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                   ARC

                      File Archive Utility
                          Version 6.02

















                        Copyright 1985-89
                               by
               System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
                       ALL RIGHTS RESERVED





     This document describes version 6.02 of the ARC file
     utility, which was created by System Enhancement
     Associates, Inc. in January of 1989.





     "ARC" is a Trademark of System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
     for Computer programs for use in the creation, manipulation
     and extraction of compressed computer files.


 LIMITED LICENSE AND WARRANTY


IMPORTANT NOTICE:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Any use of this software for any
period of time for any purpose whatsoever constitutes
your unqualified acceptance of this LICENSE and
subjects you to all of the terms and conditions set
forth below:

System Enhancement Associates, Inc. ("SEA") warrants
to any Licensee that acquires the program from SEA or
an authorized SEA representative ONLY that:

 1) All diskettes SEA provides constitute an accurate
    duplication of the software and SEA will replace
    any diskette found to be defective within 30 days
    from date of acquisition.  SEA will not honor this
    warranty if the diskette has been subjected to
    physical abuse, or used in defective or non-
    compatible equipment.

 2) SEA's software will perform substantially as
    described in the documentation SEA regularly
    supplies with that software, if operated as
    prescribed in such documentation including the
    hardware and software environment specified.

 3) If a significant defect in any program is found,
    Licensee's only remedy shall be to receive refund
    of the actual fee Licensee paid for such defective
    program.  In no event will such a refund exceed
    the fee SEA charges for such program.

 4) SEA makes no warranty or representation that the
    software will be error free nor that its use by
    Licensee will be uninterrupted.

Except as provided above, SEA disclaims all other
Except as provided above, SEA disclaims all other
warranties, either express or implied, including but
warranties, either express or implied, including but
not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability
not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for any particular purpose.
or fitness for any particular purpose.

Licensee agrees to take full responsibility for the
Licensee agrees to take full responsibility for the
selection of and any use whatsoever made of the
selection of and any use whatsoever made of the
software.
software.

IN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
IN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR
LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS
LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS
OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF
OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY
THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY
TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.
ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.










            TABLE OF CONTENTS


     _______                                           ____
     Section                                           Page

     Introduction  ....................................   1
     Using ARC  .......................................   3
     ARC commands  ....................................   5
         Adding files  ................................   5
         Extracting files  ............................   8
         Deleting files  ..............................   9
         Listing archive entries  .....................   9
         Running files  ...............................  12
         Printing files  ..............................  13
         Testing an archive  ..........................  13
         Converting an archive  .......................  14
     ARC options  .....................................  15
         Directories  .................................  15
         Level 5 compatibility  .......................  15
         Verbose mode  ................................  16
         Backup retention  ............................  16
         Suppressing compression  .....................  17
         Message suppression  .........................  18
         Encryption/Decryption  .......................  19
     Indirection  .....................................  21
     RAMdisk support  .................................  22
     Version numbers  .................................  23
     Common questions and answers  ....................  24
     Maintenance contracts  ...........................  26
     Revision history  ................................  27
         Changes in version 5  ........................  27
         Changes in version 5.3  ......................  29
         Changes in version 6.0  ......................  29
     Program history and credits  .....................  31
     Bulletin boards  .................................  33
     Site licenses  ...................................  34
     The SEA Utilities  ...............................  35


















          BLANK PAGE





















































ARC                                              Page 0
              INTRODUCTION



     ARC is the copyrighted property of System Enhancement
     Associates, Inc.  You are granted the above LIMITED
     LICENSE to use ARC, and to copy it and distribute it,
     provided that the following conditions are met:

     1) No fee may be charged for such copying and
        distribution.

                ____
     2) ARC may only be distributed in its original,
        unmodified state.

                ___
     3) ARC may not be distributed, in whole or in part, as
        part of any commercial product or service without
        the express written permission of System
        Enhancement Associates, Inc.


     Contributions for the use of this program will be
     appreciated, and should be sent to:

               System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
                  21 New Street, Wayne NJ 07470

     You may not use this product in a commercial
     environment or a governmental organization without
     paying a license fee of $35.  Site licenses and
     commercial distribution licenses are available.  A
     program disk and printed documentation are available
     for $50.  See the order form enclosed with this manual
     for more details.



     ARC is user supported software.  This means that you
     may copy it freely and give the copies away to anyone
     you wish, at no cost.  They are in turn requested to
     send in a contribution if they decide to use it.

     The user supported software concept (often referred to
        _________
     as shareware) is an attempt to provide software at low
     cost.  The cost of offering a new product by
     conventional means is staggering, and hence dissuades
     many independent authors and small companies from
     developing and promoting their ideas.  User supported
     software is an attempt to develop a new marketing
     channel where products can be introduced at low cost.




     ARC                                         Page 1
If user supported software works, then everyone will
benefit.  The user will benefit by receiving quality
products at low cost, and by being able to "test
drive" software thoroughly before purchasing it.  The
author benefits by being able to enter the commercial
software arena without first needing large sources of
venture capital.

But it can only work with your support.  We're not
                                       ___
just talking about ARC here, but about all user
supported software.  If you obtain a user supported
program from a friend or colleague, and are still
using it after a couple of weeks, then it is obviously
worth something to you, and a contribution should be
sent.



And now, back to ARC:

ARC is used to create and maintain file archives.  An
archive is a group of files collected together into
one file in such a way that the individual files may
be recovered intact.  ARC automatically compresses the
files being archived so that the resulting archive
takes up a minimum amount of space.

When ARC is used to add a file to an archive it
analyzes the file to determine which of three storage
methods will result in the greatest savings.  These
three methods are:

1) No compression; the file is stored as is.

2) Repeated-character compression; repeated sequences
   of the same byte value are collapsed into a three-
   byte code sequence.

3) Dynamic Lempel-Ziv compression;  the file is stored
   as a series of variable size bit codes which
   represent character strings, and which are created
   "on the fly".

Note that since one of the three methods involves no
compression at all, the resulting archive entry will
never be larger than the original file.








ARC                                              Page 2
                USING ARC



     ARC is invoked with a command of the following format:

         ARC <x> <arcname> [<template> . . .]

     Where:

         <x> is an ARC command letter (see below), in
         either upper or lower case.

         <arcname> is the name of the archive to act on,
         with or without an extension.  If no extension is
         supplied, then ".ARC" is assumed.  The archive
         name may include path and drive specifiers.

         <template> is one or more file name templates.
         The "wildcard" characters "*" and "?" may be used.
         A file name template may include a path or drive
         specifier, though it isn't always meaningful.


     If ARC is invoked with no arguments (by typing "ARC",
     and pressing "enter"), then a brief command summary is
     displayed.



     Following is a brief summary of the available ARC
     commands:

         a   = add files to archive
         m   = move files to archive
         u   = update files in archive
         f   = freshen files in archive
         d   = delete files from archive
         x,e = extract files from archive
         r   = run files from archive
         p   = copy files from archive to standard output
         l   = list files in archive
         v   = verbose listing of files in archive
         t   = test archive integrity
         c   = convert entry to new storage method









     ARC                                         Page 3
Following is a brief summary of the available ARC
options, which may alter how a command works:

    m   = move files to archive
    z   = include subdirectories in archive
    v   = verbose mode
    b   = retain backup copy of archive
    s   = suppress compression (store only)
    w   = suppress warning messages
    n   = suppress notes and comments
    o   = overwrite existing files when extracting
    5   = produce only level 5 compatable archives
    g   = encode or decode archive entry









































ARC                                              Page 4
              ARC COMMANDS



     This section describes each of the commands.  ARC will
     accept any one command at a time.  If no commands are
     given, then a brief command list is displayed.



     ____________
     ADDING FILES

     Files are added to an archive using the "A" (Add), "U"
     (Update), or "F" (Freshen) commands.

     Add always adds the file.

     Update differs from Add in that the file is only added
     if it is not already in the archive, or if it is newer
     that the corresponding entry in the archive.

     Freshen is similar to Update, except that new files
     are not added to the archive; only files already in
     the archive are updated.


     For example, if you wish to add a file named
     "TEST.DAT" to an archive named "MY.ARC", you would use
     a command of the form:

         ARC a my test.dat

     If you wanted to add all files with a ".C" extension,
     and all files named "STUFF" to an archive named
     "JUNK.ARC", you could type:

         ARC a junk *.c stuff.*

     If you have an archive named "TEXT.ARC", and you
     wanted to add to it all of your files with an
     extension of ".TXT" which have been created or changed
     since they were last archived, then you would type:

         ARC u text *.txt










     ARC                                         Page 5
If you have a bunch of files in your current
directory, with backup copies being stored in an
archive named "SAFE.ARC", then if you wanted to make
sure that every file in the archive is the latest
version of that file, you would type:

    ARC f safe


A word about Update and Freshen:  These are similar in
that they look at the date and time of last change on
the file, and only add it if the file has been changed
since it was last archived.  They differ in that
Update will add new files, while Freshen will not.

In other words, Update looks for the files on disk,
and adds them if they are new or have changed, while
Freshen looks in the archive, and tries to update the
files which are already there.


The Add, Update, and Freshen commands may be modified
by the "M" (Move) option.  The Move option tells ARC
to delete the file on disk once it is safely tucked
away in the archive.  For example, if you wanted to
move all files in your current directory into an
archive named "SUM.ARC", you could use a command of
the form:

    ARC am sum *.*

When Move is combined with Update or Freshen, it
deletes the files that are in the archive, even if it
does not need to compress them again.  For example,
suppose you extracted several files from an archive
named "STUFF.ARC" and then made changes to a few of
them.  Now you want to pack away the new versions of
what you changed, and clean up the mess (that is,
delete all the files you extracted).  You can do it
easily by using the command:

    ARC fm stuff


If the Move option is given by itself, it acts like an
"Add and Move".  So in our earlier example of moving
everything in your current directory into an archive
named "SUM.ARC", you could also use the command:

    ARC m sum *.*




ARC                                              Page 6
     If you don't say which files to add, ARC adds
     everything in your current directory.  So we could
     shorten that to:

         ARC m sum


     Archive entries are always maintained in alphabetic
     order.  Archive entries may not have duplicate names.
     If you add a file to an archive that already contains
     a file by that name, then the existing entry in the
     archive is replaced.  Also, the archive itself and its
     backup will not be added.

     You may also add a file which is in a directory other
     than your current directory.  For example, it is
     perfectly legal to type:

         ARC a junk c:\dustbin\stuff.txt

     You cannot add two files with the same name.  In other
     words, if you have a file named "C:\DUSTBIN\STUFF.TXT"
     and another file named "C:\BUCKET\STUFF.TXT", then
     typing:

         ARC a junk c:\dustbin\*.* c:\bucket\*.*

     will not work.


     ARC does not save the path name in this case.  In
     other words, if you specify a drive and/or path when
     adding a file, only the actual file name is stored in
     the archive.

                  ___
     However, you can store a subdirectory in an archive,
     but you have to tell ARC that you want to do that.
     When you add the "Z" option to an Add, Update, or
     Freshen, ARC will store subdirectories and their
     contents in such a way that it can later recreate
     them.

     For example, suppose you have a directory named
     C:\WASTE that you wish to place in an archive named
     "TRASHCAN.ARC".  You could do this with the command:

         ARC az trashcan c:\waste

     This would cause ARC to place the C:\WASTE directory
     (and all of its contents, including any subdirec-
     tories) into the TRASHCAN.ARC archive.  The directory



     ARC                                         Page 7
is stored in such a way that it can be extracted
anywhere.  It could, for example, be extracted as
D:\JUNKYARD\WASTE if you so desired.

If you combine the "Z" and "M" options, then the
directories are removed from your disk once they are
safely stored in the archive.


ARC will not add an archive to itself, nor will it add
the temporary copy or a backup copy of the archive.


An interesting note:  It has been brought to our
attention that BASIC programs compress to a smaller
                   ___
size when they are not tokenized.  If you are more
concerned with space than speed, you may wish to
convert your BASIC programs to ASCII form before
adding them to an archive.  Your BASIC manual should
give instructions on how to do this.



________________
EXTRACTING FILES

Archive entries are extracted with the "E" (Extract)
or "X" (eXtract) commands.  For example, if you had an
archive named "JUNK.ARC", and you wanted all files in
it with an extension of ".TXT" or ".DOC" to be
recreated on your disk, you could type:

    ARC x junk *.txt *.doc

If you wanted to extract all of the files in an
archive named "JUNK.ARC", you could simply type:

    ARC x junk

Whatever method of file compression was used in
storing the files is reversed, and uncompressed copies
are created in the current directory.

You can also specify a path name, in which case the
decompressed copy is placed in the specified
directory.  For example, if you had an archive named
"JUNK.ARC", and you wanted all files in it with an
extension of ".TXT" to be placed in the directory
"C:\WASTE\LAND", then you could type:

    ARC x junk c:\waste\land\*.txt




ARC                                              Page 8
     If you wanted to put the file "TRASH.TXT" on your A:
     drive, and the file "LITTER.TXT" on your B: drive, you
     could type:

         ARC x junk a:trash.txt b:litter.txt

     If you give more than one path for a file, then only
     the first one is used.  For example, if you typed:

         ARC x junk a:trash.txt b:trash.txt

     then TRASH.TXT will be placed on your A: drive.



     ______________
     DELETING FILES

     Archive entries are deleted with the "D" (Delete)
     command.  For example, if you had an archive named
     "JUNK.ARC", and you wished to delete all entries in it
     with a filename extension of ".C", you could type:

         ARC d junk *.c



     _______________________
     LISTING ARCHIVE ENTRIES

     You can obtain a list of the contents of an archive by
     using the "L" (List) command or the "V" (Verbose list)
     command.  For example, to see what is in an archive
     named "JUNK.ARC", you could type:

         ARC l junk

     If you are only interested in files with an extension
     of ".DOC", then you could type:

         ARC l junk *.doc


     ARC prints a short listing of an archive's contents
     like this:

         Name          Length    Date
         ============  ========  =========
         ALPHA.TXT         6784  16 May 85
         BRAVO.TXT         2432  16 May 85
         COCO.TXT           256  16 May 85
                 ====  ========
         Total      3      9472



     ARC                                         Page 9
"Name" is simply the name of the file.

"Length" is the unpacked file length.  In other words,
it is the number of bytes of disk space which the file
would take up if it were extracted.

"Date" is the date on which the file had last been
modified, as of the time when it was added to the
archive.

"Total" is pretty obvious, I think.


ARC prints a verbose listing of an archive's contents
like this:

Name          Length    Stowage    SF   Size now  Date       Time    CRC
============  ========  ========  ====  ========  =========  ======  ====
ALPHA.TXT         6784  Crunched   35%      4413  16 May 85  11:53a  8708
BRAVO.TXT         2432  Crunched   41%      1438  16 May 85  11:53a  5BD6
COCO.TXT           256   Packed     5%       244  16 May 85  11:53a  3AFB
        ====  ========            ====  ========
Total      3      9472             27%      6095


"Name", "Length", and "Date" are the same as for a
short listing.

"Stowage" is the compression method used.  The
following compression methods are currently known:

       --          No compression.

     Packed        Runs of repeated byte values are
                   collapsed.

    Crunched       Lempel-Ziv compression technique
                   employed.

    Squeezed       Huffman encoding compression
                   technique, as employed by an
                   earlier version of ARC.

    Deviant        A nonstandard variant of Lempel-Ziv
                   was employed.  Files compressed
                   with this method should be
                   converted (with the "C" command).

    Subdir         A subdirectory.  The files within
                   the subdirectory may be viewed by
                   using the "Z" option.



ARC                                             Page 10
     "SF" is the stowage factor.  In other words, it is the
     percentage of the file length which was saved by
     compression.  The total stowage factor is the stowage
     factor for the archive as a whole, not counting
     archive overhead.

     "Size now" is the number of bytes the file is
     occupying while in the archive.

     "Time" is the time of last modification, and is
     associated with the date of last modification.

     "CRC" is the CRC check value which has been stored
     with the file.  Another CRC value will be calculated
     when the file is extracted or tested to ensure data
     integrity.  There is no especially good reason for
     displaying this value.


     ARC follows a verbose listing with a report giving the
     overall compression for everything in the archive and
     for anything specific you selected, along with a
     prediction of whether or not the files would fit on
     your disk if you tried to extract them.

     For example, if you wanted to know if all of the files
     with an extension of ".TXT" in an archive named
     "WASTE.ARC" would fit on your D: drive, you would give
     the command:

         ARC v waste d:*.txt

     At the end of the listing ARC would give its
     prediction of whether or not your D: drive has room
     for those files.



















     ARC                                        Page 11
_____________
RUNNING FILES

Archive entries may be run without being extracted by
use of the "R" (Run) command.  For example, if you had
an archive named "JUNK.ARC" which contained a file
named "LEMON.COM", which you wished to run, you could
type:

    ARC r junk lemon

You can run any file from an archive which has an
extension of ".COM", ".EXE", ".BAT", or ".BAS".  You
do not have to specify the extension, but all matching
files are run if you do not.  In other words, if you
had an archive named "JUNK.ARC" which contained the
files "LEMON.COM", "LEMON.EXE", and "LEMON.BAS", and
you typed:

    ARC r junk lemon

Then all three programs will be run.  You can avoid
this by specifying an extension in this case.

You can give arguments to the program you are running
by appending them to the command line.  For example,
if you have an archive named "JUNK.ARC" which contains
a program named "LEMON.COM", and you wanted to run it
giving it the argument "JUICE", you would type:

    ARC r junk lemon juice

You will need a fair amount of memory to run a program
from an archive.  It probably cannot be done with less
than 256k.

In practice, the file to be run is extracted, run, and
then deleted.  In other words, the above example is
equivalent to:

    ARC x junk lemon.com
    lemon juice
    erase lemon.com

If you have an archive which contains a program that
you will be running often, then you should probably
extract the program from the archive and use it
normally.







ARC                                             Page 12
     ______________
     PRINTING FILES

     Archive entries may be examined with the "P" (Print)
     command.  This works the same as the Extract command,
     except that the files are not created on disk.
     Instead, the contents of the files are written to
     standard output.  For example, if you wanted to see
     the contents of every ".TXT" file in an archive named
     "JUNK.ARC", but didn't want them saved on disk, you
     could type:

         ARC p junk *.txt

     If you wanted them to be printed on your printer
     instead of on your screen, you could type:

         ARC p junk *.txt >prn



     __________________
     TESTING AN ARCHIVE

     The integrity of an archive may be tested by use of
     the "T" (Test) command.  This checks to make sure that
     all of the file headers are properly placed, and that
     all of the files are in good shape.

     This can be very useful for critical archives, where
     data integrity must be assured.  When an archive is
     tested, all of the entries in the archive are unpacked
     (without saving them anywhere) so that a CRC check
     value may be calculated and compared with the recorded
     CRC value.

     For example, if you just received an archive named
     "JUNK.ARC" over a phone line, and you want to make
     sure that you received it properly, you could type:

         ARC t junk

     It defeats the purpose of the T command to combine it
     with N or W.












     ARC                                        Page 13
_____________________
CONVERTING AN ARCHIVE

The "C" (Convert) command is used to convert an
archive entry to take advantage of newer compression
techniques.  This is occasionally desirable when a new
version of ARC is released.  Please refer to the
revision history section for details on when new
compression methods were implemented.

For example, if you had an archive named "JUNK.ARC",
and you wanted to make sure that all files with an
extension of ".DOC" were encoded using the very latest
methods, you could type:

    ARC c junk *.doc

Or if you wanted to convert every file in the archive,
you could type:

    ARC c junk


Generally ARC will let you know if an archive ought to
be converted.






























ARC                                             Page 14
               ARC OPTIONS



     This section describes the options which are available
     to modify how ARC works.  Any of these options can be
     combined with any of the commands, though the result
     may not always be something you'd want to do.



     ___________
     DIRECTORIES

     The "Z" option tells ARC that you wish to act on
     directories as well as files.  When combined with Add,
     Update, Freshen, or Move it tells ARC to add
     directories to the archive.  When combined with List
     or Verbose it tells ARC to list directory contents.
     (The Extract command will always extract directories,
     and does not need to be told to do so.)

     A directory is treated as a unit by ARC.  This means
     that when you add a directory to an archive you add
     the whole thing, including all of its files and
     subdirectories.  Likewise, when you extract a
     directory from an archive you get all of it.

     If you wish to make a change to a directory that is in
     an archive, you should extract it, then make whatever
     changes you want on disk, and then put the directory
     back into the archive.



     _____________________
     LEVEL 5 COMPATIBILITY

     The "5" (level 5 compatibility) option can be combined
     with any comand that alters an archive.  It tells ARC
     that the resulting archive should be fully compatible
     with ARC version 5.  This is mostly necessary for
     creating archives that are to be extracted on other
     operating systems where the version of ARC available
     for that system does not yet support the ARC version 6
     extensions.

     When given the level 5 compatibility option, ARC will
     ensure that the resulting archive does not contain any
     directories, comments, or any extended data fields for
     non-MS-DOS operating systems.





     ARC                                        Page 15
____________
VERBOSE MODE

The "V" (Verbose) option can be used with any command,
though it isn't always meaningful.

When used with the List command it causes ARC to
display a "verbose listing" of the archive contents.
In fact, this is its most common use, so you can use
the Verbose option as a command for this purpose.

When used with any command that creates a new archive
(generally during an Add or a Move), it tells ARC to
add a note to the archive saying which version of ARC
created the archive.  This note is then automatically
updated every time the archive is modified, and is
displayed during a verbose listing.

Normally when ARC adds files to an archive or deletes
files from an archive it doesn't say anything about
the files it isn't changing.  When you use the verbose
option ARC will report them.



________________
BACKUP RETENTION

When ARC changes an archive (during an Add, Move,
Update, Freshen, Delete, or Convert) it creates a new
archive with the same name, but with an extension of
".$$$".  For example, if you add a file to an archive
named STUFF.ARC, then ARC will create a new archive
named STUFF.$$$.  ARC will read from your existing
archive and write out the new archive with any changes
to the ".$$$" copy.

Normally when ARC is finished it deletes the original
and renames the new archive to the original name (ie.
STUFF.ARC goes away, and STUFF.$$$ becomes the new
STUFF.ARC).  Among other things, this means that if
anything goes wrong and ARC is unable to finish, then
your original archive will still be intact.


In some circumstances you may wish to retain the
original version of the archive as a backup copy.  You
can do this easily by using the Backup option.  Add
the letter "B" to your command, and ARC will rename
your original archive to have an extension of ".BAK"
instead of deleting it.





ARC                                             Page 16
     In other words, if you wanted to add "WASTE.TXT" to an
     archive named "JUNK.ARC", but wanted to keep a backup
     copy, then you would type:

         ARC ab junk waste.txt

     Your original archive would become "JUNK.BAK", while
     "JUNK.ARC" would contain the new "WASTE.TXT" file.


     If you keep a backup of an archive which already has a
     backup, then the older backup copy is deleted.



     _______________________
     SUPPRESSING COMPRESSION

     The "S" (Suppress compression) option can be combined
     with any command that updates archive entries.  These
     include Add, Move, Update, Freshen, and Convert.  The
     effect of the S option is to prevent any compression
     techniques from being employed.  This is intended to
     allow you to add a few files at a time to an archive
     quickly, and then later convert the archive to
     compress everything at once.

     For example, over the course of a day you might give
     each of the following commands:

         ARC as junk *.txt
         ARC as junk *.mac
         ARC as junk *.doc

     At the end of the day, when you have finished adding
     things to the archive, you could have all of the
     archive entries compressed at once by typing:

         ARC c junk

     You could also decompress the archive by typing:

         ARC cs junk

     though I can't imagine why you'd want to.










     ARC                                        Page 17
___________________
MESSAGE SUPPRESSION

ARC prints three types of messages: warnings,
comments, and errors.

Warnings are messages about suspected error
conditions, such as when a file to be extracted
already exists, or when an extracted file fails the
CRC error check.  Warnings may be suppressed by use of
the "W" (Warn) command.  You should use this command
sparingly.  In fact, you should probably not use this
command at all.

Comments (or notes) are informative messages, such as
naming each file as it is added to the archive.
Comments and notes may be suppressed by use of the "N"
(Note) command.

Errors are actual system problems, such as running out
of disk space.  You cannot suppress errors.


For example, suppose you extracted all files with an
extension of ".BAS" from an archive named "JUNK.ARC"
Then, after making some changes which you decide not
to keep, you decide that you want to extract them all
again, but you don't want to be asked to confirm every
one.  In this case, you could type:

    ARC xw junk *.bas

Or, if you are going to add a hundred files with an
extension of ".MSG" to an archive named "TRASH.ARC",
and you don't want ARC to list them as it adds them,
you could type:

    ARC an trash *.msg

Or, if you want to extract the entire contents of an
archive named "JUNK.ARC", and you don't want to hear
anything, then type:

    ARC xnw junk


A special case is provided when extracting files from
an archive.  One of the various warnings that can
occur is when a file being extracted already exists on
disk.  Normally, ARC will stop and ask you if you want
to overwrite the file.  This can be suppressed with
the "W" command, but that will also suppress any



ARC                                             Page 18
     warnings about other things, like failed CRC checks
     and such.

                                           ____
     The "O" (Overwrite) option suppresses only the warning
     that the file already exists.  For example, in our
     earlier case of extracting all the ".BAS" files from
     "JUNK.ARC", a much safer way to do it is to type:

         ARC xo junk *.BAS



     _____________________
     ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION

     Archive entries may be encrypted and decrypted by
     using the "G" (Garble) option.  The Garble option
     takes the remainder of the command string as the
                                        ____
     password to use, so it must be the last option.


     For example, if you wanted to add a file named
     "WASTE.TXT" to an archive named "JUNK.ARC", and you
     wanted to encrypt it using the password "DEBRIS", then
     you would type:

         ARC agdebris junk waste.txt

     Later on, when you want to extract it again, you would
     type:

         ARC xgdebris junk waste.txt

     The password you supply is used to encrypt (or
     decrypt) the archive entry by performing an exclusive
     OR between each byte of the packed data and each byte
     of the password.  The password can be any length, and
     each of its bytes is used in rotation.  The password
     is converted to uppercase before it is used, so it is
     ___
     not case sensitive.  Since the encryption is performed
     on the packed data, it has no effect on stowage
     factors.

     This is not a particularly sophisticated means of
     encryption.  Still, since it is performed on the
     packed data, the result should be quite sufficient for
     casual use.








     ARC                                        Page 19
You can, if you wish, use different passwords for
different files in an archive, but we advise against
it.  If you are going to encrypt an archive, we
suggest you use the same password for every file, and
give the password whenever you do anything at all with
the archive.  It is possible to list the entries in an
encrypted archive using the "L" and "V" commands
without giving the password, but nothing else will
work properly.


We advise that you use this option sparingly, if at
all.  If you should forget or mistype your password,
it is highly unlikely that you will ever recover your
data.







































ARC                                             Page 20
               INDIRECTION



     The list of filenames given to ARC may include
     indirect references.  If a filename begins with an "at
     sign" ("@"), it is taken to be the name of a file
     which contains a list of file names.  The list of file
     names may include further indirection.  For example,
     the command:

         arc a waste junk.txt @trash

     would cause ARC to add JUNK.TXT plus all files listed
     in the file TRASH to an archive named WASTE.ARC.  If
     no file is specified, then the list is read from
     standard input.

     When the N option (suppress Notes) is used with the L
     (List files) command, it causes a terse listing of
     filenames only, suitable for use with pipes and
     redirection.  This can be combined with indirection to
     easily perform many tasks.

     For example, the command:

         arc ln waste | arc a trash @

     would cause ARC to add files to TRASH.ARC based on the
     names of the files stored in WASTE.ARC.

     If by some chance you want to archive a file whose
                 ____
     name really does begin with an at sign, then preceed
     the name with a forward slash ("/").  For example, to
     add a file named "@DUST.DAT" to an archive named
     "TRASHCAN.ARC", you would type:

         arc a trashcan /@dust.dat
















     ARC                                        Page 21
        RAMDISK SUPPORT



If you have a RAMdisk, or other high-speed storage,
then you can speed up ARC somewhat by telling it to
put its temporary files on the RAMdisk.  You do this
by setting the ARCTEMP environment string with the
MS-DOS SET command.  For example, if drive B: is your
RAMdisk, then you would type:

    set ARCTEMP=B:

Refer to the MS-DOS manual for more details about the
SET command.  You need only set the ARCTEMP string
once, and ARC will use it from then on until you
change its value or reboot your system.


If ARC does not find an environment string named
ARCTEMP, then it looks for one named TEMP to use
instead.  Several packages already use the TEMP string
for exactly this purpose.  If you have need of an
environment string named TEMP for something else, then
you should be sure to define ARCTEMP.


There are a limited number of temporary files created
by ARC.  The Convert command uses a file named
"$ARCTEMP.CVT" to hold each file as it is being
converted.  The Run command also creates a temporary
file, which has the name "$ARCTEMP", and whose
extension matches that of the file being run.





















ARC                                             Page 22
             VERSION NUMBERS



     There seems to be some confusion about our version
     numbering scheme.  All of our version numbers are
     given as a number with two decimal places.

     The units indicate a major revision, such as adding a
     new packing algorithm.

     The first decimal place (tenths) indicates a minor
     revision that is not essential, but which may be
     desired.

     The second decimal place (hundredths) indicates a
     trivial revision that will probably only be desired by
     specific individuals or by die-hard "latest version"
     fanatics.



     To sum up: If the units change, then you should get
     the newer version as soon as you can.  If the tenths
     change, then you may want to get the newer version,
     but there's no hurry.  If anything else changes, then
     you probably shouldn't bother.



























     ARC                                        Page 23
 COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS



Here are some of the more common questions we've
received about ARC, along with their answers:


Q: Why does ARC run out of room if I make an archive
   bigger than about 180k?

A: Because you are working on a floppy disk.  ARC
   creates a copy of your archive, incorporating any
   new files as it goes.  When it is done, it deletes
   the original and renames the new one.  There are a
   number of reasons for doing it this way, one being
   that your original archive is still intact if
   anything happens while ARC is running.

   You can save some space by using drive specifiers
   and having the archive and the files to add on
   separate disks, but you still won't be able to make
   an archive larger than about 180k.  If you need to
   make a larger archive, and if you have a fixed
   disk, then you can create the archive on the fixed
   disk and then copy it to the floppy.


Q: I've seen an ARC.COM and an ARC.EXE.  Which one is
   the right one?

A: ARC.EXE.  One or more people have been running ARC
   through a utility that converts an ".EXE" file to a
   ".COM" file.  But this utility is designed to save
   _____
   space, not speed.  On ARC it saves about 250 bytes,
   and makes no measurable difference in program
   speed.  We've decided that the savings are not
   worth the extra step in development in this case.


Q: How can I get the latest version of ARC?

A: ARC updates are distributed through normal
   shareware channels.  We also ship a program update
   disk on every order of $50 or more.  Also, please
   refer to the next section for information about our
   maintenance contracts.







ARC                                             Page 24
     Q: Can I distribute my public domain or shareware
        program in an ARC format archive?

     A: Yes, of course.


     Q: Can I use ARC to distribute my commercial software
        package?

     A: Yes, provided that you obtain a commercial
        distribution license from us.  Please contact us
        for details.


     Q: Why not allow me to select which method of
        compression I want ARC to use?

     A: It would needlessly complicate ARC, both internally
        and in use.  The exact nature of the compression
        methods used are complex, and quite different.  The
        only sure way to tell which will be best in any
        given case is to analyze the data, as ARC does.
        The method chosen may not always be what you
        expect.


     Q: ARC keeps giving me an odd error message.  It says
        "Drive not ready.  Abort, Retry, Ignore?"  What
        does this mean?

     A: Close the latches ("doors") on your floppy disk
        drives, then press the "R" key.


     Q: How can I tell ARC to make an archive that goes on
        more than one floppy disk?

     A: Create the archive on your fixed disk, and then use
        the BACKUP command (or other backup utility).















     ARC                                        Page 25
     MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS



Registered users of ARC receive 30 days of telephone
support at no extra charge.  If you wish, you can
extend this by purchasing a maintenance contract.

A maintenance contract costs $50 per year.  In
addition to telephone support you also receive free
updates to ARC as soon as they are available,
discounts on other SEA software, and a free
                ______ _____
subscription to Making Waves, the SEA customer support
newsletter.








































ARC                                             Page 26
            REVISION HISTORY



     ____________________
     CHANGES IN VERSION 5

     The Move command used to delete the files as it went.
     It now waits until it is finished updating the
                                                  ___
     archive, and deletes them all at once.  (You did know
     that Move is just an Add where the file gets deleted,
     didn't you?)  This, along with the changes made in
     version 4.5, means that it is now much safer to
     interrupt ARC while it is working.

     The Print command no longer prints the name of each
     file.  Instead, it prints a formfeed after each file.

     The Run command now supports BASICA programs.  Also,
     the filename extension is no longer required on the
     Run command.

     The Garble option was added.  It provides a convenient
     means of low level data security for the casual user.
     Use it sparingly, if at all.

     ARC no longer tests for the presence of $ARCTEMP.CRN
     before creating a new one.  If you interrupt ARC a
     lot, you'll find this much more convenient.  If you
     happen to have a file named $ARCTEMP.CRN which you
     want to keep, too bad.

     Improved error recovery was added when reading an
     archive.  ARC now has a good chance of recovering the
     data from a corrupted archive (the corrupted entry is
     still lost, of course).

     Path support has been added for all commands, though
     it doesn't do anything on most of them.  For example,
     there isn't much we can do with a path in the List
     command.  But many users will be glad to know that a
     path can be used when extracting a file, and specifies
     where the file is to be placed.

     Support for the TEMP environment string was added.  If
     ARC doesn't find an environment string named ARCTEMP,
     then it looks for one named TEMP to use instead.
     Several packages already use the TEMP string for
     exactly this purpose.






     ARC                                        Page 27
ARC is now using a different variation of Lempel-Ziv
coding, courtesy of Kent Williams, who found it on
USENET and adapted it to the IBM PC.  The new method
differs from the old in several respects.  The most
significant differences are:

1) Where our previous implementation used a fixed code
   size of twelve bits, the new one starts with a code
   size of nine bits and increases it as it needs to.

2) The earlier method tended to "choke" on large files
   when its string table filled up.  The new method
   has a rather ingenious scheme its authors call
   ______________
   adaptive reset.  When it notices that its string
   table has filled, and its compression ratio is
   starting to suffer, it clears the table and starts
   defining new strings.

The previous implementation of Lempel-Ziv coding is no
longer used to pack files.  The "V" (Verbose listing)
command distinguishes between the two by referring to
the older method as "crunched" (with a lower-case
"c"), and the newer method as "Crunched" (with a
capital "C").

Rick Moore discovered that ARC was occasionally adding
an archive to itself.  This would only happen when the
archive is in the same directory as the files being
added, and its name comes last.  This bug has been
fixed, though it is still possible to fool ARC into
adding an archive to itself by getting tricky with
path names.

Dana Montgomery found the upper limit on how many
files can be added to an archive.  There's always been
an upper limit, but it depends on memory, and used to
be larger than anyone could possibly want (knock on
wood).  However, the added memory requirements as of
version 5.0 lowered this limit into the realm of
possibility, somewhere around 300 files.  We change
some things around, and effectively, there is no
longer a limit on how many files you can add at once.
ARC will add the files in batches of as many as it can
handle at one time.

The Run command has been modified to allow passing
command line arguments to the program being run.

Indirection was added, and the List command was
modified to give a terse listing suitable for use with
indirection when the N option is employed.



ARC                                             Page 28
     A bug was found that would keep an archive entry from
     being encrypted if it was stored without compression.
     This has now been fixed.

     If changes are made to a corrupted archive, the
     corrupted entries are discarded.  This makes it
     possible to lose data accidentally.  ARC will now only
     make changes to a corrupted archive if the W (suppress
     Warnings) option has been given.

     Support for a nonstandard variation of Lempel-Ziv was
     added.

     Two new utilities, SCANDISK and SQDIR, were added to
     the ARC program disk.  Full program sources for both
     are included in UNDEL.ARC on the ARC source disk.



     ______________________
     CHANGES IN VERSION 5.3

     A minor bug caused earlier versions of ARC to output
     an extra carriage return on an end of line when
     dumping text to standard output with the "P" command.
     This has now been fixed.

     Greatly enhanced error recovery has been added to deal
     with corrupted or partially damaged archives.  The
     corrupted data itself is still lost, of course, but
     ARC will recover everything possible.

     ARC has been fully ported to Microsoft C version 5.1.
     This has resulted in a small speed improvement, and
     should make it easier to port ARC to other operating
     systems.

     A new utility, MKSARC, was added to the ARC program
     disk.  Regretfully, we cannot release the program
     sources for MKSARC.



     ______________________
     CHANGES IN VERSION 6.0

     Version 6.0 is a major upgrade for ARC.  It is a
     substantial rewrite that greatly improves overall
     performance.  ARC is now as fast as any comparable
     program, or faster.  The changes are primarily in
     internal organization of the code, so that versions
     ported to other operating systems should experience a
     substantial performance boost as well.



     ARC                                        Page 29
We've also added support for directories, allowing
entire directory trees to be added or moved into an
archive, and later extracted.

We've also designed and implemented a method whereby
versions of ARC ported to other operating systems can
record system-specific information in a compatible
manner.  This includes provisions for longer
filenames, more date/time stamps, and even icon
bitmaps.  Contact us for details or see the comments
in the ARC sources if you are interested in using this
capability in a version of ARC for a different
operating system.









































ARC                                             Page 30
       PROGRAM HISTORY AND CREDITS



     In its short life thus far, ARC has astounded us with
     its popularity.  We first wrote it in March of 1985
     because we wanted an archive utility that used a
     distributive directory approach, since this has
     certain advantages over the then popular central
     directory approach.  We added automatic squeezing in
     version 2 at the prompting of a friend.  In version
     2.1 we added the code to test for the best compression
     method.  In less than a year we found that our humble
     little program had spread across the country, and
     seems to have become a new institution.

     We are thankful for the support and appreciation we
     have received.  We hope that you find this program of
     use.


     If we have achieved greatness, it is because we have
     stood upon the shoulders of giants.  Nothing is
     created as a thing unto itself, and ARC is no
     exception.  Therefore, we would like to give credit to
     the following people, without whose efforts ARC could
     not exist:


     Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, whose book
     "Software Tools" provided many of the ideas behind the
     distributive directory approach used by ARC.

     Dick Greenlaw, who wrote the public domain SQ and USQ
     programs, in which the Huffman squeezing algorithm was
     first developed.

     Kent Williams, who graciously allowed us to use his
     LZWCOM and LZWUNC programs as a basis for our Lempel-
     Ziv compression logic, and who continues to make
     valuable contributions.

     David Schwaderer, whose article in the April 1985
     issue of PC Tech Journal provided us with the logic
     for calculating the CRC 16 bit polynomial.

     Terry A. Welch, whose article "A Technique for High
     Performance Data Compression", IEEE Computer Vol 17 No
     6 (June 1984) seems to have started all the research
     on Lempel-Ziv coding.




     ARC                                        Page 31
Spencer W. Thomas, Jim McKie, Steve Davies, Ken
Turkowski, James A.  Woods, and Joe Orost, who are the
authors of the UNIX compress utility.

Karl Schinke, who is the friend that suggested that we
add compression to ARC.

Alex Jacobs, who in June of 1985 sent us the very
first shareware contribution we ever received.


And many, many others whom we could not identify.










































ARC                                             Page 32
             BULLETIN BOARDS



     ARC is distributed mainly through shareware channels.
     Among other things, this means that ARC is available
     from many bulletin board systems.  In fact, the system
     operators (sysops) of many bulletin boards have taken
     to storing almost all of their downloadable files in
     archives to save themselves disk space and to save
     their users time.

     This also makes things more convenient for the
     bulletin board users, since one archive may contain
     several programs, any related data files, and the
     documentation.  Many shareware authors have taken to
     distributing their software in archives to help ensure
     that the users receive everything.

     Obviously, we can't do that with ARC.  As a result,
     many of our users have ARC, but don't have the manual.
     Most of our customer support calls come from people
     who have never seen the manual, and in many cases
     didn't even know that one exists!

     To solve this problem we developed what is in essence
     a self-unpacking archive.  We distribute this as
     "ARCxxx.EXE", where "xxx" is the current version
     number.  For example, ARC version 6.00 would be
     distributed as "ARC600.EXE".  This program, when run,
     unpacks itself into a copy of ARC plus its
     documentation.

     Now that we've gone to all that work, we'd really
     appreciate it if you would use this program when you
     distribute ARC.


















     ARC                                        Page 33
         SITE LICENSES



Corporate users may wish to obtain a site license for
the use of ARC.  Please use the order form in this
manual to order a site license.  Site licenses are
granted as of when we receive your payment.  License
fees vary depending on the number of computers on
which ARC will be used, as follows:


             1 machine            $50
     2  to   9 machines           $35 per machine
    10  to  24 machines           $25 per machine
    25  to  49 machines           $20 per machine
    50 or more machines           $15 per machine

    100 or more machines at one location    $1500



Enclosed is a site license agreement, which should be
signed and sent with your payment when ordering a
commercial site license.


A commercial site license does not include additional
copies of the ARC program disk and the ARC manual.
Instead, you make your own copies of the disk and
manual as you need them.  If you wish, you can order
additional program disks and manuals from us.






















ARC                                             Page 34












            The SEA Utilities




























                        Copyright 1985-89
                               by
               System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
                       ALL RIGHTS RESERVED










 LIMITED LICENSE AND WARRANTY


IMPORTANT NOTICE:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Any use of this software for any
period of time for any purpose whatsoever constitutes
your unqualified acceptance of this LICENSE and
subjects you to all of the terms and conditions set
forth below:

System Enhancement Associates, Inc. ("SEA") warrants
to any Licensee that acquires the program from SEA or
an authorized SEA representative ONLY that:

 1) All diskettes SEA provides constitute an accurate
    duplication of the software and SEA will replace
    any diskette found to be defective within 30 days
    from date of acquisition.  SEA will not honor this
    warranty if the diskette has been subjected to
    physical abuse, or used in defective or non-
    compatible equipment.

 2) SEA's software will perform substantially as
    described in the documentation SEA regularly
    supplies with that software, if operated as
    prescribed in such documentation including the
    hardware and software environment specified.

 3) If a significant defect in any program is found,
    Licensee's only remedy shall be to receive refund
    of the actual fee Licensee paid for such defective
    program.  In no event will such a refund exceed
    the fee SEA charges for such program.

 4) SEA makes no warranty or representation that the
    software will be error free nor that its use by
    Licensee will be uninterrupted.

Except as provided above, SEA disclaims all other
Except as provided above, SEA disclaims all other
warranties, either express or implied, including but
warranties, either express or implied, including but
not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability
not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for any particular purpose.
or fitness for any particular purpose.

Licensee agrees to take full responsibility for the
Licensee agrees to take full responsibility for the
selection of and any use whatsoever made of the
selection of and any use whatsoever made of the
software.
software.

IN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
IN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR
LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS
LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS
OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF
OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY
THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY
TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.
ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.










            TABLE OF CONTENTS


     _______                                           ____
     Section                                           Page

     Introduction  ....................................  39
     MKSARC  ..........................................  39
     ARCE  ............................................  40
     ARCP  ............................................  41
     ASCII  ...........................................  42
     CHMOD  ...........................................  43
     FREEDISK  ........................................  44
     FAKEY  ...........................................  46
         Hexadecimal BIOS keystroke codes  ............  50
     MAKEY  ...........................................  54
     LF  ..............................................  55
     MOVE  ............................................  68
     PARBOOT  .........................................  68
     SCANDISK  ........................................  69
     SCROLOCK  ........................................  72
     SOFTBELL  ........................................  72
     SQDIR  ...........................................  73
     TASK  ............................................  74
     TDIR  ............................................  75
     UNDEL  ...........................................  75
     OHMYGAWD  ........................................  77
     WIPEFREE  ........................................  79
     In conclusion  ...................................  80



























          BLANK PAGE





















































SEA Tools                                       Page 38
              INTRODUCTION



     The ARC program disk includes several other programs
     in addition to ARC.  These are various utilities
     created by SEA to do various things, and are included
     on the disk as our way of thanking you for supporting
     ARC.  The one exception is ARCE.COM, which was written
     by Vern Buerg and Wayne Chin, and which SEA has
     licensed to include on the ARC disk as a service to
     our customers.

     Full program sources for everything on the ARC disk
     (with the exception of ARCE and MKSARC) are available
     from System Enhancement Associates, Inc.

     We will now describe the various programs that are
     included on the ARC program disk.



     ______
     MKSARC

     MKSARC is used to convert an archive into a self-
     unpacking program.  It takes one argument, which is
     the name of the archive to convert.  For example, if
     you had an archive called "WASTE.ARC" and you typed:

         MKSARC waste

     then MKSARC would create a new file called "WASTE.EXE"
     which would be a self-unpacking version of "WASTE.ARC"
     (your original "WASTE.ARC" archive is left untouched).
     This can now be unpacked simply by typing:

         waste

     You can also supply a second argument to specify the
     name of the resulting program.  For example, if you
     typed:

         MKSARC waste trash

     then MKSARC would create a new file called "TRASH.EXE"
     instead of "WASTE.EXE".








     SEA Tools                                  Page 39
MKSARC works by adding a self-extraction header
program (called SARC) to the beginning of the archive.
This adds about 7800 bytes to the length of the
archive.  SARC recognizes the same options as ARCE,
including integrity testing and decryption, and may be
told specific files to extract.  If a self-unpacking
program is given the "/H" option, it will display a
brief help screen.

Before SARC begins extracting files it first performs
an internal integrity check to ensure that the SARC
header itself has not been damaged.  If it fails the
integrity check, it will abort with the message:

    Unpacker has been corrupted!

The files contained in the  self-unpacking program may
still be extracted with ARC.


NOTE:
NOTE: The Copyright Notice that is printed when SARC
runs refers to the SARC self-extraction header itself,
___
not the entire self-unpacking archive.



____
ARCE

ARCE is a program which is used to extract files from
                     ____
an archive.  It will only extract files.  It doesn't
do anything that ARC can't do, but it is highly
optimized for the sole purpose of archive extraction,
so it is very small and very fast.  The ARCE program
has been shown in benchmark tests to be the world's
fastest archive extractor.

ARCE is used in a fashion very similar to the "ARC E"
command (hence the name).  The first argument is the
name of the archive to extract files from, and may
include a drive and path specifier.  Up to sixteen
additional arguments can be supplied, which specify
the files to extract.  The wildcard characters "*" and
"?" are allowed, as with ARC.  If no files are named,
then all files are extracted from the archive.  If the
file being extracted already exists, you are asked
whether or not you want to overwrite it.  You can use
the "/R" option to bypass this.







SEA Tools                                       Page 40
     For example, if you had an archive named "WASTE.ARC"
     that you wanted to extract everything from, then you
     could type:

         ARCE waste

     Or if you just wanted to extract the files with a
     filename extension of ".ASM", you could type:

         ARCE waste *.asm

     If you already have a few files from the archive that
     you want replaced, then you could type:

         ARCE waste *.asm /R


     ARCE also has options for extracting to standard
     output, for testing archive integrity, and for
     extracting encrypted files.  The full documentation
     for ARCE is included on the ARC program disk.

     If you run ARCE with no arguments at all, it will give
     you a brief reminder of how to use it.


     NOTICE:
     NOTICE: ARCE is the copyrighted property of Vernon D.
             Buerg and Wayne Chin.  It is included on the
             ARC program disk as a service to ARC users.

             Vernon D. Buerg
             456 Lakeshire Drive
             Daly City, CA  94015
             RBBS: [phone]



     ____
     ARCP

     ARCP is a "protected mode" version of ARC which will
     run under the OS|2 operating system.  It functions
     exactly the same as ARC for MS-DOS.












     SEA Tools                                  Page 41
_____
ASCII

ASCII is a program that scans a file for strings of
printable text.  This can be handy in several
situations, like checking out an upload for "gotcha"
messages, peeking at a new adventure game for hints,
and many other practical endeavors.

ASCII takes one argument, the name of the file to
examine.

How ASCII functions may be modified by using the
following command line options:

/M<min>       Minimum
/M<min>       Minimum;  ASCII normally does not
              consider text to be a "string" unless it
              is at least four characters long.  This
              tells ASCII to show any strings that
              area <min> characters long or longer.

/W<width>     Width
/W<width>     Width;  ASCII normally formats its
              output for an 80-column screen.  This
              tells ASCII to format for a <width>
              columns screen.

/L<length>    Length
/L<length>    Length;  ASCII normally scrolls its
              output to the screen continuously.  This
              tells ASCII to stop with a "more" prompt
              every <length> lines.

/F            Filter
/F            Filter;  ASCII normally reads from a
              file you specify.  This tells ASCII to
              instead read  from "standard input".

/R            Raw output
/R            Raw output;  ASCII normally prints the
              text it finds in a human-readable report
              giving offsets into the file.  This
              tells ASCII to skip the offsets and just
              dump out the text.  The output is still
              broken by an end-of-line every 80
              columns (or whatever you specify with
              the /W option).

/X            eXtended character set
/X            eXtended character set;  ASCII normally
              displays only printable ASCII
              characters.  This tells ASCII to also
              show carriage returns (as a left
              pointing arrow), linefeeds (as a down
              pointing arrow) and horizontal tabs (as
              a right pointing arrow).




SEA Tools                                       Page 42
     For example, if you wanted to see all of the printable
     text strings in a file called TRASH.EXE, with the
     output formatted for a 40-column screen and with a
     pause every 24 lines, you could give the command:

         ASCII trash.exe /W40 /L24



     _____
     CHMOD

     CHMOD is used to examine and change file attributes.
     Each attribute is represented by a single letter, as
     follows:

     ______   _______
     Letter   Meaning

     D        Directory
     D        Directory.  This marks a subdirectory
              containing more files.  This bit cannot be
              changed.

     R        Read only
     R        Read only.  The file may be examined, but may
              not be altered.

     H        Hidden
     H        Hidden.  The file will not appear in
              directory searches.

     S        System
     S        System.  This acts like a combination of R
              and H, which it usually appears with.

     A        Archive
     A        Archive.  This has nothing to do with the ARC
              file archive utility.  It means that the file
              has been changed since you last backed up
              your disk.

     If you wanted to see what attributes are presently set
     on all ofthe files in your current directory that have
     an extension of ".COM", you would type:

         chmod *.com

     The report you get back would look something like
     this:

         IBMBIO.COM          -RHS-
         IBMDOS.COM          -RHS-
         COMMAND.COM         -----







     SEA Tools                                  Page 43
This shows that the files IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM
are saved with the Read only, Hidden, and System
attributes, while the file COMMAND.COM has no file
attributes.

You can alter the file attributes by giving the
attribute letters after the filename.  Use lowercase
to signal that you want that attribute turned off, or
uppercase to indicate that you want it on.  For
example, if you wanted to alter AUTOEXEC.BAT to make
it read only and hidden, and at the same time you want
to turn off the archive bit, you would type:

    chmod autoexec.bat RHa

Any attributes you don't specify are left unchanged.



________
FREEDISK

FREEDISK is used to graphically display how much free
disk space you have.  It draws a bar chart on your
screen, where each bar represents one disk.  The bars
are scaled so that your largest disk exactly fills the
screen.

Each bar will have a lighter part on the left which
represents disk space in use, and a darker part on the
right which represents free disk space.  In addition,
FREEDISK makes a brief report on available disk space.

FREEDISK normally examines every disk, starting at
drive C: (usually the first fixed disk).  You can
change that by telling FREEDISK the letter of the
first drive to examine.  For example, to have the
report start with drive B: you would say:

    freedisk B:

FREEDISK normally examines every disk up to drive Z:
(the highest that is easily accessible under MS-DOS).
You can change that by giving FREEDISK both the first
drive to examine and the last drive to examine.  For
example, to make FREEDISK report on drives H: through
M: you would say:

    freedisk H: M:






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     FREEDISK can be asked to return an error level if a
     given amount of free disk space is available.  The
     desired amount of space can be expressed in kilobytes,
     megabytes, or gigabytes.  For example, to determine if
     20 megabytes of free disk space is available, you
     would say:

         freedisk 20m

     "M" stands for "megabytes".  You could also use "k"
     for "kilobytes" or "g" for "gigabytes" (you can't ask
     for more than about 3 gigabytes, as numbers on a PC
     don't get any bigger).

     This can be combined with a range of drives.  For
     example, to find out if drive D: has at least 5
     megabytes of free space, you would say:

         freedisk D: D: 5m

     FREEDISK would exit with error level zero if drive D:
     has at least five megabytes of free space, or one if
     it doesn't.


     FREEDISK can also be asked to find the first disk with
     at least a given amount of free space.  Just add a
     question mark to the space.  For example, to find the
     first disk with at least 10 megabytes free, you would
     say:

         freedisk 10m?

     FREEDISK will exit with an error level equal to the
     number of the first disk that has that much free space
     (1 means drive A:, 2 means drive B:, and so on), or
     zero if no drive has that much room.

















     SEA Tools                                  Page 45
_____
FAKEY

FAKEY is used to fake sequences of keystrokes.  It is
especially useful in batch files, where it can be used
to "pre-load" input for programs.  It is faking it at
the point where BIOS is called.  It will not affect
programs that bypass BIOS for their input.  FAKEY can
fake keyboard input for almost any program, except for
certain resident utilities.


FAKEY takes one or more arguments, separated by
spaces.  Each argument can be any one of the
following:

 1) A text literal enclosed in quotes.  See below.

 2) A decimal number, indicating the ASCII value of a
    character.

 3) A hexadecimal number of up to four digits,
    preceeded by an ampersand.

 4) A mnemonic value indicating a particular
    keystroke.

None of these are case sensitive, except literal text
in quotes.  Hex digits, mnemonics, and so forth can be
entered in any combination of upper and lower case.


If an argument indicates a character value, then the
character value is filled out to include a scan code
value.  Where more than one scan code is possible
(such as Backspace or Ctrl H), the more "conventional"
choice is made (ie. Backspace instead of Ctrl H, top
row instead of number pad, etc.)

















SEA Tools                                       Page 46
     A text literal is enclosed in quotes, and may contain
     special sequences.  The special sequences currently
     defined are:

      1) An uparrow followed by a character from A to Z (in
         this case really "at sign" to "underline"),
         indicating the equivalent control key.

      2) An exclamation mark followed by a digit or a
         character from A to Z, indicating the equivalent
         alter key.

      3) A backslash followed by another character.
         Defined uses are:

         \R
         \R   for a return or enter
         \T
         \T   for a tab
         \B
         \B   for a backspace
         \E
         \E   for an escape
         \
         \anything else, for a literal character.
              Thus \" is a quote, \\ is a backslash, etc.


     A mnemonic can be an uparrow, exclamation mark, or
     backslash followed by a character, in which case it
     means the same thing as in a text literal.  The
     following additional mnemonics are also defined:

     Standard ASCII mnemonics:

         NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL
         NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL
         BS  HT  LF  VT  FF  CR  SO  SI
         BS  HT  LF  VT  FF  CR  SO  SI
         DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB
         DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB
         CAN EM  SUB ESC FS  GS  RS  US
         CAN EM  SUB ESC FS  GS  RS  US
         SP  RUB
         SP  RUB

     Cursor movement keypad mnemonics:

         UP DOWN LEFT RITE HOME END PGUP PGDN
         UP DOWN LEFT RITE HOME END PGUP PGDN
         INS DEL PLUS DASH
         INS DEL PLUS DASH

     Function key mnemonics:

         Fn
         Fn   for normal
         Sn
         Sn   for shifted
         Cn
         Cn   for control
         An
         An   for alter

         Where "n" is a number from 1 to 10.  For example,
         A10 means Alt F10.




     SEA Tools                                  Page 47
Special mnemonics:

    TOSS
    TOSS      Causes all previous pending keystrokes
              to be thrown away.  Does not affect the
              sequence being defined.

    WAIT <n>
    WAIT <n>  Causes a pause for <n> seconds in the
              input stream.  Keystrokes will not
              appear to be available for the duration
              of the wait.  The maximum wait is 255
              seconds.  If you don't say how long to
              wait, FAKEY will wait for one second.

    BEEP
    BEEP      Causes FAKEY to emit a warbling tone.

    CBRK
    CBRK      Causes FAKEY to simulate a "Control
              Break".

    PSCR
    PSCR      Causes whatever is on the screen to be
              printed on the printer.

    BOOT
    BOOT      Causes a warm system boot, as if the
              user had typed "Ctrl-Alt-Del".

    LOAD <n>
    LOAD <n>  Only valid when first running FAKEY.
              Causes FAKEY to load without displaying
              the help screen, and also tells FAKEY to
              reserve room for up to <n> keystrokes.
              If <n> is not given, then FAKEY will
              save room for up to 200 keystrokes.


If FAKEY is run without arguments, then it displays a
brief help screen to remind you of various special
characters and mnemonics.  This help screen can be
bypassed (to load FAKEY from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, for
example) by giving FAKEY a load command, as follows:

    fakey load















SEA Tools                                       Page 48
     The TOSS mnemonic takes effect at the point where
     FAKEY is run.  It serves to discard faked keystrokes
     which an earlier program didn't use.

     The other special mnemonics take effect at the point
     where they are first scanned by the operating system.
     This is not always when you might think.  DOS (along
     with many applications programs) scans the keyboard
     buffer to see if anything is pending at many points,
     so things may take effect sooner than you would
     expect.  For example, if your batch file contained:

         fakey ^C
         myprog

     then "myprog" would not be run.  DOS would check the
     keyboard after running FAKEY and before running the
     next program, and would see the pending control C.
     Your batch file would stop while DOS asks:

         Terminate batch file (y/n)?

     You probably don't want that.  So instead, you should
     say:

         fakey wait 1 ^C
         myprog

     This would cause a one second delay before the control
     C shows up in the keyboard buffer.

     If this doesn't make sense, then don't worry too much.
     This is all meant to address a few special cases which
     don't normally arise.



     Hexadecimal literals:

     These can be used to fake any keystroke whatsoever,
     including ones that don't actually exist (though we're
     not sure why you'd want to do that).  Use the table
     following to pick out the keystroke you want.  For
     example, a shifted keypad 5 would be:

         fakey &4C35

     A table entry of "--" means you can't get that
     combination out of BIOS.





     SEA Tools                                  Page 49
           BIOS keystroke codes, hexadecimal

___        ______      _____       _______     _____
Key        Normal      Shift       Control     Alter

Esc        011B        011B        011B         --
1!         0231 '1'    0221 '!'     --         7800
2@         0332 '2'    0340 '@'    0300        7900
3#         0433 '3'    0423 '#'     --         7A00
4$         0534 '4'    0524 '$'     --         7B00
5%         0635 '5'    0625 '%'     --         7C00
6^         0736 '6'    075E '^'    071E        7D00
7&         0837 '7'    0826 '&'     --         7E00
8*         0938 '8'    092A '*'     --         7F00
9(         0A39 '9'    0A28 '('     --         8000
0)         0B30 '0'    0B29 ')'     --         8100
-_         0C2D '-'    0C5F '_'    0C1F        8200
=+         0D3D '='    0D2B '+'     --         8300
BkSpc      0E08        0E08        0E7F         --
tab        0F09        0F00         --          --
q          1071 'q'    1051 'Q'    1011        1000
w          1177 'w'    1157 'W'    1117        1100
e          1265 'e'    1245 'E'    1205        1200
r          1372 'r'    1352 'R'    1312        1300
t          1474 't'    1454 'T'    1414        1400
y          1579 'y'    1559 'Y'    1519        1500
u          1675 'u'    1655 'U'    1615        1600
i          1769 'i'    1749 'I'    1709        1700
o          186F 'o'    184F 'O'    180F        1800
p          1970 'p'    1950 'P'    1910        1900
[{         1A5B '['    1A7B '{'    1A1B         --
]}         1B5D ']'    1B7D '}'    1B1D         --
enter      1C0D        1C0D        1C0A         --
Ctrl        --          --          --          --
a          1E61 'a'    1E41 'A'    1E01        1E00
s          1F73 's'    1F53 'S'    1F13        1F00
d          2064 'd'    2044 'D'    2004        2000
f          2166 'f'    2146 'F'    2106        2100
g          2267 'g'    2247 'G'    2207        2200
h          2368 'h'    2348 'H'    2308        2300
j          246A 'j'    244A 'J'    240A        2400
k          256B 'k'    254B 'K'    250B        2500
l          266C 'l'    264C 'L'    260C        2600
;:         273B ';'    273A ':'     --          --
'"         2827 '''    2822 '"'     --          --
`~         2960 '`'    297E '~'     --          --
l shift     --          --          --          --
\|         2B5C '\'    2B7C '|'    2B1C         --
z          2C7A 'z'    2C5A 'Z'    2C1A        2C00
x          2D78 'x'    2D58 'X'    2D18        2D00
c          2E63 'c'    2E43 'C'    2E03        2E00
v          2F76 'v'    2F56 'V'    2F16        2F00



SEA Tools                                       Page 50
     b          3062 'b'    3042 'B'    3002        3000
     n          316E 'n'    314E 'N'    310E        3100
     m          326D 'm'    324D 'M'    320D        3200
     ,<         332C ','    333C '<'     --          --

     .>         342E '.'    343E '>'     --          --
     /?         352F '/'    353F '?'     --          --
     r shift     --          --          --          --
     PrtSc      372A '*'     --         7200         --
     Alt         --          --          --          --
     spacebar   3920 ' '    3920 ' '    3920        3920
     CapsLock    --          --          --          --
     F1         3B00        5400        5E00        6800
     F2         3C00        5500        5F00        6900
     F3         3D00        5600        6000        6A00
     F4         3E00        5700        6100        6B00
     F5         3F00        5800        6200        6C00
     F6         4000        5900        6300        6D00
     F7         4100        5A00        6400        6E00
     F8         4200        5B00        6500        6F00
     F9         4300        5C00        6600        7000
     F10        4400        5D00        6700        7100
     NumLock     --          --          --          --
     Scroll      --          --          --          --
     7 Home     4700        4737 '7'    7700         --
     8 up       4800        4838 '8'     --          --
     9 PgUp     4900        4939 '9'    8400         --
     grey -     4A2D '-'    4A2D '-'     --          --
     4 left     4B00        4B34 '4'    7300         --
     5           --         4C35 '5'     --          --
     6 right    4D00        4D36 '6'    7400         --
     grey +     4E2B '+'    4E2B '+'     --          --
     1 End      4F00        4F31 '1'    7500         --
     2 down     5000        5032 '2'     --          --
     3 PgDn     5100        5133 '3'    7600         --
     Ins        5200        5230 '0'     --          --
     Del        5300        532E '.'     --          --


















     SEA Tools                                  Page 51
Shift locks:

There are four "shift locks" on the PC keyboard.
These are Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and
Insert.  You can have FAKEY can control these as well
by adding a plus (to turn it on) or a minus (to turn
it off) to any of the following mnemonics:

    CAP
    CAP       For Caps Lock
    NUM
    NUM       For Num Lock
    SCR
    SCR       For Scroll Lock
    INS
    INS       For Insert

For example, you would tell FAKEY to turn Num Lock off
by giving the command:

    fakey num-

Or you could turn Caps Lock on by giving the command:

    fakey cap+

Many keyboards these days have status lights for Num
Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock.  If your keyboard
is one of them, then you might want to try:

    fakey num+ cap+ scr+ wait num- wait cap- wait scr-

which will give you a modest three-second light show.



Programmed pauses:

We've already mentioned that FAKEY can be told to wait
for some number of seconds.  There are a couple of
other things FAKEY can wait for as well.

FAKEY can be told to wait until some specific text is
printed on the screen.  This only applies to text that
is printed normally -- FAKEY doesn't see what a
program does if it writes to the screen directly.  In
general, if you can redirect the text to a file, then
you can also have FAKEY wait for it.










SEA Tools                                       Page 52
     You tell FAKEY to wait for text by enclosing the text
     in square brackets.  For example:

         fakey [What is your name?] "Kilgore Trout" CR

     This would tell FAKEY to wait until some program
     prints the message, "What is your name?", and to then
     respond with "Kilgore Trout".


     FAKEY can also wait for a change in "carrier detect"
     on COM1 or COM2.  COM1 and COM2 are the two serial
     ports on a PC, which are often used to enable a PC to
     send and receive data via telephone lines.  "Carrier
     detect" is a particular signal from a serial port that
     (usually) indicates whether or not your system is
     currently connected to another system by phone.
     "Carrier detect" is "true" if you are connected, and
     "false" if you are not.

     The four FAKEY mnemonics for waiting on carrier detect
     are:

         CD1+
         CD1+   Wait for carrier detect to be true on COM1
         CD1-
         CD1-   Wait for carrier detect to be false on COM1
         CD2+
         CD2+   Wait for carrier detect to be true on COM2
         CD2-
         CD2-   Wait for carrier detect to be false on COM2


     For an overly technical example, a sysop of a BBS
     could activate a thirty second watchdog in a door by
     putting this command in the batch file:

         fakey cd1- wait 30 boot

     She could then disable the watchdog when exiting the
     door by executing the command:

         fakey toss

     Or perhaps she'd like an alarm when the watchdog
     begins counting down thirty seconds:

         fakey cd1- beep wait 30 boot










     SEA Tools                                  Page 53
Typing Through:

If you try to type while FAKEY is faking keystrokes,
FAKEY will "beat you to it".  That is, the program
will see what FAKEY is typing before it see's what you
are typing.  However, if FAKEY is waiting for
something you'll be able to type normally.



_____
MAKEY

MAKEY is a companion program to FAKEY, which must be
loaded before MAKEY is.  MAKEY defines a "one key
macro".

To define a key macro with MAKEY, hit the top row "2"
key while holding down the "Ctrl" key.  You should
hear three beeps, rising in tone.  You are now
recording a macro.  Type whatever keys you want
defined.  When you're done, hit the top row "2" key
while holding down the "Ctrl" key again.  You should
hear another three beeps, falling in tone this time.
Your macro is now recorded.

To use the macro, hit the grey "*" key.  Whatever keys
you recorded will be played back every time you hit
the grey "*" key.

MAKEY normally has room to record up to 200
keystrokes (if you run out of room MAKEY will beep at
you).  You can change the amount of room MAKEY
reserves by giving it a number on the command line the
_____
first time you run it.  For example, loading MAKEY
with the command:

    MAKEY 1000

would cause MAKEY to reserve room for up to one
thousand keystrokes.

FAKEY must have been loaded with enough room to hold
whatever macro MAKEY is holding.











SEA Tools                                       Page 54
     __
     LF

     LF is a utility designed to simplify the manipulation
     of large numbers of files.  LF is a menu driven system
     in which the user is presented with a menu of files in
     her current directory.  This may be either a full menu
     of all files, or a subset menu of selected files.

     To invoke LF, type a command of the form:

         LF [path][template]

     The template, which is optional, is a standard MS/DOS
     filename template, such as you would use for the COPY
     or ERASE commands.  If you give a path name, then that
     will be your starting directory.

     For example, if you wanted to work on all files with
     an extension of ".MAC", you would type:

         LF *.MAC

     Or, if you wished to work on all files whose names
     begin with "X", you would type:

         LF X*.*

     Or, to work on all files in your current directory,
     you could simply type:

         LF


     The LF file menu has the following columns:

      1) The command area.  This is where you type in any
         commands which you wish to have performed on the
         files.  See below for more information regarding
         command strings.  This area may also contain a
         blue asterisk ("*"), to indicate that a command
         was performed on this file the last time you
         invoked any commands.

      2) The filename/extension.  This is the name and
         extension of the file covered by a given line on
         your screen.  This is normally shown in white.
         However, the name will turn red if the file no
         longer exists or is marked for deletion.  Also,
         the name will be green if LF detects that the file
         was modified by your last command.  If the
         filename/extension is in magenta (purple), then



     SEA Tools                                  Page 55
    the file is a subdirectory.  You may "zoom in" on
    it with the Alter Z command, but you may not edit
    or list it.

 3) The file size.  This is how big (in bytes) the
    file is.

 4) The date/time area.  This is the date and time of
    the last time the file was created or modified.

One line of the files menu will be in reverse color
(normally black on white).  This line is your current
line, and the file it refers to is your current file.
You may move this line using your up and down cursor
movement keys.


The top of the files menu contains three boxes, as
follows:

 1) The left box is the disk status box.  This reports
    the size of your disk, and the number of bytes
    remaining.  The room remaining will be green if
    you have more than half of your disk available.
    It will turn yellow when you use up half of your
    disk.  It will turn red when only ten percent of
    your disk remains, and it will start to flash when
    you are out of room.

 2) The middle box is the file status box.  This
    reports information about the files you are
    looking at.  The top line is always a count of how
    many files you are looking at.

    If you have marked any files for deletion, then
    the bottom line will show the number of files to
    be deleted.  Otherwise it will show the total
    number of bytes in all of the files you are
    looking at.

    If you hold down your left shift key, then it will
    show the number of bytes of disk space allocated
    to the files you are looking at.  This takes into
    acount "disk clusters", and may be of interest to
    the technically inclined.

 3) The right box is the prompting/status box.  The
    top line always shows the directory you are in and
    the search template you are using.





SEA Tools                                       Page 56
         The second line usually shows the "volume label"
         of the disk you are on, and the current date and
         time.  However, it is sometimes replaced by error
         messages, status messages, or prompts for input.

     The bottom line of your screen is there to remind you
     of which function keys do what.


     Your function keys are used to carry out several
     common functions, which can be summarized as follows:

         F1 - Edit current file           F5 - Sort by name
         F2 - Browse current file         F6 - Sort by type
         F3 - Update screen               F7 - Sort by size
         F4 - Extended functions          F8 - Sort by date
         F9 - Do deletes/Invoke commands  F10 - Exit


     These are explained in more detail below:

     F1       Edit
     F1       Edit; Your F1 key is used to invoke your
              editor on your current file.  You may not
              edit a subdirectory.  You may select anything
              you wish for your editor.  See the section
              below on setting your environment strings.
              If you have not specified an editor, then
              EDLIN is used.

              It is assumed that you have used the PATH
              command in MS-DOS so that your editor may be
              invoked from any directory.

     F2       Browse
     F2       Browse; Your F2 key is used to invoke your
              browse module on your current file.  You may
              not browse a subdirectory.  As with the F1
              key, you may choose anything you wish as your
              browse module.  See the section below on
              setting your environment strings.  We highly
              recommend Vern Buerg's excellent LIST program
              as a browse utility.  If you have not
              specified a browser, then the MORE command is
              used.

              Again, it is assumed that your command search
              path is such that the browse command may be
              given from any directory.







     SEA Tools                                  Page 57
F3       Update
F3       Update; Your F3 key is used to refresh your
         menu.  Your list of files is read from
         scratch, and any deleted files are forgotten.
         Also, your menu is redrawn from scratch, so
         this may be useful if your menu is destroyed
         for any reason.

F4       Other
F4       Other; Your F4 key is used to access a
         secondary menu of additional functions, which
         are described below.

F5       Sort by name
F5       Sort by name; Your F5 key is used to sort
         your menu by file names (which is the
         default). A "shift F5" (that is, pressing F5
         while holding down the shift key) reverses
         the order.

F6       Sort by type
F6       Sort by type; Your F6 key is used to sort
         your menu by filename extensions, then by
         names.  This is useful for grouping your
         files by "type".  A "shift F6" reverses the
         order.

F7       Sort by size
F7       Sort by size; Your F7 key is used to sort
         your menu by reverse order of file size.
         That is, the largest file first and the
         smallest file last.  If any files are the
         same size, they will be in order of
         filename/extension.  A "shift F7" reverses
         the order, placing the smallest file first
         and the largest file last.

F8       Sort by date
F8       Sort by date; Your F8 key is used to sort
         your menu by reverse order of date and time
         last modified.  That is, the newest file
         first, and the oldest file last.  If any
         files where last modified at the same time,
         they will be in order of filename/extension.
         A "shift F8" reverses the order, placing the
         oldest file first and the newest file last.

F9       Invoke
F9       Invoke; Your F9 key is used to invoke any
         pending commands or deletions.  If any
         deletions are pending, you will be asked to
         confirm the deletions before they take place.
         If any commands are pending, they will be
         invoked.  Your menu will disappear while the
         commands are being processed so that you may
         see what happens, and you will be asked to
         strike a key before the menu will return.  If
         you strike the F10 key, then LF terminates.



SEA Tools                                       Page 58
                                      ______
              Deletions are performed before commands.

     F10      Exit
     F10      Exit; Your F10 key is used to exit from LF.
              When you press this key, LF will clear the
              screen, bid you adieu, and return you to
              MS-DOS.


     The F4 key accesses a set of secondary functions, as
     follows:

     F1       Ditto all
     F1       Ditto all; This repeats the last command for
              all of your currently selected files. See
              "Ditto", below.

     F2       Clear all
     F2       Clear all; This clears all commands and all
              pending deletions for all files.

     F3       Execute
     F3       Execute; This is used to execute a program.
              When you press this key, the name of the file
              on your current line is given as a system
              command.  The menu disappears while your
              command is executed.  When your command has
              finished, you will be asked to strike any key
              (which will be discarded) before your file
              menu is restored.  If you press the F10 key,
              then the menu is not redrawn, and LF
              terminates.

     F4       Other
     F4       Other; This is used to exit the extended
              functions menu without performing any
              extended functions.

     F5       Extract archive
     F5       Extract archive; This is used to extract
              files from the current file if it is an ARC
              format archive.  You must have a copy of ARC
              on your command path for this to work.

     F6       Freshen archive
     F6       Freshen archive; This is used to "freshen"
              the current file if it is an ARC format
              archive.  You must have a copy of ARC on your
              command path for this to work.

     F7       Freshen archive/move files
     F7       Freshen archive/move files; This is used to
              perform a "freshen and move" on the current
              file if it is an ARC format archive.  You
              must have a copy of ARC on your command path
              for this to work.






     SEA Tools                                  Page 59
Your alter keys are used to carry out various other
actions.  These are as follows:

Alt H    Help!!
Alt H    Help!!  This is probably the most helpful key
         of all -- especially the first few times you
         use LF.  It gives you a rundown of which keys
         do what.

Alt N    Name
Alt N    Name; Changes your menu to show all files
         which have the same name as your current
         file.

Alt E    Extension
Alt E    Extension; Changes your menu to show all
         files which have the same extension as your
         current file.

Alt A    All
Alt A    All; Changes your menu to show all files in
         your current directory.

Alt T    Template
Alt T    Template; Prompts you for a new search
         template, and updates your menu to show the
         files specified by the new template.

Alt F    Floppy
Alt F    Floppy; Prompts you for a new drive letter,
         and then moves to your current directory on
         that drive.

Alt D    Directory
Alt D    Directory; Prompts you for a new directory
         name, and shifts to that directory.

Alt Z    Zoom
Alt Z    Zoom; If your current file is a directory,
         then this "zooms in" on it, making it your
         current directory.

Alt P    Pop
Alt P    Pop;  If your current directory is not the
         root directory, then this "pops you up" one
         level, making your old current directory your
         new current file.


Alt C    Command
Alt C    Command; Prompts you for a command, which is
         passed unchanged to MS-DOS.  Your file menu
         disappears during the command, and you are
         asked to strike a key before the menu
         returns.  If you strike F10, then the menu is
         not redrawn, and LF terminates.








SEA Tools                                       Page 60
     Alt L    Locate file
     Alt L    Locate file; Prompts you for a filename.  As
              you type the name of the file you are looking
              for, LF will scan through its list of files
              looking for the first file that matches what
              you've typed so far.  Odds are you won't have
              to type very many letters before LF will have
              the file you want.  As soon as LF locates
              your file you can forget about the "locate"
              prompt and go ahead with whatever it is you
              wanted to do.

     Alt S    Show/hide hidden files
     Alt S    Show/hide hidden files;  This "toggles"
              whether or not your file menu includes hidden
              and system files.  Hidden files are shown in
              blue.  System files are shown in brown.

     Alt V    View archive contents
     Alt V    View archive contents;  This is used to view
              the contents of an ARC format archive.  You
              must have both ARC (by System Enhancement
              Associates) and LIST (by Vern Buerg) on your
              command path for this to work.

     Alt R    Read README file
     Alt R    Read README file;  This is used to read a
              file in an ARC format archive.  Type the name
              of the file you want to read in the command
              area before pressing Alt R.  If you do not
              specify what file to read, then LF will try
              to read a README file.  As with Alt V, you
              must have both ARC and LIST on your command
              path.



     The following keys may also be used to move around
     your menu and manipulate your files:

     Cursor Up
     Cursor Up     Moves the white bar up one line, making
                   the file there your current file.

     Cursor Down
     Cursor Down   Moves the white bar down one line,
                   making the file there your current file.

     Cursor Left
     Cursor Left   Moves the cursor one column to the left.

     Cursor Right
     Cursor Right  Moves the cursor one column to the
                   right.

     PgUp
     PgUp          Moves up one page (screen).

     PgDn
     PgDn          Moves down one page.




     SEA Tools                                  Page 61
Home
Home          Moves the cursor to the beginning of the
              command on your current file, if any.
              Otherwise it moves the white bar to the
              top of your screen, making the file
              there your current file.  Unless the
              white bar is already at the top of the
              screen, in which case it moves to the
              top of your file menu, making the first
              file your current file.

End
End           Moves the cursor to the end of the
              command on your current file, if any.
              Otherwise it moves the white bar to the
              bottom of your screen, making the file
              there your current file.  Unless the
              white bar is already at the bottom of
              the screen, in which case it moves to
              the end of your file menu, making the
              last file your current file.

Insert
Insert        Toggles "insert mode".  When you are in
              insert mode, the cursor will be a small
              block instead of a line, and anything
              you type will be inserted in front of
              anything to the right, instead of
              overwriting it.

Delete
Delete        Deletes the character under your cursor,
              if any.  Otherwise it marks your current
              file for deletion, and then moves the
              white bar down one line.

Backspace
Backspace     Deletes the character to the left of
              your cursor, if any.  Otherwise it
              toggles deletion for the current file
              and then moves the white bar down one
              line.

Ctrl Bkspc
Ctrl Bkspc    Toggles deletion for the current file
              and all files which follow it.  The
              white bar does not move.

Escape
Escape        Discards the pending command for your
              current file, if any.  Otherwise it
              cancels deletion for the current file
              and moves the white bar down one line.

Ctrl PgDn
Ctrl PgDn     Shifts to the "next subdirectory".  That
              is, the subdirectory which comes
              immediately after the current
              subdirectory in the parent directory.



SEA Tools                                       Page 62
     Ctrl PgUp
     Ctrl PgUp     Shifts to the "previous subdirectory".
                   That is, the subdirectory which comes
                   immediately before the current
                   subdirectory in the parent directory.

     " (quote)                       ditto
     " (quote)     Or, in this case, ditto.  When you press
                   this key, LF repeats the last command
                   you typed, and then moves the white bar
                   down one line.  Most of the power of LF
                   comes from using this.

     <text>
     <text>        Enters or adds to the command string for
                   your current file (see below).


     Command strings (in conjunction with the ditto
     command, above) are the very heart of what makes LF
     such a useful tool.  You can type whatever you wish
     into the command area in front of any file.  Then,
     when you press the F9 key, your commands are invoked.

     Unless you specify otherwise, your command string will
     have the filename/extension of its file appended to it
     before it is invoked.  For example, if the line for a
     file named "WHATSUP.DOC" had a command string of
     "Ehhh", then pressing F9 would cause LF to give a
     system command of:

         Ehhh WHATSUP.DOC

     You specify otherwise by embedding one or more
     specifiers in your command string.  A specifier
     consists of an ampersand ("&") optionally followed by
     a letter, which may be in upper or lower case.  The
     following specifiers are currently defined:

     &N  Name
     &N  Name; This is replaced by the name of the file,
         with no extension.

     &E  Extension
     &E  Extension; This is replaced by the extension of
         the file, with no name.  The dot is included.

     &F  Filename
     &F  Filename; This is replaced by the name of the file
         followed by the extension, with the dot (if any)
         in the middle.

     &
     &   This is the same as "&f", and is shorter to type.

     &D  Directory
     &D  Directory;  This is replaced by the name of the
         current directory, without the trailing backslash.




     SEA Tools                                  Page 63
&P  Pathname
&P  Pathname;  This is replaced by the full pathname,
    including drive and directory, of the current
    file.  This is equivalent to "&d\&f" (or "&d\&").

&X  Exception
&X  Exception; This is replaced by nothing.  It does,
    however, count as a specifier and thus keeps the
    filename and extension from being appended to the
    command string.

&C  Command
&C  Command; This is replaced by the text of the
    command string.  This isn't very useful in a
    command string itself, but it can be quite handy
    in a macro string (see below).

For example, if the file "WHATSUP.DOC" had a command
string of:

    copy some&e &n\&

Then pressing F9 would cause LF to give the system
command:

    copy some.DOC WHATSUP\WHATSUP.DOC


As a somewhat more practical example, suppose that you
wanted to sort several files.  In each case you want
the sorted output to go in a file with the same name
as the original, but with an extension of ".SRT".  To
do that with LF you would place the white bar on the
first file, and type a command string of:

    sort <& >&n.SRT

Then you would run the white bar down over all of the
other files, hitting "ditto" on each one.  Then hit F9
and go grab a cup of coffee while your system sorts
its heart out.



LF Macros:

                                              ______
MS-DOS environment strings are used to define macros
in LF, telling it how to carry out commonly performed
actions.  Please refer to the MS-DOS manual for
complete information regarding the setting and use of
environment strings.






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     The following environment strings are used by LF:

     LFEDIT
     LFEDIT        This string contains the command used to
                   edit a file when the F1 key is pressed.
                   If this string is not set, then the
                   command "EDLIN" is given.

     LFBROWSE
     LFBROWSE      This string contains the command used to
                   examine a file when the F2 key is
                   pressed.  If this string is not set,
                   then the "MORE" command is used.

     LFVIEW
     LFVIEW        This string contains the command used to
                   view the contents of an archive when Alt
                   V is pressed.

     LFREAD
     LFREAD        This string contains the command used to
                   read a file in an archive when Alt R is
                   pressed.


     If, as an example, you prefer to use an editor named
     LEO, then before running LF you would give the MS-DOS
     command:

         set LFEDIT=LEO


     LF also recognizes ten user-defined macro strings.
     These are LF1 through LF10, and are inserted in the
     command string of the current file in response to
     pressing the corresponding Alt function key.

     For example, if you gave the MS-DOS command:

         set LF1=BLATZ

     before running LF, then the command string for your
     current file will become "BLATZ" any time you press
     "Alt F1".














     SEA Tools                                  Page 65
LF uses one other environment string, "LF=", to set
parameters on how you would like LF to work.  The LF
string can contain any of the following:

B   BIOS
B   BIOS;  LF Normally does all of its screen output
    by writing directly to the screen buffer.  In some
    cases that might not be a good idea.  This tells
    LF to do all of its output by making legal BIOS
    calls.

1   One screen
1   One screen;  This tells LF to use only one display
    for all of its activities.  This is the default.

2   Two screens
2   Two screens;  This tells LF to use two displays.
    This will only work if your system has both a
                  ___
    color display and a monochrome display.  LF will
    do all of its own output on the color screen, and
    will invoke commands on the monochrome display.

H   Hidden
H   Hidden;  LF does not normally show hidden or
    system files.  This tells LF to show them.

C   Confirm deletes
C   Confirm deletes;  This tells LF to ask for
    confirmation before deleting files, and is the
    default.

U   Unconfirmed deletes
U   Unconfirmed deletes;  This tells LF to delete
    files without asking for confirmation.  This is a
    bit faster, and is not too dangerous.

D   Delete at once
D   Delete at once;  This tells LF to delete a file
    the instant you mark it by hitting the "Del" key.
            ____           ____
    This is very fast, and very dangerous.

X   Cross out display
X   Cross out display; This tells LF to redraw its
    screen immediately when it finishes executing
    commands.  This bypasses the "hit a key to
    continue" message.

K   Keystroke to continue
K   Keystroke to continue; This tells LF to do the
    "hit a key to continue" bit after all.  This is
    the default.

Sx  Sort type
Sx  Sort type; This tells LF to initially sort its
    display in a particular way, where "x" is one of
    the following:

    N    to sort by name (default)
    T    to sort by type (extension)
    S    to sort by size
    D    to sort by date



SEA Tools                                       Page 66
     Any of the above can be given in any combination of
     upper or lower case.

     For example, if you normally want LF to use two
     displays and to sort its display by extensions, you
     could put the following statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
     file:

         set LF=2st

     These options can also be given on the command line by
     preceeding them with a slash.  For example, if you
     wanted to override what you put in the LF= string and
     bring up LF using only one display, you would type:

         LF /1



     All of this can seem a bit daunting at first.  How can
     anyone remember all those commands?  The answer is,
     they can't.  That's why we included four screens worth
     of help.  Just hit "Alt H" any time you need help.  It
     won't be long before you're zipping around your disk
     like a pro.





























     SEA Tools                                  Page 67
____

MOVE

Yes, we know that lots of people have written MOVE
programs (often called MV instead of MOVE).  Ours is
different -- it's paranoid.

Almost all MOVE programs take advantage of a gimmick
in MS-DOS, whereby one can quickly shift a file from
one directory to another on the same disk.  The good
ones go even further.  They detect when the move would
be between different disks (where the MS-DOS gimmick
won't work) and do a copy.

But in certain circumstances (like on a network drive
on our office LAN) where the MS-DOS gimmick ought to
                               ____
work, everything looks like it does work.  But it
doesn't.

So our own MOVE program gets paranoid.  It tries the
gimmick, and then it looks at the disk to see for
itself if the file really moved.  If the gimmick
didn't work, then it does a copy.

Using MOVE is simple.  The first argument is the name
of the file to move, and it may contain wildcards.
The second argument is the name of the directory to
move the file(s) to.  If you leave off the second
argument, then the files are moved to your current
directory.



_______
PARBOOT

PARBOOT is a deceptively handy little program.  It
slightly modifies your system so that a parity check
will cause a system reboot instead of hanging your
system.  This can be useful for machines which must
run unattended for long periods of time.  It should be
invoked from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

PARBOOT is also the world's smallest TSR utility.
When installed, it requires zero bytes of memory.











SEA Tools                                       Page 68
     ________
     SCANDISK

     SCANDISK scans a disk for bad sectors.  So do lots of
     other programs, but SCANDISK is different.

     Awhile back we had a machine where the disk drive
     would sometimes get an error.  So we took a full
     backup and reformatted the drive.  It kept happening.
     So we started hauling out the disk testers.  We tried
     five separate disk test utilities, and every single
     one of them did the same thing.  They would hit a bad
     sector, pause on it awhile with the disk grinding
                                                 ___
     away, and then report it as good.  We could see that
                                      ____
     the sector was no good, we could hear it, but every
     single disk tester we tried would let it go.  We got
     so disgusted that we sat down and wrote our own.


     When a program asks MS-DOS to read a disk sector,
     MS-DOS asks BIOS to go read it.  If BIOS reports an
     error, MS-DOS tries again.  In fact, MS-DOS will keep
     trying several times before finally reporting an
     error.

     So it's possible to have a sector which is
     questionable, but which looks good.  MS-DOS may need
     to retry several times before it actually gets the
     data, but this is shielded from the program that asked
     for the sector.

     That's great for most programs.  It's just the right
                                     _____
     thing to do.  But it's just the wrong thing to do when
     you're trying to find out which sectors are starting
     to go bad.  You don't want to know which ones have
     already gone bad (it's too late then -- you already
     lost the data).  You want to know which ones are still
     readable but are starting to go sour so you can get
     your data off while you still have a chance.

     But if MS-DOS is hiding the error, how can you tell?

     If MS-DOS has to reread a sector, the read is going to
     take longer than normal.  Also, MS-DOS resets the disk
     between retries, which takes even more time.

     So SCANDISK scans the disk, reading each sector, and
     on every read it's got a stopwatch in hand to see how
     long MS-DOS takes to read it.  If MS-DOS reports an
     error, then we mark it bad (so far we're just like
     everyone else), but if MS-DOS says that the sector is
     okay, but it took a long time to read, then we



     SEA Tools                                  Page 69
remember that it's questionable.  When the run is
finished we tell you how many questionable sectors we
found, and if you say so we'll mark them as bad.

Not only that, but if a questionable sector is in use
by a file we'll shift the data to someplace safe.

SCANDISK takes one or two arguments.  The first
argument is which disk to scan.  The second argument
is how many times to scan that disk.  If you don't say
how many times, then it scans once.  If you say zero
times, then it scans repeatedly until told to stop.

For example, if you wanted to scan your C: drive once,
you would type:

    scandisk C:

If you wanted to scan your D: drive five times, you
would type:

    scandisk D: 5

If you wanted to scan your B: drive continuously, you
would type:

    scandisk B: 0


How SCANDISK works can be modified by the following
command line options:

/T<n>    Ticks
/T<n>    Ticks; SCANDISK normally allows twenty clock
         ticks to elapse during a read before it calls
         a sector questionable.  Twenty ticks is a
         shade over a second, so "questionable" might
         not be a strong enough word.  This option
         sets threshold at <n> clock ticks.  If you
                           ___
         set the threshold too low SCANDISK will
         report many more bad clusters than you really
         have.  Most fixed disks should be able to
         read a cluster in five or six clock ticks,
         and most floppies should take no more than
         ten clock ticks.

/S       Skip
/S       Skip;  This tells SCANDISK to skip over
         clusters that have already been locked out.
         This can speed things up considerably on a
         disk with a lot of bad clusters.





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     /L       Large directory
     /L       Large directory;  This tells SCANDISK that
              your directory is too large to hold.
                            ___
              SCANDISK will not move data off of
              questionable clusters if you use this option.
              SCANDISK will tell you if you need to use
              this option.

     /A       Autopilot
     /A       Autopilot;  When SCANDISK finishes its run it
              asks for confirmation before making any
              irreversable changes to your disk.  This
              tells SCANDISK to go ahead and make the
              changes without asking.

     /U       Unlock
     /U       Unlock;  This tells SCANDISK to recheck
              clusters that had been locked out, and to
              unlock any that appear okay.  Use this with
              extreme caution (or not at all).

     /B       BIOS
     /B       BIOS;  This tells SCANDISK to use legal BIOS
              calls for all of its output.  Things go
              faster if you don't use this, but there may
              be some situations where you need it.

     For example, if you wanted SCANDISK to make three
     passes over your C: drive, skipping bad clusters and
     allowing up to five clock ticks on a read, you would
     use the command:

         scandisk C: 3 /S /T5



     So what happened with that drive that started all
     this?  We ran SCANDISK on it with the options:

         scandisk D: 0 /ST5

     and we let it run overnight.  In the morning we saw
     that SCANDISK had not found any more bad sectors in
     its last twenty passes, so we stopped it.  The drive
     is still in use, and we haven't had a problem with it
     since.












     SEA Tools                                  Page 71
________
SCROLOCK

There must be some reason why twenty million PC's have
"Scroll Lock" keys.  All told, that adds up to quite a
lot of keys out there that don't do anything.

But until that use shows up, there's SCROLOCK.  When
you run SCROLOCK it starts monitoring that Scroll Lock
key, and makes it do something like what its name
implies.  In other words, it make the screen stop
scrolling when you hit Scroll Lock.  Hit Scroll Lock
again and your screen will start scrolling again.

      ___
There are one or two programs out there that use the
Scroll Lock key.  In particular, the PC-Write editor
uses Scroll Lock to switch between "overwrite" and
"pushright" modes.  So if you run SCROLOCK again it
will deactivate itself.  Running it yet again makes it
reactivate itself, and so on.  When you run SCROLOCK
it returns an error level of zero if it deactivated,
or one if it reactivated.  Thus, if for example you
were writing a batch file where at one point you want
SCROLOCK to be deactivated, you would say:

    scrolock
    if errorlevel 1 scrolock



________
SOFTBELL

SOFTBELL is for those of us who don't like their
machines making loud beeping noises.  When you run
SOFTBELL it modifies the sound of the bell from a loud
beep to a soft buzz.  This only affects the "control G
bell" -- your game programs will be as noisy as ever.


















SEA Tools                                       Page 72
     _____
     SQDIR

     SQDIR squeezes a directory.  Why squeeze a directory?
     Is directory juice good for anything?

     The method used by the MS-DOS operating system for
     keeping files in directories is quite adequate for
     most normal situations.  However, things slow down a
     ___
     lot when a directory gets crowded.  If you put a few
     hundred files in one subdirectory, opening one of them
     becomes a slow process.

     But there's a further problem.  Once a directory has
     had several hundred files in it, the deleted entries
     stick around.  This is good for UNDEL, but not always
     so good for everything else because opening a file
          _____
     will still be slow even after most of the files are
     deleted.

     Enter SQDIR.  SQDIR reads in the directory and
     rewrites it, minus the deleted files, thus speeding up
     file access and quite possibly recovering some disk
     space.

     SQDIR takes one argument, the name of the directory to
     squeeze.  For example, if you wanted to squeeze a
     directory named "D:\MAIL\MESSAGES" you would type:

         sqdir d:\mail\messages

     SQDIR knows about one option switch, "/S", which tells
     it to squeeze all subdirectories of the directory as
     well.  For example, if you wanted to squeeze the
     "D:\MAIL" directory and all directories in it, you
     would type:

         sqdir d:\mail /S

















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____
TASK

TASK (which stands for "Timed ASK") is used to ask
"yes or no" questions from a batch file, while placing
a time limit on how long it will wait for an answer.
It can also be used just as a delay timer.

TASK reports the result by returning an error level of
zero if the answer was "No", or one if the answer was
"Yes", or two if no answer was given.

For example, suppose that you wanted your AUTOEXEC.BAT
to ask you first before it starts loading up all of
your popup gizmos, thus giving you the option of
booting a "clean" system.  You could do it thusly:


    task Do you want this neat stuff?
    if not errorlevel 1 goto vanilla
    fakey load
    makey
    scrolock
    softbell
    parboot
    :vanilla


An answer of "Yes", or no answer at all in twenty
seconds, will cause the "if" to fail, and will thus
load up some nifty stuff.  But an answer of "No" will
return an error level of zero, thus making the "if"
true, and causing the batch file to skip over all
those goodies.

If you'd rather word that question differently, then
you can do that too, like so:

    task Do you want a vanilla system?
    if not errorlevel 2 if errorlevel 1 goto vanilla


If the first argument is a number, then TASK treats it
as the number of seconds to wait for an answer.  For
example, if you wanted to allow five seconds instead
of twenty seconds, you'd say:

    task 5 Do you want a vanilla system?

If you set a limit of zero seconds, then there is no
time limit and TASK will wait forever.




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     If you set a time limit, but you don't ask a question,
     then TASK becomes a delay timer.  For example, the
     command:

         task 5

     just pauses for five seconds without asking anything.



     ____
     TDIR

     TDIR is one of those programs that doesn't look like
     much, but if you use it for a day you'll wonder how
     you ever got along without it.  It does a short
     directory listing sorted by filename extension.  Use
     it the same way you'd use the MS-DOS "DIR" command.

     Try it -- you'll like it.



     _____
     UNDEL

     This is used to "undelete" a file which was
     accidentally deleted.

     ________                                ___
     ________
     WARNING:
     WARNING: The MS-DOS operating system is not designed
              with undeletion in mind.  Any undelete
                      ____
              process must make assumptions that might not
              be valid in any particular situation, and
              ____
              must access your disk in ways that are
              outside the bounds of the operating system.
                            ______
              Undeletion is always an inherently risky
              business.

     The MS-DOS operating system isn't designed to allow
     for "undeleting" a file.  In theory, once a file is
     deleted it is gone forever.  However, it is possible,
     sometimes, to reconstruct where a file was located,
     and to recreate it.  You have the best chance of
     undeleting a file if it has been recently copied or
                    _______
     edited, and if nothing has been done to the disk since
     the file was deleted.










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UNDEL takes one argument, which is the name of a file
to undelete.  Any valid filename may be given.  Path
names are allowed, wildcards are not.  For example, to
undelete a file that used to be called JUNK.TXT, you
would type:

    undel junk.txt

Pretty simple, eh?


How UNDEL operates can be altered by use of command
line switches.  A switch is a slash or a dash followed
by a letter.  UNDEL recognizes the following options:

/L  List deleted files
/L  List deleted files.  This will produce a list of
    all deleted files in your current directory.  Each
    filename will begin with a question mark.  This is
    because of how MS-DOS file deletion works.

    If you give a name when you use this option, then
    UNDEL will use it as the name of the directory to
    search.  For example, if you give the command:

         undel /L D:\TRASHCAN

    then UNDEL will report all of the deleted files in
    the D:\TRASHCAN directory.

/A  Ask about clusters
/A  Ask about clusters.  This causes UNDEL to show you
    the first few bytes of each cluster as it locates
    them, giving you the option to accept or reject
    them.  This might be useful in reassembling a
    badly fragmented text file.

/P  Partial recovery is okay
/P  Partial recovery is okay.  Normally UNDEL won't
    undelete a file unless it thinks it has found all
    of the deleted clusters.  This option tells UNDEL
    to recover as much as it can find.

/R  Report status of deleted file
/R  Report status of deleted file.  This can be used
    to assess the chances of recovering a file.

/T  Give technical data about the disk
/T  Give technical data about the disk.  UNDEL has to
    figure out a lot of technical details about your
    disk in order to work.  This option tells UNDEL to
    report those details.







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     Your best chance of recovering a file is, of course,
     to not delete it in the first place.  But sometimes
     accidents happen.

     Your second best chance of recovering a file is to:

      1) DO NOT delete, move, copy, or create ANY files on
         the disk after the accidental deletion if at all
         possible.

      2) If you have a tape streamer or other "image"
         backup, then take a backup before doing anything
         else.  This will give you the ability to retry the
         undelete endlessly.

      3) If you don't have a tape streamer, take a backup
         anyway.  It can't hurt.

      4) Use UNDEL to undelete the file.

      5) Examine the file.  If it isn't right, delete it
         and try again, this time using the "/A" (ask)
         option.

      6) If UNDEL can't find all of your file, you may want
         to try the "/P" (partial is okay) option.

      7) If none of the above works, then you are out of
         luck.  Your chances of ever recovering your data
         are slim indeed.  But see the next utility.



     ________
     OHMYGAWD

     So your worst nightmare has happened -- your most
     vital document has been accidentally deleted and
     nothing you've tried has worked.  Are you totally out
     of luck?

     Well, probably, but there's one last thing to try.

     OHMYGAWD was written to handle just such a case that
     happened to us.  We weren't really sure it would be
     useful to anyone else -- until it happened again even
     worse.  On the second occasion MS-DOS started giving
     us the dreaded "Invalid drive specification" message,
     and our most recent backup was not quite recent
     enough.





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What OHMYGAWD does is very simple.  It turns all of
the free clusters on a disk into files.  Every single
one of them.  When it's done, there will be zero bytes
free on the disk.  If your data still exists at all,
it's in there somewhere!


OHMYGAWD takes two arguments.  The first argument,
which must be given, is the drive to do this to.  The
second argument, which is optional, is how big each of
the files should be.

File size is expressed in "K" (which is computer
jargon for 1,024 characters), and will be rounded up
to the nearest whole cluster size.  If you don't
specify a size, then OHMYGAWD will split your data
evenly into as many files as will fit on the disk.

Each of the files will be in the root directory, and
will have a name of the form:

    FILEnnnn.OMG

where "nnnn" is a number.

Suppose for example that your vital data is lost
somewhere on the C: drive, and that your editor can
handle files up to 64k in size.  You might give the
command:

    ohmygawd C: 64

You will then have a whole bunch of files sitting on
your C: drive.


So what happened when our drive packed it in?  First
we ran FDISK to recreate the partition.  The result
was a mess, so we ran FORMAT on it to get it
straightened out.  Then we ran OHMYGAWD on it and
wound up with 147 files, each about 60k in size.  We
spent a day sifting through them all, and finally
recovered everything.

It was something of a trip down memory lane, actually.
We also found a whole bunch of old correspondence that
had been deleted months earlier.

We sincerely hope for your sake that you'll never need
                                  __
to run OHMYGAWD.  But if you ever do need it, you'll
be glad you have it!



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     ________
     WIPEFREE

     At first glance, WIPEFREE sounds like a very stange
     utility.  It overwrites all of the unused clusters on
     a disk.  Why in the world would anyone want to do
     that?

     We're sure you've seen utilities around that will
     overwrite every byte of a file or every byte of a
     disk.  They're supposed to be for security.  The
     general idea is to destroy any data that was super-
     duper ultra top secret, so nobody can ever read it.

     But it isn't enough to just write over a file, and
     writing over a whole disk might be too much!  Wiping
     out a floppy makes sense, but what about a fixed disk?

     Let's suppose you were working on a supersecret
     letter.  When you finally get it done, you send it to
                                                ______
     your printer and wipe out the file.  Is it really
     gone?  Well, if you've edited it more than once,
     almost certainly your editor has had multiple copies
     of it on disk at various times.  If you have a print
     spooler that buffers to disk, then there's yet another
     copy!  Even after you overwrite the file, if you ran
     OHMYGAWD you'd probably get it back five times over!

                   ______
     So how do you really wipe it out?

     Enter WIPEFREE.  Just delete the file, and then have
                        ___
     WIPEFREE overwrite all of the unused clusters on your
     disk.

     WIPEFREE needs at least one argument, which is the
     disk to wipe.  For example, to overwrite all of the
     free clusters on your D: disk, you would say:

         wipefree D:

     WIPEFREE can take a second argument, which is how many
     passes to make.  For example, if you wanted WIPEFREE
     to overwrite every free cluster on your D: disk five
     times, you would say:

         wipefree D: 5

     When it's making multiple passes WIPEFREE alternates
     between overwriting with all bits off, and overwriting
     with all bits on.





     SEA Tools                                  Page 79
         IN CONCLUSION



All of these utilities are things we've written
because we needed them.  They're included here because
we found them to be useful over time, and so we'd like
to share them with you.

Thank you for helping to make shareware work.












































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