the ASCII code for an ASCII, extended ASCII, or control character. Use the scan code preceded by an at-sign [@] for extended key codes like F1 or the cursor keys. In general, you will find it easier to use the names described above rather than key numbers. See Appendix B (page 315) for an explanation and list of keyboard codes. An exclamation mark [!] will clear all pending keystrokes, both in the KEYSTACK buffer and in the keyboard buffer. For example, to start ProComm Plus and skip the opening screen you could use the command: c:\comm> keystack 32 ^ pcplus This places a space (ASCII code 32) in the buffer, then runs ProComm Plus. When ProComm looks for a keystroke to end the display of the opening screen the keystroke is already in the buffer, so the opening screen is removed immediately. The KEYSTACK command must be executed before running the program which is going to receive the stacked keystrokes. This places the keystrokes into the buffer first, so the program can find them when it runs. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 240 ___________________________________________________________________ You can store a maximum of 255 characters in the KEYSTACK buffer. Each time the KEYSTACK command is executed, it will clear any remaining keystrokes stored by a previous KEYSTACK command. You may need to experiment with your programs and insert delays (see the /W option) to find a keystroke sequence that works for any particular program. Programs that bypass DOS and the BIOS for keyboard input cannot read keystrokes entered with KEYSTACK. If you use KEYSTACK then run such a program, the keystrokes will not appear in the program, but may appear at the prompt when you exit the program and return to NDOS. ## KEYSTACK treats the number zero as a special case; it is used with programs that flush the keyboard buffer. When KEYSTACK processes a key value of zero, it tells the program the buffer is clear, so subsequent keystrokes will be accepted normally. Some programs will require several zeros before they will accept input; you may need to experiment to determine the correct number. For example, the following batch file starts Lotus 1-2- 3 and loads the file specified on the command line when the batch file is invoked (the KEYSTACK command should be entered on one line): pushd c:\123 keystack 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter "/FR" 0 "%1" Enter 123 popd The sequence of "0 Enter" pairs tells Lotus 1-2-3 that the keyboard buffer is empty, then passes Lotus 1-2-3 a carriage return, repeating this sequence five times. This gets Lotus 1-2-3 to a point where an empty spreadsheet is displayed. The rest of the KEYSTACK line issues a File Retrieve command (/FR), simulates an empty keyboard buffer once more, enters the filename passed on the batch command line (%1), and finally enters a carriage return to end the filename. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 241 ___________________________________________________________________ ## Here's the same command defined as an alias (enter this on one line): alias 321 pushd c:\123 ^ keystack 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter 0 Enter "/FR" 0 "%1" 13 ^ 123 ^ popd ## Some programs require both the keyboard "scan code" and the ASCII value to be stacked. To stack both codes, calculate the value ((256 * scan code) + ASCII code) and enter that numeric value as an argument for KEYSTACK. For example, for the Enter key, the scan code is 28 and the ASCII code is 13, so to stack both values use ((256 * 28) + 13) or KEYSTACK 7181. Try this approach if a "normal" KEYSTACK command does not work (for example, if you use KEYSTACK 13 for the Enter key and the program doesn't see the correct character). To stack combined key codes you must use the numeric value, not the key name (see Appendix B on page 315 for keyboard codes). Options:## /W(ait): Delay the next keystroke in the KEYSTACK buffer by a specified number of clock "ticks". A clock tick is approximately 1/18 second. The number of clock ticks to delay should be placed immediately after the W, and must be between 1 and 65535 (65535 ticks is about one hour). You can use the /W option as many times as desired and at any point in the string of keystrokes except within double quotation marks. Some programs may need the delays provided by /W in order to receive keystrokes properly from KEYSTACK. The only way to determine what delay is needed is to experiment. Sometimes a combination of a delay and an "empty buffer" signal (a zero) are required. For example, to start the program CADX and send it an F7, a delay of one second, an indication that the keyboard buffer is empty, and a carriage return: c:\> keystack F7 /W18 0 Enter ^ cadx ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 242 ___________________________________________________________________ LH/LOADHIGH (Compatible) Purpose: Load a memory resident program into an Upper Memory Block (UMB). Format: LOADHIGH | LH pathname [parameters] or LOADHIGH [/L:region1[,minsize1] [;region2[,minsize2] [...] [/S]] pathname [parameters] /L:region1[,minsize1] [;region2[,minsize2]]... Specifies the regions of memory to load the program. Region1 specifies the number of the first memory region; minsize1 specifies the (optional) minimum size. Region2 and minsize2 specify the (optional) second region. You can specify as many regions as you want. /S: Shrinks a UMB to its minimum size while the program is loading. MemMaker primarily uses /S. pathname: The program to load into memory. parameters: Any command line parameters for the loaded program. Usage: LH and LOADHIGH are synonyms. You can use either one. LOADHIGH requires MS-DOS 5.0 or above. If you load memory-resident programs into UMBs, you will have more room in base memory for application programs. If your system has no UMBs, or if the program is larger than the largest UMB, then LOADHIGH will load the program into conventional base memory. For example, to load the program C:\UTIL\CACHE.EXE into high memory: c:\> loadhigh c:\util\cache.exe In addition to MS-DOS 5.0 or above, LOADHIGH requires the DOS=UMB command in your CONFIG.SYS file. It can only be used to load programs into UMBs managed by MS- DOS 5.0 and above. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 243 ___________________________________________________________________ If you use a memory manager like 386MAX or QEMM to manage your UMBs, rather than the MS-DOS DOS=UMB directive, then LOADHIGH will not work, and you must use the equivalent command supplied with your memory manager in order to load programs high. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 244 ___________________________________________________________________ LIST (New) Purpose: Display a file, with forward and backward paging and scrolling. Format: LIST [/H /S /W] file... file: A file or list of files to display. /H(igh bit off) /W(rap) /S(tandard input) See also: TYPE. Usage: LIST provides a much faster and more flexible way to view a file than TYPE, without the overhead of loading and using a text editor. LIST is normally used for displaying ASCII text files. Most other files contain non-alphabetic characters and may be unreadable. For example, to display a file called MEMO.DOC: c:\> list memo.doc LIST uses the cursor pad to scroll through the file. The following keys have special meanings: Home Display the first page of the file. End Display the last page of the file. Esc Exit the current file. Ctrl-C Quit LIST. UpArrow Scroll up one line. DownArrow Scroll down one line. LeftArrow Scroll left eight columns. RightArrow Scroll right eight columns. Ctrl-LeftArrow Scroll left 40 columns. Ctrl-RightArrow Scroll right 40 columns. F1 Call the NDOS online help F Prompt and search for a string (case is ignored). H Toggle the "strip high bit" (/H) option. N Find next matching string (case is ignored). P Print the entire file on LPT1. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 245 ___________________________________________________________________ W Toggle the "line wrap" (/W) option. LIST saves the search string used by F and N, so you can LIST multiple files and search for the same string simply by pressing N in each file, or repeat your search the next time you use LIST. ## Most of the LIST keystrokes can be reassigned with NDOS.INI file directives (see pages 121 and 125). ## You can set the default colors used by LIST (and SELECT) using the ListColors directive in NDOS.INI. If ListColors is not used the LIST display will use the current screen colors. Options:## /H(igh bit off): Strip the high bit from each character before displaying. This is useful when displaying files created by some word processors that turn on the high bit for formatting purposes. If you are displaying a word processor text file and see unusual characters mixed in with the text, try this option. /S(tandard input): Read from the standard input rather than a file. This allows you to redirect command output and view it with LIST. For example, to use LIST to display the output of DIR: c:\> dir | list /s To redefine the DIR command to always display its output via LIST, use this alias: c:\> alias `dir *dir %& | list /s` /W(rap): Wrap the text at the right margin. This option is useful when displaying files that don't have a carriage return at the end of each line. The horizontal scrolling keys are intended for use when the display is not wrapped. If you wrap the display with /W (or with the W key from within LIST), then use the scrolling keys, the wrapping will change as each line is scrolled. This may produce an unusual display, depending on the structure of the file you are viewing. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 246 ___________________________________________________________________ LOADBTM (New) Purpose: Switch a batch file to or from BTM mode. Format: LOADBTM [ON | OFF] Usage: NDOS recognizes two kinds of batch files: .BAT and .BTM. Batch files executing in BTM mode run two to five times faster than in BAT mode. However, BTM mode should not be used to load memory-resident programs, nor should BTM mode be used for self-modifying batch files. Batch files automatically start in the mode indicated by their file extension, .BAT or .BTM. The LOADBTM command turns BTM mode on and off. It can be used to switch modes in either a .BAT or .BTM file. It can also be used to display the current batch mode from inside a batch file when it is used with no argument. LOADBTM can only be used within a .BAT or .BTM file. It is most often used to switch a .BAT file into BTM mode after memory-resident programs are loaded, to convert a .BAT file to BTM mode without changing its extension, or to switch a .BTM file into BAT mode in order to load memory-resident programs. Using LOADBTM to repeatedly switch modes within a .BAT or .BTM file is not efficient. In most cases, the speed gained by running some parts of the file in BTM mode will be more than offset by the speed lost through repeated loading of the file each time BTM mode is invoked. The following .BAT file fragment loads some memory resident programs (TSRs), and then switches to BTM mode: rem Because this file has a .BAT extension, rem the initial default state is LOADBTM OFF rem Loading TSRs... ansi.com mouse.com rem Switch to high-speed (BTM) mode now that rem TSRs are loaded loadbtm on path c:\;c:\util;c:\dos alias /r c:\aliases ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 247 ___________________________________________________________________ For more information on .BTM and .BAT files, see page 91. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 248 ___________________________________________________________________ LOG (New) Purpose: Save a log of commands to a disk file. Format: LOG [/W file] [ON | OFF | text] file: The name of the file to hold the log. text: An optional message that will be added to the log. /W(rite to). See also: HISTORY. Usage: LOG keeps a record of all internal and external commands you use. Each entry includes the current system date and time, along with the actual command after any alias or variable expansion. You can use the log file as a record of your daily activities. By default, LOG writes commands to the file NDOSLOG in the root directory of the boot drive. Entering LOG with no parameters displays the log status (ON or OFF): c:\> log LOG is OFF To enable or disable logging, add the word "ON" or "OFF" after the LOG command: c:\> log on Entering LOG with text writes a message to the log file, even if LOG is set OFF. This allows you to enter headers in the log file: c:\> log "Started work on the database system" The LOG file format looks like this: [mm-dd-yy hh:mm:ss] command The LOG output can be used as the basis for writing batch files, but you will probably find HISTORY more effective for this purpose. Options: /W(rite): This switch specifies a different filename for the LOG output. It also automatically performs a ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 249 ___________________________________________________________________ LOG ON command. For example, to turn logging on and write the log to C:\LOG\LOGFILE: c:\> log /w c:\log\logfile ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 250 ___________________________________________________________________ MD/MKDIR (Compatible) Purpose: Create a subdirectory. Format: MD pathname... or MKDIR pathname... pathname: The name of one or more directories to create. See also: RD. Usage: MD and MKDIR are synonyms. You can use either one. MD creates a subdirectory anywhere in the directory tree. To create a subdirectory from the root, start the pathname with a backslash [\]. For example, this command creates a subdirectory called MYDIR in the root directory: c:\> md \mydir If no path is given, the new subdirectory is created in the current directory. This example creates a subdirectory called DIRTWO in the current directory: c:\mydir> md dirtwo To create a directory from the parent of the current directory (that is, to create a sibling of the current directory), start the pathname with two periods and a backslash [..\]. MD creates one directory at a time. If you need to create the directory C:\ONE\TWO\THREE and none of the named directories exist, you must create each directory separately. However, because MD accepts multiple arguments, you can still create all three directories in sequence with one command: c:\> md \one \one\two \one\two\three ## DOS will not accept directory names longer than 64 characters. You must be sure that the complete directory name from the root to your deepest subdirectory fits within the 64 character restriction. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 251 ___________________________________________________________________ MEMORY (New) Purpose: Display the amount and status of system RAM. Format: MEMORY Usage: MEMORY displays information about the RAM in your system. It lists the amount of total RAM in your system and the amount available for applications after DOS, NDOS, and memory-resident programs have been loaded; the amount of EMS expanded memory, XMS extended memory, and non-XMS extended memory; the HMA status; and the amount of memory NDOS is using for environment variable space, alias space, and history space: c:\> memory 655,360 bytes total RAM 534,464 bytes free 1,687,552 bytes total EMS memory 1,097,728 bytes free 914,432 bytes total XMS memory (HMA in use) 512 bytes total environment 195 bytes free 1,024 bytes total alias 452 bytes free 1,024 bytes total history You can use the information from the MEMORY display to fine tune your system, to aid in setting the proper alias and environment sizes in NDOS.INI, and to be sure that you have sufficient memory for your largest applications. If you compare the free RAM displayed by MEMORY with the free RAM displayed by CHKDSK and some memory map programs, MEMORY will usually show a slightly higher value. The difference is the size of the environment passed to these external programs; most memory mapping programs do not count the passed environment as free space, but MEMORY does. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 252 ___________________________________________________________________ MOVE (New) Purpose: Move files to a new directory and drive. Format: MOVE [/C /D /H /N /P /Q /R /S /U] source... destination source: A file or list of files to move. destination: The new location for the files. /C(hanged) /Q(uiet) /D(irectory) /R(eplace) /H(idden and system) /S(ubdirectory tree) /N(othing) /U(pdate) /P(rompt) See also: COPY and RENAME. Usage: The MOVE command moves one or more files from one directory to another, whether the directories are on the same drive or not. It has the same effect as copying the files to a new location and then deleting the originals. Like COPY and RENAME, MOVE works with single files, multiple files, and sets of files specified with an include list. Like those commands, MOVE never changes the attributes of the files that it operates on. The simplest MOVE command moves a single source file to a new location and, optionally, gives it a new name. These two examples both move one file from drive C: to the root directory on drive A: c:\> move myfile.dat a:\ c:\> move myfile.dat a:\savefile.dat In both cases, MYFILE.DAT is removed from drive C: after it has been copied to drive A:. If a file called MYFILE.DAT in the first example, or SAVEFILE.DAT in the second example, already existed on drive A:, it would be overwritten. (This demonstrates the difference between MOVE and RENAME. MOVE will move files between drives and will overwrite the destination file if it exists; RENAME will not.) If you MOVE multiple files, the destination must be a directory name. MOVE will move each file into the destination directory with its original name (if the target is not a directory, MOVE will display an error message and exit): ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 253 ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> move *.wks *.txt c:\finance\myfiles You cannot move a file to a character device like the printer, or to itself. ! Be careful when you use MOVE with the SELECT command. If you SELECT multiple files and if the target is not a directory (because of a misspelling, for example) each file will be moved in turn to the target file, overwriting the previous file, and then the original will be erased before the next file is moved. At the end of the command, all of the original files will have been erased and only the last file will exist as the target file. You can avoid this problem by using square brackets with SELECT instead of parentheses (be sure that you don't allow the command line to get too long -- watch the character count in the upper left corner while you're selecting files). MOVE will then receive one list of files to move instead of a series of individual filenames, and it will detect the error and halt. You can also add a backslash [\] to the end of the destination name to ensure that it is the name of a subdirectory (see below). When you move files to another directory, if you add a backslash [\] to the end of the destination name MOVE will display an error message if the name does not refer to an existing directory. You can use this feature to keep MOVE from treating a mistyped destination directory name as a filename, and attempting to move all source files to that name. The /D option performs the same function but will also prompt to see if you want to create the destination directory if it doesn't exist. The /S option always tries to create the destination directory if necessary, so this feature will not be effective when /S is used. ## MOVE first attempts to rename the file(s), which is the fastest way to move files between subdirectories on the same drive. If that fails (the destination is on a different drive or already exists), MOVE will copy the file(s) and then delete the originals. Options: /C(hanged files): Move files only if the destination file exists and is older than the source (see also /U). This option is useful for updating the files in one directory from those in another without moving any newly created files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 254 ___________________________________________________________________ /D(irectory): Requires that the destination be a directory. If the destination does not exist, MOVE will prompt to see if you want to create it. If the destination exists as a file, MOVE will fail with an "Access denied" error. Use this option to avoid having MOVE accidentally interpret your destination name as a filename when it's really a mistyped directory name. ## /H(idden): Move all files, including hidden and system files. ## /N(othing): Do everything except actually move the file(s) This option is most useful for testing what a complex MOVE command will do. /P(rompt): Ask the user to confirm each move by pressing Y or N. An N response will skip that particular file. /Q(uiet): Don't display filenames as they are moved. /R(eplace): Prompt for a Y or N response before overwriting an existing destination file. ## /S(ubdirectories): Move an entire subdirectory tree to another location. MOVE will attempt to create the destination directories if they don't exist, and will remove empty subdirectories after the move. When /D is used with /S, you will be prompted if the first destination directory does not exist, but subdirectories below that will be created automatically by MOVE. /U(pdate): Move each source file only if it is newer than a matching destination file or if a matching destination file does not exist (also see /C). This option is useful for moving new files from one directory to another. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 255 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOSHELP (New, External command) Purpose: Display help for NDOS and DOS commands. Format: NDOSHELP [topic] topic: An ndoshelp topic, NDOS internal command, or DOS external command. /M(onochrome) /X (disable mouse) /Sn (set mouse speed) Usage: NDOSHELP displays a brief description and the proper syntax of both NDOS and DOS commands. If you simply type c:\> ndoshelp you will see a list of all help topics. You can select a topic by using the cursor keys and then pressing Enter. If you want to avoid the opening list, use a topic or command name. For example, if you want help with the NDOS COPY command, type c:\> ndoshelp copy You can also start NDOSHELP by pressing F1 at the NDOS prompt (see page 55). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 256 ___________________________________________________________________ PATH (Enhanced) Purpose: Display or alter the list of directories that NDOS will search for executable and batch files that are not in the current directory. Format: PATH [directory[;directory...]] directory: The full name of a directory to include in the path setting. See also: SET and ESET. Usage: When NDOS is asked to execute an external command (a .COM, .EXE, .BTM, or .BAT file or executable extension), it first looks for the file in the current directory. If it fails to find an executable file there, it then searches each of the directories specified in the path setting, in the order that they are included. For example, the following PATH command directs NDOS to search subdirectories for an executable file in the following order: the current directory, the root directory on C:, the DOS subdirectory on C:, and the UTIL subdirectory on C: c:\> path c:\;c:\dos;c:\util The list of directories to search can be set or viewed with the PATH command. The list is stored as an environment string, and can also be set or viewed with the SET command and edited with the ESET command. Directory names in the path must be separated by semicolons [;]. NDOS shifts each directory name to upper case. This maintains compatibility with programs which can only recognize upper case directory names in the path variable. If you modify your path with the SET or ESET command, you may include directory names in lower case. These may cause trouble with some programs, which assume that all path entries have been shifted to upper case. If you enter PATH with no parameters, NDOS displays the current search path: c:\> path PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\UTIL ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 257 ___________________________________________________________________ If you enter PATH and a semicolon, NDOS clears the search path and will search only the current directory (this is the default at system startup). Some applications also use the PATH variable to search for their data files. ## If you include an explicit file extension on the external command name (for example, WP.EXE), NDOS will only look for files with that name and extension in the current directory and every directory in the path setting. It will not look for other executable files with the same base name. ## If you have a directory of a single period [.] in the path, NDOS will not search the current directory first, but will wait and search the current directory when it reaches the "." in the path. This allows you to delay (but not prevent) NDOS from searching the current directory for executable files and files with executable extensions. In rare cases, this feature may not be compatible with applications which use the path to search for their files; if you experience a problem, you will have to remove the "." as a path entry while using any such application. ## NDOS can create a PATH as long as 250 characters (the command line is limited to 255 characters, and "PATH " takes five). Some applications are written to expect a PATH no longer than the traditional limit of 123 characters. If you have extended your path beyond the traditional limit and experience unusual problems with application programs, see page 148 for tips on resolving the difficulty. ## If you specify an invalid directory in the path, NDOS will skip that directory and continue searching with the next directory in the path. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 258 ___________________________________________________________________ PAUSE (Enhanced) Purpose: Suspend batch file or alias execution. Format: PAUSE [text] text: The message to be displayed as a user prompt. Usage: A PAUSE command will suspend execution of a batch file or alias, giving you the opportunity to change disks, turn on the printer, etc. PAUSE waits for any key to be pressed and then continues execution. You can specify the text that PAUSE displays while it waits for a keystroke, or let NDOS use the default message: Press any key when ready... For example, the following batch file fragment prompts the user before erasing files (the PAUSE command should be entered on one line): pause Press Ctrl-C to abort, any other key to erase all .LST files erase *.lst If you press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-BREAK while PAUSE is waiting for a key, execution of an alias will be terminated, and execution of a batch file will be suspended while you are asked whether you want to cancel the batch job. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 259 ___________________________________________________________________ POPD (New) Purpose: Return to the disk drive and directory at the top of the directory stack. Format: POPD [*] See also: DIRS and PUSHD. Usage: Each time you use the PUSHD command, NDOS saves the current disk drive and directory on its internal directory stack. POPD restores the last drive and directory that was saved with PUSHD and removes that entry from the stack. You can use these commands together to change directories, perform some work, and return to the starting drive and directory. This example saves and changes the current disk drive and directory with PUSHD, and then restores it. The command line prompt is set to show the current directory: c:\> pushd d:\database\test d:\database\test> pushd c:\wordp\memos c:\wordp\memos> pushd a:\123 a:\123> popd c:\wordp\memos> popd d:\database\test> popd c:\> You can use the DIRS command to see the complete list of saved drives and directories (the directory stack). The POPD command followed by an asterisk [*] clears the directory stack without changing the current drive and directory. ## If the directory on the top of the stack is not on the current drive, POPD will switch to the drive and directory on the top of the stack without changing the default directory on the current drive. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 260 ___________________________________________________________________ PROMPT (New) Purpose: Change the NDOS command line prompt. Format: PROMPT [text] text: Text to be used as the NDOS command line prompt. Usage: You can change and customize the command line prompt at any time. The prompt can include normal text and system information such as the current drive and directory, the time and date, and the amount of memory available. You can create an informal "Hello, Bob!" prompt or an official-looking prompt full of impressive information. The PROMPT command sets the command line prompt. The special characters that can be included in a PROMPT command are listed below. For example, to set the prompt to the current date and time, with a ">" at the end: c:\> prompt $d $t $g Wed Dec 2, 1992 10:29:19 > To set the prompt to the current date and time, followed by the current drive and directory in upper case on the next line, with a ">" at the end: c:\> prompt $d $t$_$P$g Wed Dec 2, 1992 10:29:19 C:\> You can include the PROMPT command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set the prompt whenever your system is rebooted. The default prompt is $n$g (drive name plus ">") on drives A: and B:, and $p$g (current drive and directory plus ">") on all other drives. If you enter PROMPT with no arguments, NDOS resets the prompt to the default. The PROMPT command sets the environment variable PROMPT, so to view the current prompt setting use the command: c:\> set prompt ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 261 ___________________________________________________________________ If the prompt is not set at all NDOS will not use the PROMPT environment variable, in which case the SET command above will give a "Not in environment" error. ## Along with literal text, special characters, and ANSI sequences, you can include the text of any environment variable, NDOS internal variable, or variable function (see pages 73 and 77) in a prompt. For example, if you want to include the amount of free base memory in the command prompt, plus the current drive and directory, you could use this command: c:\> prompt (%%@dosmem[K]K) $p$g (601K) c:\data> Notice that the @DOSMEM function is shown with two leading percent signs [%]. If you used only one percent sign, the @DOSMEM function would be expanded once when the PROMPT command was executed, instead of every time NDOS displayed the prompt. The result would be that the amount of memory would never change from the value it had when you entered the PROMPT command. You could also use back quotes to delay expanding the variable function until the prompt is displayed: c:\> prompt (%@dosmem[K]K) $p$g ## If you have an ANSI-compatible driver installed, you can include ANSI escape sequences in the PROMPT text. This example uses ANSI sequences to set a prompt that displays the shell level, date, time and path in color on the top line of the screen (enter the command as one line): c:\> prompt $e[s$e[1;1f$e[41;1;37m$e[K[$z] $d Time: $t$h$h$h Path: $p$e[u$e[0;32m$n$g ## Traditionally, it was possible to use the PROMPT command in a batch file to transmit ANSI.SYS control sequences to the screen (for example, to redefine function keys). This technique will not work with NDOS, which doesn't display a prompt within batch files; hence the characters in the PROMPT string are never sent to ANSI.SYS. To send ANSI sequences in NDOS, use the ECHO command, substituting a Ctrl-X followed by an e for $e in the PROMPT string. ## You may find it helpful to define a different prompt in secondary shells, by using $z to display the shell level, or by placing a PROMPT command in your NSTART ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 262 ___________________________________________________________________ file and using IF or IFF statements to set the appropriate prompt for different shells. Prompt Characters: The prompt text can contain special commands in the form $?, where ? is one of the characters listed below. b The vertical bar character [|] c The open parenthesis [(] d Current date, in the format: Fri Jan 1, 1993 D Current date, in the format: Fri 1-01-93 e The ASCII ESC character (decimal 27) f The close parenthesis [)] g The > character h BACKSPACE over the previous character l The < character n Current disk letter p Current disk and directory (lower case) P Current disk and directory (upper case) q The = character r The numeric exit code of the last external command s The space character t Current time, in the format hh:mm:ss v DOS version number, in the format 3.10 xd: Current directory on drive d:, in lower case Xd: Current directory on drive d:, in upper case z Current NDOS shell nesting level; the primary command processor is shell 0. $ The $ character _ CR/LF (go to beginning of a new line) ## The format for the date ($d) depends on the country code defined in the CONFIG.SYS file or by the CHCP command. The default format is U.S. (mm-dd-yy). The European format is dd-mm-yy; the Japanese is yy-mm-dd. The separator used for the time ($t) will also be changed based on the country definition. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 263 ___________________________________________________________________ PUSHD (New) Purpose: Save the current disk drive and directory, optionally moving to a new drive and directory. Format: PUSHD [pathname] pathname: The name of the new default drive and directory. See also: DIRS, POPD and CDPATH on page 107. Usage: PUSHD saves the current drive and directory on a "last in, first out" directory stack. The POPD command returns to the last drive and directory that was saved by PUSHD. You can use these commands together to change directories, perform some work, and return to the starting drive and directory. The DIRS command displays the contents of the directory stack. To save the current drive and directory, without changing directories: c:\> pushd c:\> If a pathname is specified as part of the PUSHD command, the current drive and directory are saved and the specified pathname becomes the new current drive and directory. If the pathname includes a drive letter, PUSHD changes to the specified directory on the new drive without changing the default current directory on the original drive. This example saves the current directory and changes to C:\WORDP\MEMOS, then returns to the original directory with POPD: c:\> pushd \wordp\memos c:\wordp\memos> popd c:\> ## The directory stack can hold up to 255 characters or about 10 to 20 entries depending on the length of the directory names. If you exceed the directory stack size, the oldest directory is removed before adding the current directory. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 264 ___________________________________________________________________ ## If PUSHD can't change to the specified directory, it will look for the CDPATH environment variable. PUSHD will append the specified directory name to each directory in CDPATH and attempt to change to that drive and directory, until the first match or the end of the CDPATH argument. This allows you to use CDPATH as a quick way to find commonly used subdirectories which have unique names. For example, if you are currently in the directory C:\WP\LETTERS\JANUARY and you'd like to change to D:\SOFTWARE\UTIL, you could enter the command: c:\wp\letters\january> pushd d:\software\util However if the D:\SOFTWARE directory is listed in your CDPATH variable, and is the first directory in the list with a UTIL subdirectory, you can simply enter the command: c:\wp\letters\january> pushd util and NDOS will change to D:\SOFTWARE\UTIL. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 265 ___________________________________________________________________ QUIT (New) Purpose: Terminate the current batch file. Format: QUIT [value] value: The exit code from 0 to 255 to return to NDOS or to the previous batch file. See also: CANCEL. Usage: QUIT provides a simple way to exit a batch file before reaching the end of the file. If you QUIT a batch file called from another batch file, you will be returned to the previous file at the line following the original call. This example batch file fragment checks to see if the user entered "quit" and exits if true. input Enter your choice : %%option if "%option" == "quit" quit To end all batch file processing, use the CANCEL command. ## If you specify a value, QUIT will set the ERRORLEVEL or exit code (see the IF command, and the %? variable on page 74) to that value. ## You can also use QUIT to terminate an alias. If you QUIT an alias while inside a batch file, QUIT will end both the alias and the batch file and return you to the NDOS command prompt or to the calling batch file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 266 ___________________________________________________________________ RD/RMDIR (Enhanced) Purpose: Remove one or more subdirectories. Format: RD pathname... or RMDIR pathname... pathname: The name of a subdirectory to remove. See also: MD. Usage: RD and RMDIR are synonyms. You can use either one. RD removes directories from the directory tree. For example, to remove the subdirectory MEMOS from the subdirectory WP, you can use this command: c:\> rd \wp\memos Before using RD, you must delete all files and subdirectories (and their files) in the pathname you want to remove. Remember to remove hidden and read- only files as well as normal files. ## To use a single command to remove entire subdirectory trees including all files, see the /S and /X options of the DEL command. ## You cannot remove the root directory, the current directory (.), or any directory above the current directory in the directory tree. ## You can use wildcards in the pathname. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 267 ___________________________________________________________________ REBOOT (New) Purpose: Do a warm or cold system reboot. Format: REBOOT [/C /V] /C(old reboot) /V(erify) ## Usage: REBOOT will completely restart your computer. It is comparable to pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete (a warm reboot) or to turning the power off and back on or pressing the reset button (a cold reboot). A reboot is necessary to activate any changes to your CONFIG.SYS file, and may also be used if you wish to restart the system with an altered NSTART or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The following example prompts you to verify the reboot, then does a cold boot: c:\> reboot /c/v REBOOT defaults to performing a warm boot, with no prompting. REBOOT flushes the disk buffers, resets the drives, and waits one second before rebooting, to allow disk caching programs to finish writing any cached data. ! Some system BIOSes, memory managers, multitaskers, or memory-resident programs (TSRs) may intercept attempts to reboot your system, and defeat them entirely, convert a cold boot request to a warm boot or vice versa, or in very rare cases, hang the system -- requiring a reboot! As a result you may need to experiment with which reboot options work best for your system hardware and software configuration, and under rare circumstances REBOOT may not be useable on your system. Options: /C(old): Do a "cold" reboot. This is similar to turning the power off and back on, and may be necessary to properly initialize the system. REBOOT /C may not physically reset all hardware devices as thoroughly as actually turning off the power; its effect depends on the internal design of each hardware device and on your system configuration. /V(erify): Prompt for confirmation (Y or N) before rebooting. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 268 ___________________________________________________________________ REM (Compatible) Purpose: Put a comment in a batch file. Format: REM [comment] comment: The text to include in the batch file. Usage: The REM command lets you place a remark or comment in a batch file. Batch file comments are useful for documenting the purpose of a batch file and the procedures you have used. For example rem This batch file provides a rem menu-based system for accessing rem word processing utilities. rem rem Clear the screen and get selection cls REM must be followed by a space or tab character and then your comment. Comments can be up to 255 characters long. NDOS will normally ignore everything on the line after the REM command, including quotation marks, redirection symbols, and other commands (see below for the exception to this rule). If ECHO is ON, NDOS will display the comment. Otherwise, NDOS will ignore it. If ECHO is ON and you don't want to display the line, preface the REM command with the @ character. ## You can use REM to create a zero-byte file if you use a redirection symbol immediately after the REM command. For example, to create the zero-byte file C:\FOO: c:\> rem>foo ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 269 ___________________________________________________________________ REN/RENAME (Enhanced) Purpose: Rename files or subdirectories. Format: REN [/N /P /Q /S] old_name... new_name or RENAME [/N /P /Q /S] old_name... new_name old_name: Original name of the file(s) or subdirectory. new_name: New name to use or new path on the same drive. /N(othing) /Q(uiet) /P(rompt) /S(ubdirectory) See Also: COPY and MOVE. Usage: REN and RENAME are synonyms. You may use either one. REN lets you change the name of a file or a subdirectory. You can also use REN to move one or more files to a new subdirectory on the same drive. (If you want to move files to a different drive, use MOVE.) In its simplest form, you simply give REN the old_name of an existing file or subdirectory and then a new_name. The new_name must not already exist -- you can't give two files the same name (unless they are in different directories). The first example renames the file MEMO.TXT to MEM.TXT. The second example changes the name of the \WORD directory to \WP: c:\> rename memo.txt mem.txt c:\> rename \word \wp You can also use REN to rename a group of files that you specify with wildcards, as multiple files, or in an include list. When you do, the new_name must use one or more wildcards to show what part of each filename to change. Both of the next two examples change the extensions of multiple files to .SAV: c:\> ren config.sys autoexec.bat nstart.btm *.sav c:\> ren *.txt *.sav REN can move one or more files to a different subdirectory on the same drive. When it is used for this purpose, REN requires one or more filenames for the old_name and a directory name for the new_name: ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 270 ___________________________________________________________________ c:\> ren memo.txt c:\wp\memos\ c:\> ren oct.dat nov.dat c:\data\save\ The final backslash in the last two examples is optional. If you use it, you force REN to recognize the last argument as the name of a directory, not a file. If you accidentally mistype the directory name, REN will report an error instead of renaming your files in a way that you didn't intend. Finally, REN can move files to a new directory and change their name at the same time if you specify both a path and filename for new_name. In this example, the files are renamed with an extension of .SAV as they are moved to a new directory: c:\> ren *.dat c:\data\save\*.sav When new_name refers to a file or files (rather than a directory), the file(s) must not already exist. Also, you cannot rename a subdirectory to a new location on the directory tree. ## REN does not change a file's attributes. The new_name file(s) will have the same attributes as old_name. Options: /N(othing): Do everything except actually rename the file(s). This option is useful for testing what a REN command will actually do. /P(rompt): Ask the user to confirm each move by pressing Y or N. An N response will skip that particular file. /Q(uiet): Don't display filenames as they are renamed. This option is most often used in batch files. /S(ubdirectory): Normally, you can rename a subdirectory only if you do not use any wildcards in the new_name. This prevents subdirectories from being renamed inadvertently when a group of files is being renamed with wildcards. /S will let you rename a subdirectory even when you use wildcards. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 271 ___________________________________________________________________ RETURN (New) Purpose: Return from a GOSUB (subroutine) in a batch file. Format: RETURN See also: GOSUB. ## Usage: NDOS allows subroutines in batch files. A subroutine begins with a label (a colon followed by a word) and ends with a RETURN command. The subroutine is invoked with a GOSUB command from another part of the batch file. The RETURN command ends a subroutine; execution of the batch file will continue on the line following the original GOSUB. The following batch file fragment calls a subroutine which displays the current directory: echo Calling a subroutine gosub subr1 echo Returned from the subroutine quit :subr1 dir /a/w return ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 272 ___________________________________________________________________ SCREEN (New) Purpose: Position the cursor on the screen and optionally display a message. Format: SCREEN row column [message] row: The new row location for the cursor. column: The new column location for the cursor. message: Optional text to display at the new cursor location. See also: ECHO, SCRPUT, TEXT, and VSCRPUT. Usage: SCREEN allows you to create attractive screen displays in batch files. You use it to specify where a message will appear on the screen. You can use SCREEN to create menu displays, logos, etc. The following batch file fragment displays a menu: @echo off ^ cls screen 3 10 Select a number from 1 to 4: screen 6 20 1 - Word Processing screen 7 20 2 - Spreadsheet screen 8 20 3 - Telecommunications screen 9 20 4 - Quit SCREEN does not change the screen colors. If you have ANSI.SYS installed and have set colors with CLS or COLOR, those colors will be used for the display. To display text in specific colors, use SCRPUT or VSCRPUT. The row and column values are zero-based, so on a standard 25 line by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. SCREEN checks for a valid row and column, and displays a "Usage" error message if either value is out of range. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 273 ___________________________________________________________________ SCRPUT (New) Purpose: Position the cursor on the screen and display a message in color. Format: SCRPUT row col [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg text row: Starting row col: Starting column fg: Foreground character color bg: Background character color text: The text to display The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: CLS, ECHO, SCREEN, TEXT, and VSCRPUT. Usage: SCRPUT allows you to create attractive screen displays in batch files. You use it to specify where a message will appear on the screen and what colors will be used to display the message text. You can use SCRPUT to create menu displays, logos, etc. SCRPUT works like SCREEN, but allows you to specify the display colors. It writes directly to the screen and does not require an ANSI driver. Only the first three characters of the color name and the attributes BRIGHT and BLINK are required. The row and column are zero-based, so on a standard 25 line by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. The following batch file fragment displays a menu in color (each SCRPUT command should be entered on one line): @echo off ^ cls white on blue scrput 3 10 bri whi on blue Select a number from 1 to 4: scrput 6 20 bri red on blue 1 - Word Processing scrput 7 20 bri yel on blue 2 - Spreadsheet scrput 8 20 bri gre on blue 3 - Telecommunications scrput 9 20 bri mag on blue 4 - Quit ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 274 ___________________________________________________________________ SELECT (New) Purpose: Interactively select files for a command. Format: SELECT [/A[:][-]rhsda /C /D /E /O[:][-]adeginrsu] [command] ... (files...)... command: The command to execute with the selected files. files: The files from which to select. Filenames may be enclosed in either parentheses or square brackets. The difference is explained below. /A(ttribute select) /E (use upper case) /C(ompression -- display) /O(rder) /D(isable colorization) Usage: SELECT allows you to select files for internal and external commands by using a full-screen "point and shoot" display. You can have SELECT execute a command once for each file you select, or have it create a list of files for a command to work with. The command can be a NDOS internal command or alias, an external command, or a batch file. If you use parentheses around the files, SELECT executes the command once for each file you have selected. During each execution, one of the selected files is passed to the command as an argument. If you use square brackets around files, the SELECTed files are combined into a single list, separated by spaces. The command is then executed once with the entire list presented as its command-line arguments. SELECT uses the UpArrow, DownArrow, PageUp, and PageDown keys to scroll through the file list. Use the + key or the spacebar to select a file (or unselect a marked file), and the - key to unselect a file. The * key will reverse all of the current marks (excluding subdirectories), and the / key will unmark everything. After marking the files, press Enter to execute the command. You can select a single file by moving the scroll bar to the filename and pressing Enter without marking any other files. To skip the files listed in the current display and go on to the next file specification inside the parentheses or brackets (if any), press the Escape key. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 275 ___________________________________________________________________ To cancel the current SELECT command entirely, press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break. In the simplest form of SELECT, you merely specify the command and then the list of files from which you will make your selection(s). For example: c:\> select copy (*.com *.exe) a:\ will let you select from among the .COM and .EXE files on the current drive. It will then invoke the COPY command to copy each file you select to drive A:. You will be able to select first from a list of all .COM files in the current directory, and then from a list of all .EXE files. If you want to select from a list of all the .COM and .EXE files mixed together, create an include list inside the parentheses by inserting a semicolon (see page 67 for information on include lists): c:\> select copy (*.com;*.exe) a:\ Finally, if you want the SELECT command to send a single list of files to COPY, instead of invoking COPY once for each file you select, put the filenames in square brackets instead of parentheses: c:\> select copy [*.com;*.exe] a:\ If you use brackets, you have to be sure that the resulting command (the word COPY, the list of files, and the destination drive in this example) is no more than 127 characters long for external commands and no more than 255 characters long for internal NDOS commands. The current line length is displayed by SELECT while you are marking files to help you to conform to these limits. The parentheses or brackets enclosing the filename(s) can appear anywhere within the command; SELECT assumes that the first set of parentheses or brackets it finds is the one containing the list of files from which you wish to make your selection. ## If you don't specify a command, the selected filename(s) will become the command. For example, this command defines an alias called UTILS that selects from the executable files in the directory C:\UTIL, and then ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 276 ___________________________________________________________________ executes them in the order marked (enter the alias on one line): c:\> alias utils select (c:\util\*.com;*.exe;*.btm;*.bat) ## If you want to use filename completion (see page 52) to enter the filenames inside the parentheses, type a space after the opening parenthesis. Otherwise the command line editor will treat the open parenthesis as the first character of the filename. ## You can set the default colors used by SELECT (and LIST) using the ListColors directive in NDOS.INI (see page 121). If ListColors is not used, the default colors will be set by the StdColors directive (page 121) or by the last CLS or COLOR command. ## If you have an ANSI driver loaded, you can display the filenames in color by setting the COLORDIR environment variable (the same colors will be used by the DIR command). The format for COLORDIR is: ext ... :[BRIght][BLInk] fg [ON bg]; ... where ext is the file extension, or one of the following file attributes: DIRS directory RDONLY read-only file HIDDEN hidden file SYSTEM system file ARCHIVE file modified since last backup. For example, to display the .COM and .EXE files in red, the .C and .ASM files in bright cyan, and the read-only files in blinking green (enter this on one line): c:\> set colordir=com exe:red; c asm:bright cyan; rdonly:blink green If you don't specify a background color, SELECT will use the current screen background color from the ListColors or StdColors directive or the last CLS or COLOR command (as described above). COLORDIR will not work properly unless you have an ANSI driver loaded. You can disable directory colorization within SELECT with the /D option. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 277 ___________________________________________________________________ When displaying descriptions, SELECT adds a right arrow [] at the end of the line if the description is too long to fit on the screen. This symbol will alert you to the existence of additional description text. ## Extended wildcards (for example "BA[KXC]" for .BAK, .BAX, and .BAC files) can be used in directory color specifications. See page 64 for more information on extended wildcards. ## When sorting filenames and extensions for the SELECT display, NDOS normally assumes that sequences of digits should be sorted numerically (for example, the file DRAW2 would come before DRAW03 because 2 is numerically smaller than 03), rather than strictly alphabetically (where DRAW2 would come second because "2" comes after "0"). You can defeat this behavior and force a strict alphabetic sort with the /O:a option. ## You may need to increase the NDOS internal stack size using the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI if you use extremely complex combinations of commands like EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT on the same command line, or use complex combinations of these commands in nested batch files or nested GOSUBs. See the StackSize directive on page 128 for more information. Options:## /A(ttribute select): Display only those files that have the specified attribute set. Preceding the attribute character with a minus [-] will display those files that don't have that attribute set. Attributes can also be combined. The attributes are: R Read-only D Subdirectory H Hidden A Archive S System If no attributes are listed at all (e.g. SELECT /A ...), SELECT will display all files and subdirectories including hidden and system files. If attributes are combined, all the specified attributes must match for a file to be included in the listing. For example, /A:RHS will display only those files with all three attributes set. See page 168 for more information on file attributes. /C(ompression): Display compression specifications for filenames, if applicable. Use /CH to display file compression ratio; /CH uses host allocation unit size. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 278 ___________________________________________________________________ ## /D(isable colorization): Temporarily turn off directory colorization within SELECT. /E (case): Display filenames in the traditional upper case format; also see SETDOS /U and the UpperCase directive in NDOS.INI. /O(rder): Set the sort order for the files. The order can be any combination of the following options: - Reverse the sort order for the next option a Sort names and extensions in standard ASCII order, rather than sorting numerically when digits are included in the name or extension d Sort by date and time (oldest first) e Sort by extension g Group subdirectories together i Sort by the file description n Sort by filename (this is the default) r Reverse the sort order for all options s Sort by size u Unsorted ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 279 ___________________________________________________________________ SET (Enhanced) Purpose: Display, create, modify, or delete environment variables. Format: SET [/M /P /R filename...] [name[=][value]] filename: The name of a file containing variable definitions. name: The name of the environment variable to define or modify. value: The new value for the variable. /M(aster) /R(ead from file) /P(ause) See also: UNSET and ESET. Usage: Every program and command inherits an environment, which is a list of variable names, each of which is followed by an equal sign and some text. Many programs use entries in the environment to modify their own actions. NDOS itself uses several environment variables (see page 106). See page 70 for more information on the environment. If you simply type the SET command with no options or arguments, it will display all the names and values currently stored in the environment. Typically, you will see an entry called COMSPEC, an entry called PATH, an entry called CMDLINE, and whatever other environment variables you and your programs have established: c:\> set COMSPEC=C:\NDOS.COM PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\UTIL CMDLINE=E:\UTIL\MAPMEM.EXE To add a variable to the environment, type SET plus the variable name, an equal sign, and the text: c:\> set mine=c:\finance\myfiles NDOS will convert the variable name to upper case but leave the text after the equal sign just as you entered it. If the variable already exists, its value will be replaced with the new text that you entered. Normally you should not put a space on either side of the equal sign. A space before the equal sign will ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 280 ___________________________________________________________________ become part of the name; a space after the equal sign will become part of the value. To display the contents of a single variable, type SET plus the variable name: c:\> set mine You can edit environment variables with the ESET command. To remove variables from the environment, use UNSET, or type SET plus a variable name and an equal sign: c:\> set mine= NDOS limits the variable name to a maximum of 80 characters, and the name plus the value to a maximum of 255 characters. ## Unless you use /M, SET only affects the environment of the current command processor and the programs it executes. If you EXIT to a parent command processor, the original environment will be unchanged. The size of the environment is specified by the Environment and EnvFree directives in NDOS.INI (see page 115) or by the /E: startup switch (see page 102). Options:## /M(aster): Display or modify the master environment rather than the local environment. This option only makes sense in a secondary command processor. /P(ause): Pause after displaying each page of environment entries. Press Ctrl-C to quit, or any other key to display the next page. ## /R(ead): Read environment variables from a file. This is much faster than loading variables from a batch file with multiple SET commands. The file is in the same format as the SET display, so SET /R can accept as input a file generated by redirecting SET output. For example, the following commands will save the environment variables to a file, and then reload them from that file: set > varlist set /r varlist You can load variables from multiple files by listing the filenames individually after the /R. You can add ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 281 ___________________________________________________________________ comments to a variable file by starting the comment line with a colon [:]. Lines in a SET /R file can be up to 511 characters long. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 282 ___________________________________________________________________ SETDOS (New) Purpose: Display or set the NDOS configuration. Format: SETDOS [/A? /C? /E? /I+|- command /L? /M? /N? /P? /R? /S?:? /U? /V?] /A(NSI) /N(o clobber) /C(ompound) /P(arameter character) /E(scape character) /R(ows) /I(nternal commands) /S(hape of cursor) /L(ine) /U(pper case) /M(ode for editing) /V(erbose) Usage: SETDOS allows you to customize certain aspects of NDOS to suit your personal tastes or the configuration of your system. Each of these options is described below. You can display the value of all SETDOS options by entering the SETDOS command with no parameters. Most of the SETDOS options can be initialized when NDOS starts through directives in the NDOS.INI file (see page 117). The name of the corresponding directive is listed in square brackets [ ] with each option; if none is listed, that option cannot be set from the NDOS.INI file. You can also define the SETDOS options in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or NSTART file, in aliases, or at the command line. Secondary shells automatically inherit most configuration settings currently in effect in the previous shell. If values have been changed by SETDOS since NDOS started, the new values will be passed to the secondary shell. For details on inheritance of SETDOS values by secondary shells and their relationship to NDOS.INI, see page 111. SETDOS /I settings are not inherited by secondary shells. If you want to use SETDOS /I- to disable commands in all shells, place the SETDOS command(s) in your NSTART file (see page 107), which is executed when any shell starts. Many of the options below are marked with ##. If you are a new user, skip these and read the /M, /S, and /U options, which are more common. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 283 ___________________________________________________________________ Options:## /A(NSI) [ANSI]: The ANSI option determines whether NDOS will attempt to use ANSI escape sequences for the CLS and COLOR commands. NDOS normally determines this itself, but if you are using a non-standard ANSI driver or your loading sequence is unusual, you may need to explicitly inform NDOS. /A0 allows NDOS to determine whether an ANSI driver is installed (the default). /A1 forces NDOS to assume an ANSI driver is installed. /A2 forces NDOS to assume an ANSI driver is not installed. ## /C(ompound character) [CommandSep]: The COMPOUND option sets the character used for separating multiple commands on the same line. The default is the caret [^]. You cannot use any of the redirection characters (| > <), or any of the whitespace characters (blank, tab, comma, or equal sign) as the command separator. This example changes the COMPOUND character to a tilde [~]: c:\> setdos /c~ ## /E(scape character) [EscapeChar]: The ESCAPE option sets the character used to suppress the normal meaning of the following character. Any character following the escape character will be passed unmodified to the command line. For example, you could include a redirection character such as > as part of a command- line argument if the character was preceded by the escape character. The default escape character is Ctrl-X (ASCII 24; appears on screen as an up arrow []). You cannot use any of the redirection characters (| > <) or the whitespace characters (blank, tab, comma, or equal sign) as the escape character. Certain characters (b, e, f, n, r, and t) have special meanings when immediately preceded by the escape character. See page 86 for additional details. ## /I(nternal): The INTERNAL option allows you to disable or enable internal NDOS commands. To disable a command, precede the command name with a minus [-]. To re-enable a command, precede it with a plus [+]. For example, to disable the internal LIST command to force NDOS to use an external command: c:\> setdos /i-list ## /L(ine) [LineInput]: The LINE option controls how NDOS gets its input from the command line. /L0 tells NDOS to use character input (the default). /L1 tells ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 284 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS to use line input (via DOS service INT 21h function 0Ah, like COMMAND.COM). /L1 will disable command line editing, history recall, and filename completion; it should only be used if it is needed for compatibility with a specific program. If you have a program that requires line input, you can use the following line in an alias or batch file to change the line input option just for that single program: setdos /L1 ^ program %& ^ setdos /L0 See the file APPNOTES.DOC for information on programs which require this option. /M(ode) [EditMode]: The MODE option controls the initial line editing mode. /M0 forces NDOS to start editing in overstrike mode (the default). /M1 forces NDOS to start editing in insert mode. ## /N(o clobber) [NoClobber]: The NOCLOBBER option controls output redirection (see page 59). /N0 means existing files will be overwritten by simple redirection (with >) and that appending (with >>) does not require the file to exist already. This is the default. /N1 means existing files may not be overwritten by simple output redirection, and that when appending the output file must exist. A /N1 setting can be overridden with the [!] character. If you use /N1, you may have problems with a few unusual programs that shell to DOS to run a command with redirection, and expect to be able to overwrite an existing file. ## /P(arameter character) [ParameterChar]: This option sets the character used after a percent sign to specify all or all remaining command line arguments in a batch file or alias (e.g. %& or %n&; see pages 92 and 165). The default is the ampersand [&]. ## /R(ows) [ScreenRows]: The ROWS option sets the number of screen rows used by the video display. Normally NDOS detects the screen size, but if you have a non- standard display you may need to set it explicitly. This option does not affect screen scrolling (that is controlled by your video BIOS or ANSI.SYS); it is used only for LIST, SELECT, the paged output options (i.e., TYPE /P), and error checking in the screen output commands. /S(hape) [CursorOver, CursorIns]: The SHAPE option sets the NDOS cursor shape. The format is /So:i where ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 285 ___________________________________________________________________ o is the cursor size for overstrike mode, i the cursor size for insert mode. The size is entered as a percentage of the total character height. The default values are 10:100 (an underscore cursor for overstrike mode, and a block cursor for insert mode). Because of the way video BIOSes remap the cursor shape, you may not get a smooth progression in the cursor size from 0% - 100%. To disable the cursor, enter /S0:0. /U(pper) [UpperCase]: The UPPER option controls the default case (upper or lower) for filenames displayed by NDOS internal commands like COPY and DIR. /U0 displays filenames in lower case (the default). /U1 displays filenames in the traditional upper case. ## /V(erbose) [BatchEcho]: The VERBOSE option controls the default for command echoing in batch files. /V0 disables echoing of batch file commands unless ECHO is explicitly set ON. /V1 enables echoing of batch file commands unless ECHO is explicitly set OFF. /V2 forces echoing of all batch file commands, even if ECHO is set OFF or the line begins with an "@". /V2 is intended for debugging, and can be set with SETDOS but cannot be set with the BatchEcho directive in NDOS.INI. /V1 is the default. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 286 ___________________________________________________________________ SETLOCAL (New) Purpose: Save a copy of the current disk drive, directory, environment, and alias list. Format: SETLOCAL See also: ENDLOCAL. Usage: SETLOCAL is used in batch files to save the default disk drive and directory, the environment, and the alias list to a reserved block of memory. You can then change their values and later restore the original values with the ENDLOCAL command. For example, this batch file fragment saves everything, changes the disk and directory, modifies some variables, runs a program, and then restores the original values: setlocal cdd d:\test set path=c:\;c:\dos;c:\util set lib=d:\lib rem run some program here endlocal SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL are not nestable within a batch file. However, you can have multiple SETLOCAL / ENDLOCAL pairs within a batch file, and nested batch files can each have their own SETLOCAL/ENDLOCAL. You cannot use SETLOCAL in an alias or at the command line. ## NDOS automatically performs an ENDLOCAL at the end of a batch file if you forget to do so. If you invoke one batch file from another without using CALL, the first batch file is terminated, and an automatic ENDLOCAL is performed. The second batch file inherits the drive, directory, aliases, and environment variables as they were prior to any unterminated SETLOCAL. ## Do not load memory-resident programs (TSRs) from a batch file while SETLOCAL is in effect. If you do, when ENDLOCAL is executed and the memory used by SETLOCAL is released, a "hole" will be left in memory below the TSR. This is not usually harmful, but wastes memory. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 287 ___________________________________________________________________ SHIFT (Enhanced) Purpose: Allows the use of more than 127 replaceable parameters in a batch file. Format: SHIFT [n] Usage: SHIFT is provided for compatibility with older batch files, where it was used to access more than ten replaceable parameters. NDOS supports 128 replaceable parameters (%0 to %127), so you may not need to use SHIFT for batch files running exclusively under NDOS. SHIFT moves each of the batch file replaceable parameters n positions to the left. The default value for n is one. SHIFT 1 moves the parameter in %1 to position %0, the parameter in %2 becomes %1, etc. You can reverse a SHIFT by giving a negative value for n (i.e., after SHIFT -1, the former %0 is restored, %0 becomes %1, %1 becomes %2, etc.). SHIFT also affects the NDOS parameters %n& (command line tail) and %# (number of command arguments). For example, create a batch file called TEST.BAT: echo %1 %2 %3 %4 shift echo %1 %2 %3 %4 shift 2 echo %1 %2 %3 %4 shift -1 echo %1 %2 %3 %4 Executing TEST.BAT produces the following results: c:\> test zero one two three four five six zero one two three one two three four three four five six two three four five ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 288 ___________________________________________________________________ SWAPPING (New) Purpose: Enable or disable NDOS swapping, or display the swapping state. Format: SWAPPING [ON | OFF] ## Usage: SWAPPING temporarily disables or enables the swapping of the transient portion of NDOS to expanded memory, to XMS extended memory, or to disk (see page 115). Setting SWAPPING OFF is particularly useful for speeding up batch files (including AUTOEXEC.BAT) when NDOS is using disk swapping. When you are running several small programs from a batch file, disk swapping can sometimes cause a noticeable delay. However, if you disable swapping, there will be about 90K less memory available for large application programs. The following batch file fragment disables swapping, runs several programs, and then re-enables swapping: swapping off c:\util\mouse c:\video\ansi.com cls bright white on blue c:\bin\cache.com swapping on If you enter SWAPPING with no arguments, NDOS displays the current swapping type (XMS, EMS, Disk, or None) and state: c:\> swapping SWAPPING (XMS) is ON Setting SWAPPING OFF does not close the disk swap file or release any reserved EMS or XMS memory. You may have trouble if you load memory-resident programs (TSRs) with SWAPPING OFF and unload them with SWAPPING ON, or vice versa. Many TSRs expect the system to be in the same state when they unload that it was in when they loaded, and variation from this norm may cause the TSR to unload improperly or hang your system, requiring a reboot. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 289 ___________________________________________________________________ TEE (New) Purpose: Copy standard input to both standard output and a file. Format: TEE [/A] file... file: One or more files that will receive the "tee-d" output. /A(ppend) See also: Y; redirection options (page 59). ## Usage: Many programs get their input from "standard input" and send their output to "standard output," which are normally the keyboard and video display (known collectively as the console or CON). You can redirect both the input and output of such programs, for example, using a file either to provide the input or collect the output. TEE gets its input from standard input and sends out two copies: one goes to standard output, the other to the file or files that you specify. It is most often used with a redirection pipe [|] to capture intermediate output before the data is altered by another program or command. For example, to search the file DOC for any lines containing the string "NDOS", make a copy of the matching lines in N.DAT, sort the lines, and write them to the output file ND.DAT: c:\> find "NDOS" doc | tee n.dat | sort > nd.dat If you are typing at the keyboard to produce the input for TEE, you must enter a Ctrl-Z to terminate the input. Option: /A(ppend): Add the output to the file(s) rather than overwriting them. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 290 ___________________________________________________________________ TEXT (New) Purpose: Display a block of text in a batch file. Format: TEXT . . . ENDTEXT See also: ECHO, SCREEN, SCRPUT, and VSCRPUT. Usage: The TEXT command is useful for displaying menus or multi-line messages from a batch file. TEXT will display all subsequent lines in the batch file until terminated by ENDTEXT. Both TEXT and ENDTEXT must be entered as the only command on the line. If you have an ANSI driver loaded, you can change screen colors by inserting ANSI escape sequences anywhere in the text block. You can also use a CLS or COLOR command to set the screen color before executing the TEXT command. The following batch file fragment displays a simple menu: @echo off ^ cls ^ screen 2 0 text Enter one of the following: 1 - Spreadsheet 2 - Word Processing 3 - DOS Utilities Enter your selection : endtext ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 291 ___________________________________________________________________ TIME (Compatible) Purpose: Display or set the current system time. Format: TIME [hh[:mm[:ss]]] [AM | PM] hh: hour, 0 - 23 mm: minute, 0 - 59 ss: second, 0 - 59 See also: CHCP and DATE. Usage: If you don't enter any parameters, TIME will display the current system time and prompt you for a new time. Press ENTER if you don't wish to change the time; otherwise, enter the new time: c:\> time Wed Dec 2, 1992 9:30:10 New time (hh:mm:ss): TIME defaults to 24-hour format, but you can optionally enter the time in 12-hour format by appending an "am" or "pm" to the time you enter. For example, to enter the time as 9:30 am: c:\> time 9:30 am DOS adds the system time and date to the directory entry of every file you create and modify. If you keep both the time and date accurate, you will have a record of when you last updated each file. The separator used by TIME depends on the country code defined in the CONFIG.SYS file or by the CHCP command. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 292 ___________________________________________________________________ TIMER (New) Purpose: TIMER is a system stopwatch. Format: TIMER [ON] [/1 /2 /3 /S] ON: Force the stopwatch to restart /1 (stopwatch #1) /3 (stopwatch #3) /2 (stopwatch #2) /S(plit) Usage: The TIMER command turns a system stopwatch on and off. When you first run TIMER, the stopwatch starts: c:\> timer Timer 1 on: 12:21:46 When you run TIMER again, the stopwatch stops and the elapsed time is displayed: c:\> timer Timer 1 off: 12:21:58 Elapsed time: 0:00:12.06 There are three stopwatches available (1, 2, and 3) so you can time multiple overlapping events. By default, TIMER uses stopwatch #1. TIMER is particularly useful for timing events in batch files. For example, to time both an entire batch file, and an intermediate section of the same file, you could use commands like this: rem Turn on timer 1 timer rem Do some work here rem Turn timer 2 on to time the next section timer /2 rem Do some more work echo Intermediate section completed rem Display time taken in intermediate section timer /2 rem Do some more work rem Now display the total time timer The smallest interval TIMER can measure is .06 second; the largest interval is 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59.99 seconds. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 293 ___________________________________________________________________ Options: /1: Use timer #1 (the default). /2: Use timer #2. /3: Use timer #3. /S(plit): Display a split time without stopping the timer. To display the current elapsed time but leave the timer running: c:\> timer /s Timer 1 elapsed: 0:06:40.63 ON: Start the timer regardless of its previous state (on or off). Otherwise the TIMER command toggles the timer state (unless /S is used). ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 294 ___________________________________________________________________ TRUENAME (New) Purpose: Find the full, true path and filename for a file. Format: TRUENAME file file: The file whose name TRUENAME will report. See also: @truename variable function on page 82. Usage: Default directories, as well as the JOIN and SUBST external commands, can obscure the true name of a file. TRUENAME "sees through" these obstacles and reports the fully qualified name of a file. The following example uses TRUENAME to get the true pathname for a file: c:\> subst d: c:\util\test c:\> truename d:\test.exe c:\util\test\test.exe TRUENAME requires MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.0 or above. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 295 ___________________________________________________________________ TYPE (Enhanced) Purpose: Display the contents of the specified file(s). Format: TYPE [/L /P] file... file: The file or list of files that you want to display. /L(ine numbers) /P(ause) See also: LIST. Usage: The TYPE command displays a file. It is normally only useful for displaying ASCII text files. Executable files (.COM and .EXE) and many data files may be unreadable when displayed with TYPE because they include non-alphanumeric characters. To display the files MEMO1 and MEMO2: c:\> type /p memo1 memo2 You can press Ctrl-S to pause the display from the TYPE command and then any key to continue. You will probably find LIST to be more useful for displaying files. However, the TYPE /L command used with redirection (see page 59) is useful if you want to add line numbers to a file. Options: /L(ine numbers): Print a line number preceding each line of text. /P(ause): Wait for a keystroke after displaying each page. Press Ctrl-C to quit, or any other key to continue. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 296 ___________________________________________________________________ UNALIAS (New) Purpose: Remove aliases from the alias list. Format: UNALIAS [/Q] alias... or UNALIAS * alias: One or more aliases to remove from memory. See also: ALIAS and ESET. Usage: NDOS maintains a list of the aliases that you have defined. The UNALIAS command will remove aliases from that list. You can remove one or more aliases by name, or you can delete the entire alias list by using the command UNALIAS * For example, to remove the alias DDIR: c:\> unalias ddir To remove all the aliases: c:\> unalias * Options: /Q(uiet): Prevents UNALIAS from displaying an error message if one or more of the aliases does not exist. This option is most useful in batch files, for removing a group of aliases when some of the aliases may not have been defined. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 297 ___________________________________________________________________ UNSET (New) Purpose: Remove variables from the environment. Format: UNSET [/M /Q] name... or UNSET * name: One or more variables to remove from the environment. /M(aster environment) /Q(uiet) See also: SET and ESET. Usage: See the SET command and page 70 for a discussion of environment variables. UNSET removes one or more variables from the environment. For example, to remove the variable CMDLINE: c:\> unset cmdline If you use the command UNSET *, all of the environment variables will be deleted: c:\> unset * UNSET is often used in conjunction with the SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL commands in order to clear the environment of variables that may cause problems for some applications. ! Use caution when removing environment variables, and especially when using UNSET *. Many programs will not work properly without certain environment variables; NDOS itself depends on PATH and COMSPEC. Options:## /M(aster): Remove the variable from the master environment rather than the local environment. This option only makes sense if used in a secondary command processor. /Q(uiet): Prevents UNSET from displaying an error message if one or more of the variables does not exist. This option is most useful in batch files, for removing a group of variables when some of the variables may not have been defined. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 298 ___________________________________________________________________ VER (Enhanced) Purpose: Display the current NDOS and DOS versions. Format: VER [/R] /R(evision level) Usage: Both the NDOS and DOS version numbers consist of a one- digit major version number, a period, and a one- or two-digit minor version number. The VER command displays both version numbers: c:\> ver NDOS 7.0 DOS 5.0 VER will automatically detect DR-DOS and display the corresponding operating system name and version number. Option: /R(evision level): Display the NDOS and DOS, or DR-DOS revision level; and whether DOS is loaded into the high memory area (HMA), is resident in ROM, or is in normal base memory. The output from /R related to DOS is only meaningful in MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 5.0 or above. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 299 ___________________________________________________________________ VERIFY (Compatible) Purpose: Enable or disable disk write verification or display the verification state. Format: VERIFY [ON | OFF] Usage: DOS maintains an internal verify flag. When the flag is on, DOS attempts to verify each disk write by making sure that the data written to the disk can be read back successfully into the computer. It does NOT compare the data written with the data actually placed on disk. If used without any parameters, VERIFY will display the state of the DOS verify flag: c:\> verify VERIFY is OFF VERIFY is off when the system boots up. Once it is turned on with the VERIFY ON command, it stays on until you use the VERIFY OFF command or until you reboot. Verification will slow your disk write operations slightly. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 300 ___________________________________________________________________ VOL (Enhanced) Purpose: Display a disk volume label(s). Format: VOL [d:] ... d: The drive or drives to search for labels. Usage: Each disk may have a volume label, created when the disk is formatted or with the DOS external LABEL command. Also, every floppy disk formatted with DOS version 4.0 or above has a volume serial number. The VOL command will display the volume label and, if you are using DOS 4.0 or later, the volume serial number of a disk volume. If the disk doesn't have a volume label, VOL will report that it is "unlabeled." If you don't specify a drive, VOL displays information about the current drive: c:\> vol Volume in drive C: is MYHARDDISK If you are using DOS 4.0 or later, the disk serial number will appear after the drive label or name. To display the disk labels for drives A: and B: c:\> vol a: b: Volume in drive A: is unlabeled Volume in drive B: is BACKUP_2 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 301 ___________________________________________________________________ VSCRPUT (New) Purpose: Display text vertically in the specified color. Format: VSCRPUT row col [BRIght] [BLInk] fg ON bg text row: Starting row number. col: Starting column number fg: Foreground text color bg: Background text color text: The text to display The available colors are: Black Blue Green Red Magenta Cyan Yellow White See also: SCRPUT. Usage: VSCRPUT writes text vertically on the screen rather than horizontally. Like the SCRPUT command, it uses the colors you specify to write the text. VSCRPUT can be used for simple graphs and charts generated by batch files. The row and column are zero-based, so on a standard 25 row by 80 column display, valid rows are 0 - 24 and valid columns are 0 - 79. Only the first three characters of the color name and the attributes BRIGHT and BLINK are required. The following batch file fragment displays an X and Y axis and labels them: cls bright white on blue drawhline 20 10 40 1 bright white on blue drawvline 2 10 19 1 bright white on blue scrput 21 20 bright red on blue X axis vscrput 8 9 bright red on blue Y axis VSCRPUT checks for a valid row and column, and displays a "Usage" error message if either value is out of range. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 302 ___________________________________________________________________ Y (New) Purpose: Copy standard input to standard output, and then copy the specified file(s) to standard output. Format: Y file ... file: The file or list of files to send to standard output. See also: TEE. ## Usage: The Y command copies input from standard input (usually the keyboard) to standard output (usually the screen). Once the input ends, the named files are appended to standard output. For example, to get text from standard input, append the files MEMO1 and MEMO2 to it, and send the output to MEMOS: c:\> y memo1 memo2 > memos The Y command is most useful if you want to add redirected data to the beginning of a file instead of appending it to the end. If you are typing at the keyboard to produce input text for Y, you must enter a Ctrl-Z to terminate the input. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 303 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES This appendix lists error messages generated by NDOS, and includes a recommended course of action for most errors. If you are unable to resolve the problem, look through Chapter 7, "Using NDOS With Your Hardware and Software," beginning on page 130, or contact Symantec for technical support. Error messages relating to files are generally reports of errors returned by DOS. You may find some of these messages (for example, "Access denied") vague enough that they are not always helpful. NDOS includes the filename in file error messages, but is often unable to determine a more accurate explanation of these DOS errors. The message shown is the best information available based on the error codes returned by DOS. The following list includes all error messages, in alphabetical order: NDOS internal stack overflow: You attempted to nest batch files or commands like EXCEPT, FOR, IF, IFF, GLOBAL, or SELECT too deep, and NDOS ran out of stack space. Restructure your command, alias, or batch file, or use the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI to increase the NDOS internal stack size. NDOS initialization error --: An error occurred during the NDOS startup process. Look up the rest of the message in this list for a more specific explanation. NDOS server error --: An error occurred in communication between the resident and transient portions of NDOS. Look up the rest of the message in this list for a more specific explanation. NDOS swapping failed, loading in non-swapping mode: None of the swapping options worked, so NDOS loaded in non-swapping mode, which requires about 92K more memory than swapping mode. Check your Swapping specification in NDOS.INI, and/or free some XMS or EMS memory or disk space. NDOS unrecoverable error XX: An error occurred in the resident portion of NDOS. These errors will terminate secondary shells and require a reboot if they occur during a primary shell or if NDOS cannot continue. BI Bad server function code. Contact Symantec. DI Same as Disk swap file corrupted. DR Same as Swap file read error. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 304 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ DS Same as Swap file seek error. EI Same as EMS mapping error. NS No number for new shell. You have started too many NDOS secondary shells without properly exiting some of them, perhaps by closing DESQview windows rather than EXITing. Clean up any work in process and reboot the system. PT Illegal process termination. Contact Symantec. TS Terminated inactive shell. Contact Symantec. XI Same as XMS move failed. Access denied: You tried to write to or erase a read-only protected file, to rename a file or directory to an existing name, to create a directory that already exists, or to remove a read-only directory or a directory with files or subdirectories still in it. Alias loop: An alias refers back to itself either directly or indirectly (i.e., a = b = a), or aliases are nested more than 16 deep. Correct your alias list. Ambiguous directive name: The name of a NDOS.INI directive was not fully spelled out and was therefore ambiguous. Spell out the directive more fully to make its name unambiguous. Attempt to exit from root shell: Another program has destroyed a portion of NDOS memory. Reboot the system; if the error persists, contact Symantec. Bad disk unit: Generally caused by a disk drive hardware failure. Bad environment: The DOS environment has a bad structure, probably because a program destroyed master environment space of NDOS. Reboot the system. Batch file missing: NDOS can't find the batch (.BAT) file it was running. It was either deleted, renamed, moved, or the disk was changed. Correct the problem and rerun the file. Can't copy file to itself: NDOS will not permit you to COPY or MOVE a file to itself. NDOS performs full path and filename expansion before copying to ensure that files aren't inadvertently destroyed. Can't create: NDOS can't create the specified file. The disk may be full or write protected, or the file already exists and is read-only, or the root directory is full. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 305 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Can't delete: NDOS can't delete the specified file or directory. The disk is probably write protected. Can't get directory: NDOS can't read the directory. The disk drive is probably not ready. Can't make directory entry: NDOS can't create the filename in the directory. This is usually caused by a full root directory. Create a subdirectory and move some of the files to it. Can't open: NDOS can't open the specified file. Either the file doesn't exist or the disk directory or File Allocation Table is damaged. Can't remove current directory: You attempted to remove the current directory, which DOS does not allow. Change to the parent directory and try again. Can't set up disk swap file: The disk swap file you specified cannot be opened. The path or drive is invalid, the disk is full, DOS is out of file handles, or there is a hardware problem. Check NDOS.INI to be sure your Swapping directive is correct. Command line too long: A single command exceeded 255 characters, or the entire command line exceeded 511 characters, during alias and variable expansion. To address this reduce the complexity of the command, or use a batch file. This error also occurs if you pass an extremely long command line to NDOS on your SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS and NDOS does not have room for your command line and the necessary directory information for the COMSPEC environment variable. In this case, place the commands in a batch file and invoke the batch file from your SHELL= line. Command tail too long: A program attempted to pass a command in an improper format or a command longer than 126 characters to NDOS. This is probably a bug in the program from which NDOS was loaded. Contact the author of the program or Symantec for technical assistance. Contents lost before copy: COPY was appending files, and found one of the source files is the same as the target. That source file is skipped, and appending continues with the next file. Data error: DOS can't read or write properly to the device. On a floppy drive, this error is usually caused by a defective floppy disk, dirty disk drive heads, or a misalignment between ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 306 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ the heads on your drive and the drive on which the disk was created. On a hard drive, this error may indicate a drive that is too hot or too cold, or a hardware problem. Retry the operation; if it fails again, correct the hardware or floppy disk problem. Directory stack empty: POPD or DIRS can't find any entries in the directory stack. Disk is write protected: The disk cannot be written to. Check the disk and remove the write-protect tab or close the write-protect window if necessary. Disk swap file corrupted: The NDOS disk swapping file (NDOSSWAP.nnn) has been moved, deleted, or damaged by another program. Reboot the system. Drive not ready--close door: The floppy disk drive door is open. Close the door and try again. EMS deallocation failed: NDOS can't deallocate EMS memory when exiting from a secondary shell. The EMS map has been corrupted or the memory area used by NDOS or the EMS driver has been destroyed by a program. Clean up any work in process and reboot the system. EMS map save or restore failed: NDOS cannot save or restore the EMS page map. The EMS map has been corrupted, memory has been destroyed by a program, or you have an incompatible EMS driver. If this error recurs, try another swapping method, update your EMS driver, or contact Symantec. EMS mapping failed: NDOS can't map EMS pages when swapping to or from EMS. The EMS map has been corrupted or the memory area used by the loader or the EMS driver has been destroyed by a program. Reboot the system. Environment already saved: You have already saved the environment with a previous SETLOCAL command. You cannot nest SETLOCAL/ENDLOCAL pairs. Error in command line directive: You used the //iniline option to place a NDOS.INI directive on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS or on the startup command line for a secondary shell, but the directive is in error. A more specific error message follows. Error on line [nnnn] of [filename]: There is an error in your NDOS.INI file. The following message explains the error in ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 307 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ more detail. Correct the line in error, and restart NDOS for your change to take effect. Error reading: DOS experienced an I/O error when reading from a device. This is usually caused by a bad disk, a device not ready, or a hardware error. Error writing: DOS experienced an I/O error when writing to a device. This is usually caused by a full disk, a bad disk, a device not ready, or a hardware error. Exceeded batch nesting limit: You have attempted to nest batch files more than ten levels deep. Fatal error -- please reboot: NDOS cannot continue due to the previous error. Reboot the system. File Allocation Table bad: DOS can't access the FAT on the specified disk. This can be caused by a bad disk, a hardware error, or an unusual software interaction. File exists: The requested output file already exists, and NDOS won't overwrite it. File not found: NDOS couldn't find the specified file. Check the spelling or path name. General failure: This is usually a hardware problem, particularly a disk drive failure or a device not properly connected to a serial or parallel port. Try to correct the problem or reboot and try again. I/O error in [filename] ... some directives may not have been processed: AN I/O error occurred while reading your NDOS.INI file. There may be a physical problem with data on the disk, or a sharing error on a multitasking system. Check your NDOS.INI file and try again. Illegal Swapping option or path: The swap type or disk swap path in the NDOS.INI Swapping directive is invalid. NDOS ignores the bad swap type or path and attempts to scan the rest of the Swapping specification for a valid option. Multiple errors in the Swapping directive will cause this message to repeat. Correct NDOS.INI and reboot the system for the corrected swap type to take effect. INI file processing error at line n, remainder of file skipped: An input error (such as a data error) has prevented NDOS from fully processing your NDOS.INI file. Check that the ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 308 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ file is readable by another program, or TYPE it to ensure that NDOS reads the file properly. Insufficient load space: There is not enough room in the NDOS internal memory areas to include all of the options you requested in NDOS.INI. Contact Symantec for assistance. Insufficient disk space: COPY or MOVE ran out of room on the destination drive. Remove some files and retry the operation. Internal DOS error: DOS encountered an internal bug and failed. Reboot the system. Invalid choice value: You gave an invalid value for a "choice" directive (one that accepts a choice from a list, like "Yes" or "No") in NDOS.INI. Invalid color: You gave an invalid value for a color directive in NDOS.INI. Invalid date: An invalid date was entered. Check the syntax and reenter. Invalid drive: A bad or non-existent disk drive was specified. Invalid DOS version: You need a newer version of DOS to execute the specified command. Invalid INI file path or name, file not processed: The path or name for the initialization file on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS or on the startup command line for a secondary shell. Correct the @d:\path\inifile option to name the correct file. Invalid directive name: NDOS can't recognize the name of a directive in your NDOS.INI file. Invalid key name: You tried to make an invalid key substitution in NDOS.INI, or you used an invalid key name in a keystroke alias or KEYSTACK. Correct the error and retry the operation. Invalid numeric value: You gave an invalid value for a numeric directive in NDOS.INI. Invalid parameter: NDOS didn't recognize a parameter. Check the syntax and spelling. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 309 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Invalid path: The specified path does not exist. Check the disk specification and/or spelling. Invalid path specification: You used an invalid path in a path or filename directive in NDOS.INI. Invalid section name: You used an invalid section name in NDOS.INI. The only valid section names are [Primary] and [Secondary]. Invalid startup switch, ignored: You passed NDOS an invalid option on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS or on the startup command line for a secondary shell. Correct the switch. Invalid Swapping option or path: The swap type or disk swap path in the NDOS.INI Swapping directive is invalid. NDOS ignores the bad swap type or path and attempts to scan the rest of the Swapping specification for a valid option. Multiple errors in the Swapping directive will cause this message to repeat. Correct NDOS.INI and reboot the system for the corrected swap type to take effect. Invalid time: An invalid time was entered. Check the syntax and reenter. Keystroke substitution table full: NDOS ran out of room to store keystroke substitutions entered in NDOS.INI. Reduce the number of key substitutions or contact Symantec for assistance. KSTACK.COM not loaded: You attempted to execute a KEYSTACK command without loading KSTACK.COM. See the KEYSTACK command for more information. Label not found: A GOTO or GOSUB referred to a non-existent label. Check your batch file. Memory allocation error: NDOS can't allocate memory while loading, or while reserving memory for internal use. DOS memory allocation has been corrupted. Reboot the system. Memory deallocation error: Similar to memory allocation error; memory has been corrupted. Reboot the system. Memory destroyed: The DOS memory control blocks have been corrupted. Reboot the system. Missing ENDTEXT: A TEXT command is missing a matching ENDTEXT. Check the batch file. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 310 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Missing GOSUB: NDOS cannot perform the RETURN command in a batch file. You tried to do a RETURN without a GOSUB, or your batch file has been corrupted. Missing SETLOCAL: NDOS encountered an ENDLOCAL without a matching SETLOCAL. No aliases defined: You tried to display aliases but no aliases have been defined. No closing quote: NDOS couldn't find a second matching quotation mark (` or ") on the command line. No expression: The expression passed to the %@EVAL variable function is empty. Correct the expression and retry the operation. No file handle available: This is an internal NDOS disk swapping error. Change to another swapping method if possible, and contact Symantec. No room for INI file name: NDOS does not have enough space to pass the name of your NDOS.INI file to secondary shells; see String area overflow for more details. Any [Secondary] section in NDOS.INI will be ignored in secondary shells. No UMBs; loading low: The LOADHIGH (or LH) command can't find any UMBs for your program. The program is loaded into base memory. LH and LOADHIGH only work with MS-DOS 5.0 and above, when the DOS=UMB directive is included in CONFIG.SYS and sufficient upper memory space is available for the program. No upper memory available, master environment will be placed in low memory: You asked NDOS to load the master environment into an UMB via the UMBEnvironment directive in NDOS.INI, but no UMB was available. Check that your XMS driver is properly installed and/or free up some UMB space in use by another program. No upper memory available, resident portion will remain in low memory: You requested relocation of the NDOS resident portion to an UMB via the UMBLoad directive in NDOS.INI, but no UMB was available. Check that your XMS driver is properly installed and/or free up some UMB space in use by another program. Non-DOS disk: DOS can't read the disk. Either the disk is bad, or it has been formatted by a different operating system. Reformat it as a DOS disk. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 311 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Not an alias: The specified alias is not in the NDOS alias list. Not in environment: The specified variable is not in the environment. Not in swapping mode: You attempted to turn swapping on or off with the SWAPPING command, but NDOS is loaded in memory- resident mode and swapping is not active. Not ready: The specified device can't be accessed. Not same device: This error usually appears in RENAME. You cannot rename a file to a different disk drive. Out of environment/alias space: NDOS has run out of space for environment variables or aliases. Edit the SHELL line in CONFIG.SYS or the Environment directive in NDOS.INI to increase the environment size, or the Alias directive in NDOS.INI to increase the alias list size. Out of memory: DOS or NDOS had insufficient free memory to execute the last command, or the DOS memory control blocks have been destroyed. If this error occurs in a secondary shell, return to the primary shell before running the command. Otherwise, try to free some memory by removing memory-resident programs. If the error persists, use the MEMORY command to determine the actual memory available. If the base memory (DOS RAM) figures reported by MEMORY are unreasonable, the memory control blocks have probably been destroyed and you must reboot the system. If you receive this error from DIR when the MEMORY command shows sufficient memory for the directory you are displaying, memory has probably been "fragmented", and contains a free area larger than 8K but not large enough for the entire directory. Use a memory mapping program like PMAP, MAPMEM, or MANIFEST to determine where the fragmentation is, and experiment with your TSRs and applications to determine and remove its cause. Out of paper: DOS detected an out-of-paper condition on one of the parallel printers (LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3). Check your printer and add paper if necessary. Overflow: An arithmetic overflow occurred in the %@EVAL variable function. Check the values being passed to %@EVAL. %@EVAL can handle 16 digits to the left of the decimal point and eight to the right. Read error: DOS disk read error; usually caused by a bad disk or a non-DOS disk. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 312 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Sector not found: BIOS disk error; usually caused by a bad disk or a non-DOS disk. Seek error: DOS can't seek to the proper location on the disk. This is generally caused by a bad disk or drive. String area overflow: NDOS ran out of room to store the text from string directives in NDOS.INI. Reduce the complexity of NDOS.INI or contact Symantec for assistance. Swap file [seek | read | write] failed: NDOS encountered an I/O error while accessing the disk swap file (NDOSSWAP.nnn). The disk was changed, the file has been destroyed by a program, or the NDOS memory area has been overwritten by a program. Reboot the system. Syntax error: A command or variable function was entered in an improper format. Check the syntax in this manual and correct the error. Too many DR-DOS SETs in CONFIG.SYS: The SET commands in your DR-DOS CONFIG.SYS file exceeded the size of the NDOS buffer area. Reduce the number or length of the commands or contact Symantec for assistance. Too many open files: DOS has run out of file handles. Try setting FILES=20 or more in your CONFIG.SYS file. Transient memory allocation error: NDOS couldn't reserve memory for its transient portion (probably in a SWAPPING OFF command). The memory control blocks have been destroyed, or a program has fragmented memory. Reboot the system. Transient memory deallocation error: NDOS couldn't release memory for its transient portion (probably in a SWAPPING ON command). The memory control blocks have been destroyed, or a program has fragmented memory. Reboot the system. Unbalanced parentheses: The number of left and right parentheses did not match in an expression passed to the %@EVAL variable function. Correct the expression and retry the operation. Unknown command: A command was entered that NDOS didn't recognize and couldn't find in the current search path. Check the spelling or PATH specification. Variable loop: A nested environment variable refers to itself, or variables are nested more than 16 deep. Correct the error and retry the command. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 313 APPENDIX A, NDOS ERROR MESSAGES ___________________________________________________________________ Write error: A DOS disk error, usually caused by a bad disk or a non-DOS disk. XMS deallocation failed: NDOS could not deallocate XMS memory when exiting a secondary shell. XMS memory has been destroyed; reboot your system. XMS move failed: NDOS could not move data between base memory and XMS memory while swapping itself. XMS memory has been destroyed; reboot your system. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 314 ASCII ___________________________________________________________________ APPENDIX B, ASCII AND KEY CODES ASCII To represent the text you type, computers must translate each letter to and from a number. The code used by all PC- compatible computers for this translation is called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). ASCII codes are also used for the characters displayed on the screen. Function keys, cursor keys, and Alt keys do not generate ASCII codes. For details on these keys and a reference table, see Keys and Key Codes later in this Appendix. ASCII Control Characters have numeric values between 0 and 31, and include non-printing characters like carriage return and line feed. The ASCII standard does not define a visual representation for control characters, but the IBM PC character set does define one for most control characters as shown in the Char column of the table. You can enter these characters using the Ctrl key combination shown in the Ctrl column of this table, with a caret [^] representing the Ctrl key. For example, character 4 is shown as ^D; to enter it, press Ctrl and D on your keyboard. You can also enter control characters with the Alt key and the numeric keypad, like extended ASCII codes (see below). The Name column of this table shows a two or three character "name" given to each control character as part of the ASCII standard. ASCII Printing Characters have numeric values between 32 and 127, and include the entire English-language character set as well as punctuation and other special marks. You enter these characters by pressing the corresponding keyboard key. Character 127 has no corresponding keyboard key, but can be entered on many systems by typing Ctrl-Backspace. Extended ASCII Characters have values between 128 and 255 and include international language characters, line-drawing characters, and other graphics symbols. You can enter extended ASCII codes on the keyboard by holding down the Alt key, entering the decimal numeric value of the key on the numeric keypad, and then releasing the Alt key. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 315 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Keys and Key Codes When you press a single key or a key combination, software built into your computer (the BIOS or Basic Input/Output System) translates your keystroke into two numbers: a scan code, representing the actual key that was pressed, and an ASCII code, representing the ASCII value for that key. The BIOS returns these numbers the next time a program requests keyboard input. This section explains how key codes work; for information on using them with NDOS features see NDOS.INI (page 121), keystroke aliases (page 162), INKEY (page 235), and KEYSTACK (page 239). As PCs have evolved, the structure of keyboard codes has evolved somewhat haphazardly with them, resulting in a bewildering array of possible key codes. We'll give you a basic explanation of how key codes work. For a more in-depth discussion, refer to a BIOS or PC hardware reference manual. The nuances of how your keyboard behaves depends on the keyboard manufacturer and the computer manufacturer who provides the built-in BIOS. As a result, we can't guarantee the accuracy of the information below for every system, but the discussion and reference table should be accurate for most systems. Our discussion is based on the 101-key "enhanced" keyboard commonly used on AT-compatible and PS/2 computers, but virtually all of it is applicable to the 84-key keyboards on older systems. The primary difference is that older keyboards lack a separate cursor pad and only have ten function keys. All keys have a scan code. Not all keys have an ASCII code. For example, function keys and cursor keys are not part of the ASCII character set (see above), and have no ASCII value, but they do have a scan code. Some keys have more than one ASCII code. The A key, for example, has ASCII code 97 (lower case "a") if you press it by itself. If you press it along with the Shift key, the ASCII code changes to 65 (upper case "A"). If you press Ctrl and A the ASCII code changes to one. In all these cases, the scan code (30) is unchanged because you are pressing the same physical key. Things are different if you press Alt-A. Alt keystrokes have no ASCII code, so the BIOS returns an ASCII code of 0, along with the A key's scan code of 30. This allows a program to detect all the possible variations of A, based on the combination of ASCII code and scan code. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 316 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Some keys generate more than one scan code depending on whether Shift, Ctrl, or Alt is pressed. This allows a program to differentiate between two different keystrokes on the same key, neither of which has a corresponding ASCII value. For example, F1 has no ASCII value so it returns an ASCII code of 0, and the F1 scan code of 59. Shift-F1 also returns an ASCII code 0; if it also returned a scan code of 59, a program couldn't distinguish it from F1. The BIOS translates scan codes for keys like Shift-F1 (and Ctrl-F1 and Alt-F1) so that each variation returns a different scan code along with an ASCII code of 0. On the 101-key keyboard that we're discussing, there's one more variation: non-ASCII keys on the cursor keypad (such as UpArrow) return the same scan code as the corresponding key on the numeric keypad, for compatibility reasons. If they also returned an ASCII code of 0, a program couldn't tell which key was pressed. Therefore, these keys return an ASCII code of 224 rather than 0. This means that older programs, which only look for an ASCII 0 to indicate a non-ASCII keystroke like UpArrow, may not detect these cursor pad keys properly. The number of different codes returned by any given key varies from one (the spacebar) to four, depending on the key, the design of your keyboard, and the BIOS in your system. Some keys, like Alt, Ctrl, and Shift by themselves or in combination with each other, plus Print Screen, SysReq, Scroll Lock, Pause, Break, Num Lock, and Caps Lock keys, do not have any code representations at all. The same is true of keystrokes with more than one modifying key, like Ctrl-Shift- A. The BIOS may perform special actions automatically when you press these keys (for example, it switches into Caps Lock mode when you press Caps Lock), but it does not report the keystrokes to whatever program is running. Programs which detect such keystrokes access the keyboard hardware directly, a subject which is beyond the scope of this manual. The following table lists all of the keys on the 101-key "enhanced" keyboard. The keys are arranged roughly in scan code order, which is generally left to right, moving from the top of the keyboard to the bottom. Column one shows the key's keycap symbol or name. Column two shows the scan code if the key is unshifted. Columns three and four contain the codes for the shifted key. Columns five and six show the code for Ctrl plus the key. Column seven contains the scan code for Alt plus the key (Alt keystrokes have no ASCII code and always generate an ASCII code of 0, which is not shown). The last column shows the ASCII code. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 317 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Key names prefaced by np are on the numeric keypad. Those prefaced by cp are on the cursor keypad between the main typing keys and the number keypad. The numeric keypad values are valid if Num Lock is turned off. If you need to specify a number key from the numeric keypad, use the scan code shown for the keypad and the ASCII code shown for the corresponding typewriter key. For example, the keypad "7" has a scan code of 71 (the np Home scan code) and an ASCII code of 54 (the ASCII code for "7"). The chart is blank for key combinations that are not reported at all by the BIOS, like Ctrl-1 and Alt-PageUp. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 318 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Scan Codes and Key Codes for Top Two Keyboard Rows Shift Shift Ctrl Ctrl Alt Key Cap Scan Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Symbol Code Code Code Code Code Code Code Esc 1 1 27 1 27 1 27 1 ! 2 2 33 120 49 2 @ 3 3 64 3 0 121 50 3 # 4 4 35 122 51 4 $ 5 5 36 123 52 5 % 6 6 37 124 53 6 ^ 7 7 94 7 30 125 54 7 & 8 8 38 126 55 8 * 9 9 42 127 56 9 ( 10 10 40 128 57 0 ) 11 11 41 129 48 - _ 12 2 95 12 31 130 45 = + 13 13 43 131 61 Backspace 14 14 8 14 127 14 8 Tab 15 15 0 148 0 165 9 Q 16 16 81 16 17 16 113 W 17 17 87 17 23 17 119 E 18 18 69 18 5 18 101 R 19 19 82 19 18 19 114 T 20 20 84 20 20 20 116 Y 21 21 89 21 25 21 121 U 22 22 85 22 21 22 117 I 23 23 73 23 9 23 105 O 24 24 79 24 15 24 111 P 25 25 80 25 16 25 112 [ { 26 26 123 26 27 26 91 ] } 27 27 125 27 29 27 93 Enter 28 28 13 28 10 28 13 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 319 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Scan Codes and Key Codes for Bottom Two Keyboard Rows Shift Shift Ctrl Ctrl Alt Key Cap Scan Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Symbol Code Code Code Code Code Code Code A 30 30 65 30 1 30 97 S 31 31 83 31 19 31 115 D 32 32 68 32 4 32 100 F 33 33 70 33 6 33 102 G 34 34 71 34 7 34 103 H 35 35 72 35 8 35 104 J 36 36 74 35 10 36 106 K 37 37 75 36 11 37 107 L 38 38 76 37 12 38 108 ; : 39 39 58 39 59 ' " 40 40 34 40 39 ~ 41 41 126 41 96 \ | 43 43 124 43 28 43 92 Z 44 44 90 44 26 44 122 X 45 45 88 45 24 45 120 C 46 46 67 46 3 46 99 V 47 47 86 47 22 47 118 B 48 48 66 48 2 48 98 N 49 49 78 49 14 49 110 M 50 50 77 50 13 50 109 , < 51 51 60 51 44 . > 52 52 62 52 46 / ? 53 53 63 53 47 Space 57 57 32 57 32 57 32 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 320 Keys and Key Codes ___________________________________________________________________ Scan Codes and Key Codes for Key Pads and Function Keys Shift Shift Ctrl Ctrl Alt Key Cap Scan Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Scan ASCII Symbol Code Code Code Code Code Code Code F1 59 84 0 94 0 104 0 F2 60 85 0 95 0 105 0 F3 61 86 0 96 0 106 0 F4 62 87 0 97 0 107 0 F5 63 88 0 98 0 108 0 F6 64 89 0 99 0 109 0 F7 65 90 0 100 0 110 0 F8 66 91 0 101 0 111 0 F9 67 92 0 102 0 112 0 F10 68 93 0 103 0 113 0 F11 133 135 0 137 0 139 0 F12 134 136 0 138 0 140 0 np * 55 55 42 150 0 55 42 np Home 71 71 55 119 0 0 cp Home 71 71 224 119 224 151 224 np Up 72 72 56 141 0 0 cp Up 72 72 224 141 224 152 224 np PgUp 73 73 57 132 0 0 cp PgUp 73 73 224 132 224 153 224 np Minus 74 74 45 142 0 74 45 np Left 75 75 52 115 0 0 cp Left 75 75 224 115 224 155 224 np 5 76 76 53 143 0 0 np Right 77 77 54 116 0 0 cp Right 77 77 224 116 224 157 224 np Plus 78 78 43 144 0 78 43 np End 79 79 49 117 0 0 cp End 79 79 224 117 224 159 224 np Down 80 80 50 145 0 0 cp Down 80 80 224 145 224 160 224 np PgDn 81 81 51 118 0 0 cp PgDn 81 81 224 118 224 161 224 np Ins 82 82 48 146 0 0 cp Ins 82 82 224 146 224 162 224 np Del 83 83 46 147 0 0 cp Del 83 83 224 147 224 163 224 np / 224 224 47 149 0 164 47 np Enter 224 224 13 224 10 166 13 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 321 Detecting NDOS ___________________________________________________________________ APPENDIX C, TECHNICAL INFORMATION This appendix provides technical information for programmers who wish to build interfaces to NDOS. It covers detecting NDOS, placing keystrokes in the Keystack, writing installable commands, using the DESCRIPT.ION file, and using the interrupt 2E "back door" entry into NDOS to execute commands. Detecting NDOS Detecting NDOS From a Batch File From a batch file, you can determine if NDOS is loaded by testing for the variable function @EVAL, with a test like this: if "%@eval[2+2]" == "4" echo NDOS is loaded! This test can never succeed in COMMAND.COM and is therefore a reliable way to detect NDOS. Other variable functions could be used for the same purpose. Detecting NDOS From a Program Any program can test for the presence of NDOS by making a simple INT 2Fh call. Be sure to check the INT 2Fh vector first as it may be zero under some versions of DOS 2 if no program has hooked the interrupt. To detect NDOS, call INT 2Fh with: AX = E44Dh BX = 0 If NDOS is not loaded, AX should be returned unchanged. If NDOS is loaded, it will return the following (no other registers are modified): AX = 44EEh BX = Version number (BL = major version, BH = minor version) CX = NDOS PSP segment address DL = NDOS shell number The shell number is incremented each time a new copy of NDOS is loaded, either in a different multitasker window (for ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 322 Placing Keystrokes Into the Keystack ___________________________________________________________________ example, under DESQview), or via nested shells. The primary shell is shell number zero. This function tells you if NDOS is loaded in memory, but not whether it is the parent process of your program. You can determine if NDOS is the parent process by comparing the PSP value returned in CX to the PSP chain pointer at offset 16h in your program's PSP. Detecting the NDOS Prompt NDOS generates INT 2Fh calls before and after the prompt is displayed to allow TSRs to detect that NDOS is at the prompt. The calls are: AX = E44Eh BX = 0: NDOS is about to display the prompt 1: NDOS is about to accept keyboard input at the prompt 2: keyboard input is complete and NDOS is about to begin processing the line The BX = 0 call occurs immediately before displaying the prompt; the BX = 1 call occurs after displaying the prompt and immediately before accepting keyboard input; and the BX = 2 call occurs immediately after NDOS receives the CR (Enter) keystroke, but before the line is processed. Any routine intercepting these calls should preserve the SI, DI, BP, SP, DS, ES, and SS registers. Placing Keystrokes Into the Keystack You can put keystrokes into the NDOS Keystack with an INT 2Fh call. First, you must make a call to check whether KSTACK.COM is loaded: AX = E44Fh BX = 0 If KSTACK.COM is not loaded, this call will return AX unchanged. If it is loaded, AX will be returned as 44EEh; other registers will be unchanged. Once you have determined that KSTACK.COM is loaded, you can send keystrokes with this call: AX = E44Fh BX = 1 CX = number of keystrokes being passed ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 323 Writing Installable Commands ___________________________________________________________________ DS:DX = address of the keystroke array On return, if the call succeeded then AX will be 0; if it failed, AX will be non-zero. BX, CX, and DX are destroyed; other registers are preserved. If the call succeeds, subsequent calls to INT 16h functions 0, 1, 10h, or 11h will receive the stacked keystrokes. The keystroke array passed to KSTACK must be an array of words containing the values to return from INT 16h. The high byte of each word is a scan code and the low byte is an ASCII code. Many programs accept keystrokes properly with only the ASCII code, but some require the scan code as well. See page 319 for a list of ASCII and scan codes for most keyboards. To insert a delay in the keystroke sequence, include a word set to FFFFh followed by a word containing the desired delay in clock ticks. Writing Installable Commands An "installable command" is created with a memory-resident program (TSR) which can receive signals from NDOS and process commands. NDOS makes every command available to such TSRs before it is executed; if any TSR chooses to execute the command, NDOS will do no further processing. Otherwise, NDOS processes the command normally. The NDOS "Installable command" interface is compatible with an undocumented interface present in COMMAND.COM for MS-DOS and PC-DOS 3.3 and above. This interface is documented more thoroughly on pages 373 - 379 of the excellent reference text Undocumented DOS by Schulman et. al., published by Addison Wesley (ISBN 0-201-57064-5). NDOS looks for an installable command after alias expansion and after checking to see if the command is a drive change, but before checking for an internal or external command. NDOS first makes an INT 2Fh call to determine whether any TSR loaded will respond to the command, with: AX = AE00h BX = offset of command line buffer: first byte = maximum length of command line (128) second byte = actual length of command line, not including trailing CR remainder = command line, with a trailing CR CH = FFh ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 324 Using DESCRIPT.ION ___________________________________________________________________ CL = length of command line, not including the command name DX = FFFFh SI = offset of command name buffer: first byte = length of command name remainder = command name, shifted to upper case and padded with blanks to 11 characters If the TSR does not recognize the command as its own, it must pass the INT 2Fh along with registers unchanged. If it does recognize the command, it must return 0FFh in AL. The command should not be executed at this point. NDOS will then make another call (buffer formats are the same as above): AX = AE01h BX = offset of command line buffer CH = 0 CL = length of command name DX = FFFFh SI = offset of command name buffer If the TSR executed the command line, it must set the command name length (DS:[SI]) to zero. If the command name length is not zero, NDOS will attempt to execute the command as an internal or external command. This allows the TSR to return a modified command line to NDOS by modifying the command line buffer at DS:BX, and leaving the command name length byte at DS:[SI] set to a non-zero value. If the command is executed, the TSR should return the result of the command (zero for normal return or non-zero for an error) in AL. Using DESCRIPT.ION NDOS uses the file DESCRIPT.ION to store file descriptions. This file is created as a hidden file in each subdirectory which has descriptions, and deleted when all descriptions are removed or when all files with descriptions are deleted. Your programs can access DESCRIPT.ION to create, retrieve, or modify file descriptions, and to store other information. DESCRIPT.ION has one line per file, and is unsorted. Each line is in the following format: filename.ext Description[*<ID>Other program info]...<CR> There is normally one space between the description and filename but additional spaces may be used in future versions of NDOS. The characters after the description allow extension ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 325 Interrupt 2E ___________________________________________________________________ of the description format for use by other programs. They are as follows: * is an ASCII Ctrl-D (04), and marks the end of the description text and the beginning of information for a program other than NDOS. This symbol can appear multiple times on each line; each occurrence marks the beginning of information for another program. <ID> is an identification byte for the program which is using this area of the particular line. If you are writing a program which will store information in DESCRIPT.ION, test it using an ID byte of your own choosing. When you are ready to release the program, contact Symantec and we will provide you with an ID byte value that is not in use by others to the best of our knowledge. Other program info is any text the program wishes to store in its area of the line. The text should relate specifically to the file named on the line. It may not contain the Ctrl-D character, carriage returns, line feeds, or nulls (ASCII zeros). NDOS will copy, delete, or move all the information on a line in DESCRIPT.ION, including information owned by other programs, when performing the same action on the corresponding file. NDOS will also change the name if a file is renamed. To support DESCRIPT.ION properly, your program must do the same if it copies, deletes, moves, or renames files. Take care not to remove information which does not belong to your program, or delete lines which contain information for other programs. Your program should be able to handle a line terminated by a CR or LF alone, a CR/LF pair, an EOF (ASCII 26), or the physical end of the file. The lines it creates should be terminated with CR/LF. The line length limit is 4096 bytes; exceeding this limit will cause unpredictable results. Interrupt 2E NDOS provides full, documented support for the undocumented COMMAND.COM "back door" entry, INT 2E (hex). INT 2E allows applications to call the primary copy of the command processor to execute commands, without loading a secondary shell. INT 2E support is enabled with the FullINT2E = Yes directive in NDOS.INI. If this directive is left out or is set to No, NDOS does "hook" INT 2E, but any calls to it are ignored. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 326 Interrupt 2E ___________________________________________________________________ Setting FullINT2E = Yes adds about 100 bytes to the resident size of NDOS, and applies only to the primary shell (it is ignored in secondary shells). To use INT 2E, set DS:SI to the address of a buffer containing the command, then issue an INT 2E. The buffer format is: First byte Length of command, not including this byte or the last byte Text bytes The command text Last byte CR (ASCII 13) You must have enough memory available for NDOS to reload its transient portion, and about 80 bytes of available stack space for the INT 2E handler to use. INT 2E can not be called from a TSR while NDOS is running (for example, a TSR popped up at the NDOS prompt or from within LIST or SELECT), but can be called from within any application or from within a TSR while an application (including the NDOS HELP system) is running. INT 2E can invoke any NDOS command including an alias, an internal command, an external command, or a batch file. All changes to NDOS data (such as aliases, environment variables, and SETDOS settings) which are made by a command executed via INT 2E calls will affect the primary shell, and the environment passed to a program called via INT 2E will be a copy of the primary shell's environment. INT 2E uses the same internal stack (temporary storage area) as the primary shell. If a complex command is used in the primary shell to start a program which eventually issues an INT 2E, the additional stack space required by commands executed through INT 2E may (in rare circumstances) cause a stack overflow. If this occurs, use the StackSize directive in NDOS.INI (see page 128) to increase NDOS internal stack space. INT 2E also uses the same batch file "stack" as the primary shell. This means that if INT 2E is used to execute a batch file, this batch file is considered "nested" within any batch file(s) used in the primary shell to start the program which issued the INT 2E. This may cause batch nesting errors from within the INT 2E call which would not occur if the same command were executed at the prompt. For example, suppose an application is loaded from batch files nested six levels deep, and that application uses INT 2E to execute a command which invokes batch files which nest to five levels deep. Under these conditions a nesting error will occur, because the total nesting level is eleven, exceeding the NDOS limit of ten levels of nested batch files. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 327 Interrupt 2E ___________________________________________________________________ On return from INT 2E all registers will be destroyed except SS and SP. AX will be set as follows: FFFFh An error occurred before processing the command: not enough memory was available, INT 2E was called from a TSR, or another error made it impossible to handle the interrupt. 0 The command was processed without error. > 0 There was an error in processing the command. AX is the error number, equivalent to the %_? value from an internal command or the ERRORLEVEL or %? value from an external command. If a batch file is run the value will be the error level returned by the batch file (via QUIT n or CANCEL n) or the last command within it. If an alias is run the value will be the error level returned by the last command in the alias. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 328 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ GLOSSARY Some items in this glossary refer to NDOS features or to terms which are discussed in more detail elsewhere in this manual. Be sure to check the index to see if more information is available on a particular feature or term. NDOS.INI: The NDOS initialization file containing directives which set NDOS startup configuration parameters. NEXIT: A batch file which is executed whenever a secondary NDOS shell ends. NSTART: A batch file which is executed whenever NDOS is started, either as a primary shell or a secondary shell. Alias: A shorthand name for a command or series of commands. Alias Argument: A numeric variable included in an alias definition, allowing a different value to be used in the alias each time it is executed. AND: A logical combination of two true or false conditions such that if both conditions are true the result is true; if either condition is false the result is false. ANSI.SYS: A device driver supplied with DOS which provides enhanced screen display and keyboard macros, or one of the many similar programs. Append: Concatenation of one file or string onto the end of another (not related to the DOS external command named APPEND!) Application: A program run from the command prompt or a batch file. The term is used broadly to mean any program other than the command processor; and more narrowly to mean a program with a specific purpose such as a spreadsheet or word processing program, as opposed to a utility. Archive: A file attribute indicating that the file has been modified since the last backup (presuming that the last backup cleared the archive attribute, as most backup programs do). Also sometimes used to refer to a single file (such as a .ZIP file) which contains a number of other files in compressed form. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 329 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Argument: A piece of additional information placed after a command or function name. For example in the command DIR XYZ, XYZ is an argument. Also used to refer to an alias argument or batch file argument. ASCII: The American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which defines numeric values for 128 different characters comprising the English alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and some control characters. ASCII File: A file containing ASCII text, as opposed to a binary file which may contain codes, numbers, or other information that cannot be sensibly interpreted as text. Attribute: A characteristic of a file which can be set or cleared. The standard attributes are Read-Only, Hidden, System, and Archive. The special attributes Volume Label and Directory are also used for files of those types. AUTOEXEC.BAT: A batch file which is AUTOmatically EXECuted when the computer is started. Automatic Directory Change: A NDOS feature which allows changing directories by typing the directory name and a backslash [\] at the prompt. Base Memory: The portion of your computer's memory available for use by DOS, the command processor, and application programs. On most PCs this area consists of the first 640K bytes of the computer's memory (one K is 1024 bytes). BAT File: Same as a Batch File. Batch File: A text file containing a sequence of DOS or NDOS commands. Batch files are used to save command sequences so that they can be re-executed at any time, transferred to another system, etc. Batch File Argument: A numeric variable used within a batch file, allowing a different value to be used at that spot in the file each time it is executed. Binary File: A file containing information which does not represent or cannot sensibly be interpreted as text. See also ASCII File. Block Device: A physical device for input or output which can transmit or receive large blocks of data while the computer is engaged in other activities. Examples include disk, tape, and CD-ROM drives. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 330 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Boot: The process of starting the computer and loading DOS and the command processor into memory. Boot Directory: The current directory at the time the system is booted, almost always the root directory of the boot drive. Boot Drive: The disk drive that the system is booted from, usually A: (the floppy disk) or C: (the hard disk). Break: A signal sent to a program (including NDOS) to tell it to halt what it is doing. The Ctrl-C key or Ctrl-Break key is used to send this signal. Some external commands abort when they receive a break signal; others return to a previous screen or menu, or abort the current operation. BTM File: A special type of batch file which is loaded into memory, dramatically speeding up execution. Buffer: An area of memory set aside for storage. Usually refers to disk buffers, used to save information as it is transferred between your program and the disk; or to the keyboard buffer, which holds keystrokes until a program can use them. Character Device: A physical device for input or output which must communicate with your computer one character at a time. Examples include the console, communications ports, and printers. Code Page: A set of definitions which tells DOS how to get and display date, time, and other information in the format appropriate to a particular country. Command Completion: A NDOS feature which allows you to recall a previous command by typing the first few letters of the command, then an UpArrow or DownArrow. Command Echoing: A feature which displays commands as they are executed. Echoing can be turned on and off. Command History: A NDOS feature which retains commands you have previously executed, so that they can be modified and re- executed later. Command Interpreter: A program, such as NDOS or COMMAND.COM, which interprets commands and executes other programs. Command Recall: See Command History. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 331 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Command Tail: The portion of a command consisting of all the arguments, i.e. everything but the command name itself. Compound Command: See Multiple Commands. COMSPEC: An environment variable which defines where to get the command processor for a secondary shell. Conditional Commands: A NDOS feature allowing commands to be executed or skipped depending on the results of a previous command. See also Exit Code. CONFIG.SYS: A file which tells DOS what device drivers to install, what command processor to use, and other information about what to do when your system boots. See your DOS manual for more information. Console: The PC keyboard and display. Control Character: A character which is part of the ASCII code, but does not have a normal text representation, and which can be generated by pressing the Ctrl key along with another key. For example the control character called "LF" or "Line Feed" is generated by pressing Ctrl-J. Country Code: See Code Page. CR: The ASCII character "carriage return", generated by pressing the "Enter" key on the keyboard, and stored in most ASCII files at the end of each line. Critical Error: An error, usually related to input, output, or network access, which prevents a program from continuing. When a critical error occurs, a prompt such as "R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)" appears on the screen and you must decide what action to take. Current Directory: The directory in which all file operations will take place unless otherwise specified. Description: A string of characters assigned to describe a file with the NDOS DESCRIBE command. Destination: In the NDOS file commands (COPY, MOVE, and RENAME), the name or directory files should have after any copying or modification has taken place; generally referred to by the last specification on the command line. See also Source. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 332 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Device: A physical device for input or output such as the console, a communications port, or a printer. Sometimes the term "device" alone is used to refer to character devices such as those listed above, and excludes block devices. Device Driver: A program which allows DOS to communicate with a device, and which is loaded into memory when the system is booted, via a statement in CONFIG.SYS. Some device drivers are used to manage memory or for other similar internal functions, rather than to communicate with an external device. Directory: A portion of any disk, identified by a name and a relationship to other directories in a "tree" structure, with the tree starting at the root directory. A directory separates files on the disk into logical groups, but does not represent a physical division of the data on the disk. Disk Swapping: A type of swapping in which the transient portion of NDOS is stored on disk while an application is running. DOS Memory: See Base Memory. Echo: See Command Echoing. EMS Memory: Memory which conforms to the Lotus - Intel - Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification (LIM EMS). This hardware/software standard allows programs to access large amounts of memory outside of base memory or extended memory. EMS Swapping: A type of swapping in which the transient portion of NDOS is stored in EMS memory while an application is running. Environment: An area of memory which contains multiple entries in the form "NAME=value". Each entry is called an environment variable. See also Master Environment and Passed Environment. Environment Variable: The name of a single entry in the environment. Errorlevel: A numeric value between 0 and 255 returned from an external command to indicate its result (e.g., success, failure, response to a question), and accessible via the IF ERRORLEVEL command and the %? environment variable. See also Exit Code. Escape Character: This term has two meanings. In some contexts it means the NDOS escape character, normally Ctrl-X, ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 333 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ which is used to suppress the normal meaning of or give special meaning to the following character. In other cases it refers to the specific ASCII character ESC. The meaning must be determined from the context. Executable Extensions: A NDOS feature which allows you to specify the application to be executed when a file with a particular extension is named at the command prompt. Executable File: A file with the extension .COM or .EXE, which can be loaded into memory and run as a program. Exit Code: The error level returned by an external command, or a similar exit code returned by a NDOS internal command. NDOS internal commands return an exit code of zero if successful, or non-zero if unsuccessful. See also Errorlevel. Expansion: The process NDOS goes through when it scans a command line and substitutes the appropriate actual values for aliases, alias arguments, batch file arguments, and environment variables. See also Parsing. Extended ASCII Character: A character which is not part of the standard set of 128 ASCII characters, but is used on the PC as part of an extended set of 256 characters. These characters include international language symbols, and box and line drawing characters. Extended Memory: Any memory on a 286-based (PC-AT compatible) or 386-based computer system which is above the 1 MB (one megabyte, or 1024*1024 bytes) of memory that DOS can address directly. Any PC-AT compatible or 386 system with more than 640K of memory has extended memory. See also XMS. External Command: A program which resides in an executable file, as opposed to an internal command which is part of the command processor. File Attribute: See Attribute. File Description: See Description. Filename Completion: A NDOS feature which allows you to type part of a filename on the command line, and have NDOS fill in the rest for you. Free Memory: Usually, the amount of base memory which is currently unoccupied and available for use by applications. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 334 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Hidden: A file attribute indicating that the file should not be displayed with a normal DIR command, and should not be available for access by programs unless they specifically request use of hidden files. History: See Command History. History Window: A pop-up window used by NDOS to display the command history, allowing you to choose a previous command to modify and/or execute. Include List: A concise method of specifying several files or groups of files in the same directory, for use with all NDOS commands which take filenames as arguments. Insert Mode: When editing text, a mode in which newly typed characters are inserted into the line at the cursor position, rather than overwriting existing characters on the line. See also Overstrike Mode. Internal Command: A command which is part of the command processor, as opposed to an external command. Keyboard Buffer: A buffer which holds keystrokes you have typed that have not yet been used by the currently executing program. Keystroke Alias: An alias assigned to a key, so that it can be invoked or recalled with a single keystroke. Label: A marker in a batch file. Labels allow GOTO and GOSUB commands to "jump" to the command on the line following the label. See also Volume Label. LF: The ASCII character "line feed", not usually generated from the keyboard, but stored in most ASCII files at the end of each line after the CR character. Master Environment: The master copy of the environment maintained by the command processor. Memory Resident Mode: A method of installing NDOS in which swapping is disabled, and all of NDOS remains permanently resident in memory. Modulo: The remainder after an integer division. For example 11 modulo 3 is 2, because when 11 is divided by 3 the remainder is 2. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 335 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Multiple Commands: A NDOS feature which allows multiple commands to be placed on a line, separated by a caret (^) or other user-defined character. Multitasking: A capability of some software (and the related hardware) which allows two or more programs to run apparently simultaneously on the same computer. Multitasking software for PC compatible systems includes programs like Windows DESQview. Non-Swapping Mode: See Memory Resident Mode. Option: See Switch. OR: A logical combination of two true or false conditions such that if both conditions are false the result is false; if either condition is true the result is true. Overstrike Mode: When editing text, a mode in which newly typed characters overwrite existing characters on the line, rather than being inserted into the line at the cursor position. See also Insert Mode. Parameter: See Argument. Parsing: The process NDOS performs when it analyzes the command line, performs alias and environment variable expansion, and finds the appropriate internal command or external command to execute. Passed Environment: A copy of the master environment created before running an application, so that any changes made by the application will not affect the master environment. The size of the passed environment is determined by the amount of space actually used in the master environment when the application is started. Path: A specification of the directories a file resides in, including all parent directories. For example, the path for C:\WPFILES\MYDIR\MEMO.TXT is C:\WPFILES\MYDIR\. Path is also used to refer to the environment variable PATH, which contains a series of path specifications used when searching for external commands and batch files. Pipe: A method for collecting the standard output of one program and passing it on as the standard input of the next program to be executed, signified by a vertical bar "|" on the command line. See also Redirection. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 336 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Primary Shell: The copy of the command processor which is loaded when the system boots. RAM Disk: A pseudo "disk drive", created by software, which appears like a normal physical disk drive to programs. RAM disks can be stored in extended memory, XMS memory, EMS memory, or base memory, and provide a convenient way for programs to use this memory for temporary files. Read-Only: A file attribute indicating that the file can be read, but not written by DOS and NDOS. Reboot: The process of restarting the computer, usually by pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys simultaneously. Redirection: A method for collecting the standard output of a program in a file, and/or of providing the standard input for a program from a file, signified respectively by a greater than symbol ">" or less than symbol "<" on the command line. See also Pipe. Replaceable Parameter: See Alias Argument and Batch File Argument. Resident Portion: The small portion of NDOS stored permanently in memory when swapping mode is in use, as opposed to the larger transient portion. The resident portion is stored as close as possible to the beginning of base memory. Root Directory: The first directory, from which all other directories are "descended." The root directory is referenced with a single backslash (\). When a disk is first formatted, it is the only directory. Secondary Shell: Any copy of any command processor which is loaded after the system boots. Shell: A command processor. Also used to refer to a program which gives access to DOS functions and commands through a menu- or mouse-driven system. Source: In the NDOS file commands (COPY, MOVE, and RENAME), the original files before any copying or modification has taken place, i.e. those specified earlier on the command line. See also Target. Stack: An area of memory used by any program to store temporary data while the program is running; more generally, any such storage area where the last item stored is normally the first one removed. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 337 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Standard Error, Standard Input, and Standard Output: The file(s) or character device(s) where a program respectively displays error messages, obtains its normal input, and displays its normal output. Standard error and standard output always go to the console, and standard input always comes from the console, unless redirection is used. Subdirectory: Any directory other than the root directory. See also Root Directory. Swap File: A disk file created by NDOS to store its transient portion when disk swapping is in use. Swapping: A NDOS feature which removes the larger transient portion of NDOS from base memory while an application is running, leaving the maximum possible amount of memory for the application, and allows NDOS to restore information such as the command history after the application is finished. See also XMS Swapping, EMS Swapping, and Disk Swapping. Switch: An argument to an internal command or application which specifies a particular behavior or setting. For example, the command "DIR /P" might be referred to as "having the /P switch set". Also, a configuration value for NDOS specified on the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS. System: A file attribute indicating that the file belongs to DOS and should not be accessed by normal programs. Target: See Destination. Transient Portion: The larger portion of NDOS stored in memory temporarily when swapping mode is in use, as opposed to the smaller resident portion. The transient portion is stored as close as possible to the end of base memory, and releases the space it is using whenever an application is executed. TSR: A Terminate and Stay Resident program, i.e. a program which "terminates" but remains resident in base memory, to provide capabilities such as network support, a pop-up notepad or telephone dialer, a disk cache, or mouse support. UMB: An XMS Upper Memory Block, whose address is above the end of normal base memory, but is within the 1 MB of memory that DOS can address directly. Variable: See Alias Argument, Batch File Argument, and Environment Variable. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 338 GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________ Volume Label: A special, hidden file placed on any disk whose name constitutes a "label" for the entire disk. White Space Character: Generally, a character used to separate arguments on the command line. The white space characters recognized by NDOS are the space, tab, and comma. Wildcard: A character ("*" or "?") used in a filename to specify the possibility that any single character ("?") or sequence of characters ("*") can occur at that point in the actual name. XMS Memory: A software method for accessing extended memory. XMS memory is not additional memory, but is a software specification only. XMS Swapping: A type of swapping where the transient portion of NDOS is stored in XMS memory while an application is running. XOR (exclusive OR): A logical combination of two true or false conditions such that if both conditions are false or both conditions are true the result is false; if either condition is true and the other is false the result is true. ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 339 Index ___________________________________________________________________ Index / /, in command switches, 156 Conventions: Most terms in capital letters (e.g. ECHO, ? SELECT) are NDOS command names unless otherwise noted. ? as filename "wildcard", 64 ? command, 158 ! ? internal variable, 74 _? internal variable, 74 ! warning mark, 2, 157 @ % @ sign, see also Variable % sign functions in filenames, 40 for key codes use with environment in a keystroke alias, 163 variables, 71, 72 in KEYSTACK text, 240 use with replaceable in NDOS.INI, 114 parameters, 86, 92, 165 in filenames, 40 use with variable functions, in INKEY results, 235 77 to define a keystroke alias, %# and %n& 162 changing parameter to override batch file echo, character, 92, 288 91, 207, 269 in aliases, 165 to override command history in batch files, 92, 288 save, 50 %0 to %127 to read a file in FOR, 215 in aliases, 165 in batch files, 92, 288 | & || (or) in conditional commands, 84 && (and) in conditional commands, 83 A * Abort, Retry, Fail message, see Critical errors * (asterisk) AddFile directive, 124 as filename "wildcard", 64 ALIAS command, 153, 159 in alias name, 162 Alias directive, 114 in alias value, 160 _ALIAS internal variable, 74 to temporarily disable an Aliases, 88, 159 alias, 55, 97, 160 and QUIT, 266 asterisk in name, 162 . asterisk in value, 160 back quotes in, 88, 159, ., see Current directory 160, 164 .., see Parent directory commands for, 154 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 340 Index ___________________________________________________________________ defining default command use by NDOS, 118, 133 options with, 160, 165 _ANSI internal variable, 74 editing, 211 ANSI.COM, 135 examples, 88, 95, 98 ANSI.SYS, 135 IFF in, 165 APPEND command, 140 in batch files, 95 Appending files, 184 inheritance in secondary Archive attribute, see File shells, 127, 166 attributes internal variables in, 166 Argument quoting, 86 keystroke, 90, 162 Arguments, see replaceable and key assignments, 122 parameters automatic execution of, Arithmetic, 79 86, 90, 164 ASCII, 43, 315 memory space for, 74, 114, @ASCII variable function, 78 252 Asterisk, see * multiple commands in, 159 At sign, see @ sign nesting, 160 ATTRIB, 168 order of execution, 37 @ATTRIB variable function, 78 reading from a file, 166 Attributes, see File attributes removing, 297 AUTOEXEC.BAT, 36, 100, 105 replaceable parameters in, and NSTART, 107 165, 166 and startup command, 103 saving in a file, 164 location of, 115 saving temporarily, 210, 287 running, 102 suspending execution of, 259 setting COMSPEC in, 101 temporarily disabling, 55, speeding up, 289 97, 160 starting KSTACK.COM, 61, variable functions in, 82, 105, 239 166 AutoExecPath directive, 115 Alt-255, 49 Automatic batch files, 36 And (&&) in conditional Automatic directory changes, commands, 83 54, 107 .AND., in IF and IFF, 227, 231, 233 B ANSI directive, 118, 135, 180, 181, 284 Back & Forth, 104, 112 ANSI driver, 45 Backspace character, 86 and CLS, 180, 284 Backspace directive, 123 and COLOR, 182, 284 Base memory, see Memory and COLORDIR, 197 Base name, see Filenames and colors, 121 .BAT files, 91, 247 and cursor problems, 134 Batch files, 91 and DESQview, 144 aliases in, 95, 96 and PROMPT, 262 based on command history, and scrolling, 134, 285 225 and TEXT, 291 branching in, 224 detecting, 74, 135 calling, 173 escape sequences, 86, 262, capturing output of, 98 291 chaining, 173 in CONFIG.SYS, 135 commands for, 93, 154 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 341 Index ___________________________________________________________________ comments in, 269 CDD, 177 debugging, 97 CDPATH environment variable, displaying messages in, 207, 72, 107 209, 273, 274, 291, 302 and automatic directory echoing of commands, 91, changes, 54 118, 207, 286 and CD, 176 environment variables in, and CDD, 177 92 and PUSHD, 265 internal variables in, 76, Changing directories, 54, 175, 92 177, 260, 264 interrupting, 95 @CHAR variable function, 78 keyboard input in, 235, 238 CHCP, 179, 189, 198, 292 labels in, 222, 224 CHDIR, 175 modes, 91, 247 ClearKeyMap directive, 126 nesting, 74, 173 CLS, 94, 180 order of execution, 37 and DESQview, 144 replaceable parameters, 92, CMDLINE environment variable, 288 73 saving environment in, 210, Code page, 75, 179 287 _CODEPAGE internal variable, screen display, 203, 205, 75 206 Cold reboot, 268 subroutines, 222, 272 COLOR, 94, 182 suspending execution of, 259 and DESQview, 144 temporary variables in, 93 ColorDir directive, 121 terminating, 174, 266 COLORDIR environment variable, timing events in, 293 73, 107, 197, 277 tips, 95 and DESQview, 144 variable functions in, 82, and redirection, 197 92 Colors, see Screen; Monochrome _BATCH internal variable, 74 monitor BatchEcho directive, 91, 118, _COLUMN internal variable, 75 286 _COLUMNS internal variable, BEEP, 93, 118, 170 75 BeepFreq directive, 118 Command grouping, 84, see also BeepLength directive, 118 EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, and IF BeginLine directive, 123 Command history, see History _BG internal variable, 74 list Boxes, drawing, 203 Command interpreter, 34 BREAK, 172 Command line, 47 .BTM files, 91, 247 arguments, see replaceable parameters C automatic directory changes, 54 CALL, 93, 173 echoing of, 207, 208 CANCEL, 93, 173, 174, 266 editing, 48, 122, 124 Carriage return character, 86 editing mode, 48, 119, 285 Case (upper/lower), 120, 286 expanded, 208 CD, 175 filename completion, 52 CD-ROM drives, 136 help, 55 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 342 Index ___________________________________________________________________ history, 49, see also and DOS FORMAT /S, 140 History list and multitaskers, 140 history window, 51 checking, 101 input method, 120, 284 on laptop and notebook multiple commands, 54 computers, 138 processing of, 37 removing, 298 prompt, 261 setting automatically, 101 Command processing, 37 Conditional commands, 83 Command Reference Guide, 153 CONFIG.SYS, 34, 100 Command tail, 36, 37, 38 and ANSI driver, 135 Command, NDOS startup, 102, 105 and DOS bug, 103 and multitaskers, 140 NDOS commands in, 101 COMMAND.COM Configuration, NDOS, 72, 100, in Microsoft Windows, 143 108 in multitasker DOS windows, CONsole device, 188, 290, see 140 also Standard input, Standard message server, 127 output, and Standard error CommandEscape directive, 124 Coprocessor, see Numeric Commands coprocessor conditional execution of, COPY, 183 233 Country code, 189, 198, 263, external, 37, 153, 155, 257 292 format of, 155 CPU, 42, 130 help for, 55, 256 _CPU internal variable, 75 internal, 37, 153 CritFail directive, 126, 139 disabling, 158, 284 Critical errors, 138 length of, 48, 54, 58 automatic Fail response, list of, 154, 158 102, 104, 126 new, 155 Ctrl-Break order of execution, 37, 70 checking, 172 programming interface, 324 during DELAY, 192 types of, 154 during INKEY, 235 CommandSep directive, 118, 284 during PAUSE, 259 Comments during SELECT, 276 in alias files, 166 in batch files, 95 in AUTOEXEC.BAT, 150 Ctrl-C, see Ctrl-Break in batch files, 269 Ctrl-X, see Escape character in CONFIG.SYS, 10, 150 Ctrl-Z, 186 in environment variable CTTY, 60, 188 files, 282 Current drive and directory, 40 in NDOS.INI, 110 changing, see Changing Compatibility, 5, 7 directories with hardware, 130 retrieving, 75 with other software, 139, saving temporarily, 210, 147 260, 264, 287 Compound character, 284 Cursor COMSPEC environment variable, positioning, 273, 274, 302 73, 106 shape, 118, 134, 285 and disk swapping, 117 CursorIns directive, 118, 134, 285 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 343 Index ___________________________________________________________________ CursorOver directive, 118, 134, size, 264 285 DIREXIST test, in IF and IFF, _CWD internal variable, 75 231 _CWDS internal variable, 75 DIRS, 202, 260, 264 _CWP internal variable, 75 Disk drives, 135 _CWPS internal variable, 75 drive letter, 38 space on, 79, 219 D swapping to, 116, 289 testing status of, 81 Daily execution of batch file, volume label, 80, 301 83 write verification on, 300 DATE, 189 _DISK internal variable, 75 _DATE internal variable, 75 @DISKFREE variable function, @DATE variable function, 79 79 Day of week, 75 on networks, 146 Default directory, see Current Diskless workstations, 146 drive and directory DiskReset directive, 126, 136 Default drive, see Current @DISKTOTAL variable function, drive and directory 79 DEL, 136, 190 on networks, 146 Del directive, 123 @DISKUSED variable function, DELAY, 192 79 Deleting files, 190 on networks, 146 DelHistory directive, 124 Display colors, see Screen; DelToBeginning directive, 123 Video DelToEnd directive, 123 DOS, 140 DelWordLeft directive, 123 APPEND command, 140 DelWordRight directive, 123 bug in CONFIG.SYS DESCRIBE, 122, 193 processing, 103 @DESCRIPT variable function, command interpreter, 35 79 commands, help for, 55, 155, DESCRIPT.ION, 193, see File 256 descriptions external commands, 153 DescriptionMax directive, 118, FORMAT /S command, 140 193 hidden files, 34 Descriptions, see File memory, see Memory descriptions shell (defined), 1 DESQview, 144 structure, 34 and secondary shells, 104, version 2.x, 101 112 _DOS internal variable, 75 detecting, 75, 77 @DOSMEM variable function, 79 Detecting NDOS, 322 _DOSVER internal variable, 75 DIR, 136, 195 _DOW internal variable, 75 and include lists, 68 Down directive, 123 directory size limits, 198 DRAWBOX, 94, 133, 203 Directories, see Subdirectories DRAWHLINE, 94, 133, 205 Directory stack, 264 DRAWVLINE, 94, 133, 206 clearing, 260 Drive, see Disk drives displaying, 202 Drive letter, 38 DRSets directive, 127 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 344 Index ___________________________________________________________________ _DV internal variable, 75 reading from a file, 281 DVCleanup directive, 127, 145 referencing, 71 removing, 298 E spaces in, 280 ERASE, 136, 190 ECHO, 207 EraseLine directive, 123 ANSI sequences in, 86 Error level, see Exit code at command line, 208 Error messages, 304 in batch files, 91, 94, ERRORLEVEL test, in IF and IFF, 97, 269 230 default state, 118, 286 Escape character, 86, 119, 284 inheritance, 173 EscapeChar directive, 119, 284 ECHOS, 94, 209 ESET, 122, 211 Editing aliases and environment and environment variables, variables, 211 70, 281 EditMode directive, 119, 285 and PATH, 149, 257 EGA, 133, 134, 179, 232 @EVAL variable function, 79 ELSE, in IFF, 233 EXCEPT, 84, 128, 212 ELSEIFF, in IFF, 233 and DEL /Z, 191 EMS, see Memory @EXEC variable function, 79 @EMS variable function, 79 ExecLine directive, 123 EndHistory directive, 124 Executable extensions, 37, 68 ENDIFF, in IFF, 233 wildcards in, 70 EndLine directive, 123 EXIST test, in IF and IFF, 231 ENDLOCAL, 93, 97, 210, 287, EXIT, 107, 214 298 Exit code, 74, 214, 266 ENDTEXT, 94, 291 and CALL, 173 _ENV internal variable, 75 and GLOBAL, 220 EnvFree directive, 115, 281 and IF tests, 230 Environment, 41, 70, 280 Expanded memory, see Memory loading in high memory, 117 @EXT variable function, 79 master, 211, 281, 298 Extended key codes, see Key memory space for codes displaying, 252 Extended memory, see Memory setting, 102, 104, 115 @EXTENDED variable function, testing, 75 80 saving temporarily, 210, 287 Extension, see Filenames size, and compatibility External commands, see Commands problems, 149 Environment directive, 115, 281 F Environment variables, 41, 70, 280 _FG internal variable, 75 and INKEY, 235 File attributes, 40, 168 and INPUT, 238 and COPY, 186, 187 characters in name, 71 and DEL, 191 creating, 280 and DIR, 195, 199, 201 displaying, 280 and EXCEPT, 212 editing, 211 and GLOBAL, 220 expansion, 87 and MOVE, 253, 255 nesting, 71 and REN, 271 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 345 Index ___________________________________________________________________ and SELECT, 278 @FULL variable function, 80 setting, 168 FullINT2E directive, 127 subdirectory, 169 testing, 78 G viewing, 168 volume label, 169 General Concepts, 34 File descriptions, 193 GLOBAL, 84, 128, 220 and disk performance, 136 Glossary, 329 length of, 118, 193, 198, GOSUB, 94, 99, 222, 272 278 and FOR, 217 programming for, 325 GOTO, 94, 224 retrieving, 79 and IFF, 99, 234 sorting by, 200, 279 Guided Tour, of NDOS features, Filenames, 38 12 parts of, 38 separating, 79, 81 H shorthand for, 63 unique, 82 Hard drives, 135 @FILEDATE variable function, Hardware compatibility, see 80 Compatibility Filename completion, 52 HELP Files, 38 and external commands, 155 adding line numbers to, 296 and mouse, 56 copying, 183 on monochrome screen, 138, date, 41, 80, 189, 195 options, 138, 256 deleting, 190 Help directive, 124 displaying, 245, 296 Hidden attribute, see File moving, 253, 270 attributes reading, in FOR, 215 HistMin directive, 119 searching for, 81 HISTORY, 108, 225 selecting, 275 History directive, 115 size of, 80, 195 History list, 49, 225 time stamp, 41, 80, 292 controlling, 119, 226 true path of, 82, 295 inheritance in secondary @FILESIZE variable function, shells, 127 80 memory space for, 115, 252 @FILETIME variable function, reading from a file, 226 80 History window, 51, 119 FineSwap directive, 127 HistWinBegin directive, 125 Floppy disks, 135 HistWinColor directive, 119 FOR, 84, 94, 128, 215 HistWinDel directive, 125 and GOSUB, 223 HistWinEdit directive, 125 Form feed character, 86 HistWinEnd directive, 125 FORMAT /S command, 140 HistWinExec directive, 125 FREE, 219 HistWinHeight directive, 119 on networks, 146 Free disk space, see disk space Free memory, see Memory ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 346 Index ___________________________________________________________________ HistWinLeft directive, 119 for command line editing, HistWinOpen directive, 125 124 HistWinTop directive, 119 for history window, 125 HistWinWidth directive, 120 for LIST, 125 HMA, see Memory names, 113, 162, 239 Keyboard, 44 I KEYSTACK, 61, 94, 98, 239 programming interface, 323 IF, 84, 94, 128, 227 Keystroke aliases, see Aliases conditions, 228 KSTACK.COM, 61, 105, 239 IFF, 94, 233 and GOSUB, 222 L and GOTO, 99, 234 conditions, 228 @LABEL variable function, 80 Include lists, 67 Labels, in batch files, 222, @INDEX variable function, 80 224 Inherit directive, 127 Laptop computers, 136 INKEY, 94, 98, 235 Left directive, 123 INPUT, 94, 122, 238 @LEN variable function, 80 Ins directive, 123 LH, 131, 132, 243 Installable commands, 324 LIM EMS, see Memory Installation, 9 Line feed character, 86 reversing, 10 @LINE variable function, 80 INT 2E, 326 LineInput directive, 120, 284 INT 2F, 322 Lines, drawing, on screen, 205, @INT variable function, 80 206 Internal commands, see Commands LIST, 245 Internal variables, 73, see default colors, 121 also names of individual keys used with, 123, 125 variables output method, 133 in aliases, 166 screen size, 120, 133, 285 in batch files, 77, 92 ListColors directive, 121 ISALIAS test, in IF and IFF, ListFind directive, 125 231 ListHighBit directive, 126 ISDIR test, in IF and IFF, 231 ListNext directive, 126 ISINTERNAL test, in IF and IFF, ListPrint directive, 126 231 ListWrap directive, 126 Literal keystrokes, 48 J LOADBTM, 91, 94, 247 LOADHIGH, 131, 132, 243 JOIN command, 295 LOG, 98, 107, 249 LogName directive, 115 K Lower case, 80, 120, 200, 286 @LOWER variable function, 80 Key @LPT variable function, 80 codes, 43, 315, 316 mapping, 121 M clearing default key map, 126 Master environment, see for all input, 122 Environment ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 347 Index ___________________________________________________________________ MD, 251 in aliases, 159 MEMORY, 132, 149, 252 separator character, 54, 86, and QEMM, 132 118, 284 Memory, 42, 131 Multiple filenames, 66 base, 42 Multitasking software, 140 amount of, 79 and disk swapping, 142 DOS in, 299 DESQview, 144 NDOS use of, 131 Microsoft Windows, 143 expanded (EMS), 42 amount of, 79, 252 N hardware, 132 NDOS use of, 132 @NAME variable function, 81 swapping to, 115, 132, NDOS 289 and DESQview, see DESQview extended, 42 and DOS versions, 103, 140 amount of, 79, 252 and DR-DOS, 43, 101, 103, NDOS use of, 131 140 extended (XMS), 42 and MS-DOS 5.0, 57, 103 amount of, 79, 252 and MS-DOS 5.0 memory NDOS use of, 132 management, 43, 131, 132, swapping to, 115, 289 243 free, 252 and other software, 139 high memory area (HMA), 43, and Windows, see Microsoft 132 Windows DOS in, 299 configuration, 72, 100, 108 status of, 252 detecting, 322 problems with, 132 Features, 5 upper, 42 memory usage, 115, 117, 128 upper memory blocks (UMBs), programming interface, 322 43 resident portion, 115 and LOADHIGH, 243 loading in high memory, NDOS use of, 117, 131 117 Memory resident programs, see startup options, see Startup TSRs options Messages, displaying, 207, 209 transient portion, 115, 128 MessageServer directive, 127 NDOS.COM, 103, 106 Microsoft Windows, 141, 142 NDOS.INI, 100, 108 and secondary shells, 104, advanced directives, 126 112 and installation, 108 detecting, 76, 143 and SETDOS, 111, 117, 283 MKDIR, 251 color directives, 121 _MONITOR internal variable, comments in, 110 76 configuration directives, Monochrome monitor 117 and HELP, 138, 256 directive types, 112 Mouse, in HELP, 56 directives, 109, see also MOVE, 253 names of individual and SELECT, 254 directives Multiple commands, 54 errors in, 110, 115 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 348 Index ___________________________________________________________________ initialization directives, _NVER internal variable, 74 114 key mapping directives, 121 O location of, 101, 104, 111, 112 Operating system, detecting and multitaskers, 112 type of, 75 primary section, 110 Options in alternate files, 112 in commands, 156 secondary section, 110 startup, see Startup Options and DESQview, 145 Or (||) in conditional and multitaskers, 141 commands, 84 NDOS.PIF, 143 .OR., in IF and IFF, 227, 231, NDOSHELP, 55, 256 233 options, 138, 256 _NDP internal variable, 76 P NetwareNames directive, 128 Networks, 146 ParameterChar directive, 120, and pipes, 147 285 disk access problems on, 136 Parent directory, 40, 175, 177 disk space calculations on, 251 146 Parsing, 38 disk swapping on, 128, 147 PATH command, 148, 257 drive names on, 39 PATH environment variable, 41, file and directory names on, 73, 106 146 "." in, 258 NEXIT, 36, 100, 107 and @SEARCH variable location of, 108, 114 function, 81 NextFile directive, 124 avoiding search of, 28 NextHistory directive, 124 changing, 211, 257 NextINIFile directive, 128 format of, 257 NoClobber directive, 120, 285 invalid directory in, 258 NormalEditKey directive, 124 length of, 148, 258 NormalHWinKey directive, 125 searching path, 37 NormalKey directive, 123 viewing, 257 and keystroke aliases, 163 @PATH variable function, 81 NormalListKey directive, 126 Path, of a file, 38, 39 NOT, in IF and IFF, 227, 231, and aliases, 89 233 extracting from full file- Notebook computers, 136 name, 81 Novell Netware, 128, 146 finding full path name, 86 NSTART, 36, 77, 100, 107 finding true path, 82, 295 and multitaskers, 142 if omitted, 40 and startup command, 103 in executable extensions, 69 and TSRs, 107 in include lists, 67 location of, 108, 114 PAUSE, 94, 98, 259 NStartPath directive, 114 PauseOnError directive, 110, Numeric coprocessor, 76, 130 115 Numeric tests, in IF and IFF, Percent sign, see % sign 230 Pipes, 60, 290 and networks, 147 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 349 Index ___________________________________________________________________ POPD, 202, 260, 264 REM, 94, 150, 269 PrevFile directive, 125 in AUTOEXEC.BAT, 11, 150 PrevHistory directive, 125 in CONFIG.SYS, 10, 11, 150 [Primary], see NDOS.INI @REMOTE variable function, 81 Primary shell, see Shell @REMOVABLE variable function, Printer 81 checking status of, 80 REN, 253, 270 sending control codes to, 86 RENAME, 253, 270 sending files to, 183 Replaceable parameters Programming for NDOS, see in aliases, 165 Technical Information in batch files, 92, 288 PROMPT command, 107, 141, 261 ReserveTPA directive, 128 ANSI sequences in, 92, 262 RETURN, 94, 222, 272 changing for secondary Right directive, 124 shell, 77 RMDIR, 267 environment variables and ROM, booting from, 136 functions in, 71 Root directory, 39 PROMPT environment variable, _ROW internal variable, 76 73, 106 _ROWS internal variable, 76 PUSHD, 202, 260, 264 S Q SaveHistory directive, 125 QUIT, 94, 173, 174, 266 Scan codes, see Key codes Quoting, of arguments, 86 SCREEN, 94, 273 Screen, see also Video R clearing, 180 colors, see also Monochrome RAM, see Memory monitor RAM disk, 39, 132 and ANSI driver, 45, 121, swapping to, 115 284 RD, 267 and cursor, 134 Read-only attribute, see File in DIR, 197 attributes in HELP, 138, 256 @READY variable function, 81 in history window, 119 REBOOT, 268 in LIST, 121, 246 Redirection, 59 in PROMPT, 262 alternative methods, 290, in SELECT, 121, 277 303 of boxes, 203 and COLORDIR environment of lines, 205, 206 variable, 198 of text, 274, 291, 302 and command grouping, 84 setting defaults, 121, and NoClobber, 60, 285 180, 182, 284 capturing batch file output, setting, in NSTART, 77, 98 107 nested, 60 testing, 74, 75 preventing file overwrites, size, 45, 75, 76, 120, 133, 120 285 Reduce directive, 128 ScreenRows directive, 120, 133, 285 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 350 Index ___________________________________________________________________ SCRPUT, 94, 133, 274 startup options, 104 Search path, see PATH visual shell, 35 environment variable _SHELL internal variable, 76 @SEARCH variable function, 81 SHELL= line, in CONFIG.SYS, 35, [Secondary], see NDOS.INI 101, 137 Secondary shell, see Shell SHIFT, 92, 94, 288 SELECT, 275 Software compatibility, see and command grouping, 84 Compatibility and include lists, 68 Sound, see BEEP and MOVE, 254 StackSize directive, 128 and stack size, 128 Standard error device, 58, 59 default colors, 121 Standard input device, 58, 59, keys used with, 122 246, 290, 303 output method, 133 Standard output device, 58, 59, screen size, 121, 134, 285 290, 303 Serial port, 188 Startup options, 101 SET, 70, 280 //iniline, 103, 104, 141 SETDOS, 283 @d:\path\inifile, 101, 104, /A(NSI), 118, 140, 180, 182, 112, 141 284 commands in, 103, 105 /C(ompound character), 119, for secondary shells, 105 284 StdColors directive, 121 /E(scape character), 86, Stopwatch, see TIMER 119, 284 String tests, in IF and IFF, /I(nternal), 158, 231, 284 228 /L(ine), 120, 284 Subdirectories, 39 /M(ode), 119, 285 attributes of, 168 /N(o clobber), 120, 285 changing, see Changing /P(arameter character), 120, directories 285 copying, 187 /R(ows), 120, 133, 285 creating, 251 /S(hape), 118, 134, 285 deleting files from, 191 /U(pper), 76, 120, 199, 286 descriptions for, 193 /V(erbose), 91, 118, 286 executing commands in, 220 and NDOS.INI, 111, 283 hidden, 220 SETLOCAL, 93, 94, 97, 287, moving, 253, 255 298 name, maximum length of, 39 Shell removing, 191, 255, 267 DOS shell (defined), 1 renaming, 270 level, 76, 262 testing for, 231 primary, 35 Subdirectory attribute, see and multitaskers, 142, File attributes 143 SUBST command, 295 startup options, 101 @SUBSTR variable function, 81 secondary, 35 Swapping, 115 and COMSPEC, 106 and compatibility, 132 and multitaskers, 142 and multitasking software, exiting from, 214 142 inheritance, 111, 127, enabling and disabling, 289 166, 283 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 351 Index ___________________________________________________________________ filenames used by, 116, and multitasker startup 142 files, 141 on networks, 146 and NSTART, 107 reduced, 128 and SETLOCAL, 287 types of, 116 and swapping state, 289 SWAPPING command, 289 loading order, 151 Swapping directive, 115, 131, TYPE, 296 147, 151 SwapReopen directive, 128 U Switches, in commands, 156 System UltraVision, 135 attribute, see File UMBEnvironment directive, 117, attributes 131, 151 date, 189 and DESQview, 145 rebooting, 268 UMBLoad directive, 117, 131, tests, in IF and IFF, 230 151 time, 292 and DESQview, 145 UMBs, see Memory T UNALIAS, 97, 297 Uninstalling NDOS, 10 Tab character, 86 @UNIQUE variable function, 82 Task switching software, see UniqueSwapName directive, 116, Multitasking software 129, 142 Technical Information, 322 UNSET, 70, 93, 298 DESCRIPT.ION, 325 Up directive, 124 detecting NDOS, 322 Upper case, 120, 286 installable commands, 324 @UPPER variable function, 82 INT 2E, 326 UpperCase directive, 120, 199, KEYSTACK, 323 200, 286 TEE, 290 V TEMP environment variable, 73, 107, 147 Variable expansion, 87 TEMPNDOS environment variable, Variable functions, 77, see 73, 106, 147 also names of individual TEXT, 94, 291 functions THEN, in IFF, 233 in aliases, 82, 166 TIME, 292 in batch files, 83, 93 _TIME internal variable, 76 VER, 299 @TIME variable function, 82 VERIFY, 187, 300 TIMER, 95, 293 Version numbers, 75, 76, 299 Tour, 12 Vertical text display, 302 _TRANSIENT internal variable, VGA, 133, 134, 179, 232 76 Video hardware, 45, 133, see TRUENAME, 295 also Screen @TRUENAME variable function, _VIDEO internal variable, 76 82, 295 VOL, 301 TSRs, 139 Volume label, see Disk drives and .BTM files, 247 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 352 Index ___________________________________________________________________ Volume label attribute, see File attributes VSCRPUT, 95, 133, 302 W Warm reboot, 268 Warning mark, see ! Wildcards, 64 and @SEARCH variable function, 81 and filename completion, 53 and renaming subdirectories, 270 extended, 65 and DEL, 136, 191 in executable extensions, 70 in include lists, 67 in multiple filenames, 66 _WIN internal variable, 76, 143 Windows, see Microsoft Windows @WORD variable function, 82 WordLeft directive, 124 WordRight directive, 124 X XMS, see Memory @XMS variable function, 82 .XOR., in IF and IFF, 227, 231, 233 Y Y, 303 Z Zero length files, creating, 269 ___________________________________________________________________ NDOS Reference Manual 353