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DTA.DOC
-------
Instructions for DTA.COM
Directory-Tree-Attribute Utility
Version 2.2 (20 Oct 1994)
(c)1987-94 E. Meyer
DTA.COM is a versatile file directory utility that will run on any PC
with DOS 2.x or above. DTA is a replacement for the DIR, TREE, and ATTRIB
commands of DOS, as well as a file finder and viewer. Its display can be
extensively customized for various purposes from archival printouts or labels
to everyday use. Despite its small size, DTA has many features including:
* show compact directory tree, with or without file size totals
* search entire drive (all directories) for files
* view initial text in readable files to help identify contents
* select items by attributes, time/date, or file size
* change attribute or time/date data for items selected
* display several groups of files, or all except certain files
* list filenames with or without sizes, attributes, or time/date
* display either normal width (full screen) or narrow (half screen)
* alphabetize by either column (vertically) or row (horizontally)
* treat directories either separately or together with files
* show full disk usage information including percentage free
* customize with user's desired options, colors, etc
The syntax and options of DTA are compatible with my ARCOPY (archive
copy), DIRCMP (directory compare), and DLT (delete) file utilities, which work
well together.
--------------------------------- USING DTA ----------------------------------
SYNTAX: C> dta {fspec1} {{,}fspec2...} {/options} "{}"=optional
where each "fspec" may include a drive, path, or wildcards;
either spaces or commas may separate multiple filespecs;
"/" is the delimiter for option letters.
If the drive or path is omitted from the first filespec, it defaults to
the current DOS value; for subsequent ones, to the same as the previous one.
If the filespec is omitted it defaults to "*.*". If it is a directory name,
the contents of the directory are displayed.
Options are discussed in detail below. If none is specified, you will
get a compact, informative directory display.
While running, DTA ignores keystrokes like ^S or ^C, except when paused
at the end of the page, when you can use ^C to abort if desired. Output can
be redirected to a file or other device in the standard DOS fashion:
C> DTA FILESPEC /OPTIONS >DEVICE.
Note: redirection will not work with color output; you must select monochrome
with the /M option. Also, you might want to disable pagination with /P to
avoid having to press a key to continue a long listing.
-------------------------- INTERPRETING THE DISPLAY --------------------------
Here are three examples of DTA displays, first using the default display,
then Full display (with file attributes and dates), then file text View.
C:\WORK> dta
Volume HDRIVE-C Directory C:\WORK
COLAP .COM 2k | DTA .DOC 17k | REMOTE .EXE 81k | VDE .COM 71k
COMLINK .COM 47k | GORT . 0k | UHSCAN .DAT 1.2m | ZIP .COM 14k
CPY .COM 5k | NOW .COM 1k | UHSCAN .DOC 91k |
DTA .COM 7k | PROG .EXE 22k | UHSCAN .EXE 30k |
14 items total 1.6m, use 1.6m. Drive has 27.1m used, 4.8m free (15%)
C:\WORK> dta dta.* /f
Volume HDRIVE-C created 5/23/90 Directory C:\WORK
DTA .COM 7k A... 11:33p 8/29/92 | DTA .DOC 17k A... 11:42p 8/29/92
2 items total 24k, use 26k. Drive has 27.1m used, 4.8m free (15%)
C:\WORK> dta dta.* /v
Volume HDRIVE-C Directory C:\WORK
DTA .COM 7k uDTA 1.8 (c) E. Meyer 29 Aug 1992HSYNTAX: A>dta {fspec1} {,}
DTA .DOC 17k DTA.DOC - Instructions for DTA.COM Version 1.8 (29 Aug 1992)
2 items total 24k, use 26k. Drive has 27.1m used, 4.8m free (15%)
FILE SIZE AND DISK SPACE are seldom useful to specify to the individual
byte, as the DIR command does. Instead, DTA displays sizes rounded up to the
nearest kilobyte (1k is 1024 bytes) or tenth of a megabyte (1.0m is 1024k, or
1048576 bytes). Subdirectories (if listed) are identified by "Dir" in the
file size column, and their contents are not included in the summary totals.
The "items total" amount is simply the sum of the individual file sizes to the
nearest kilobyte; the "items use" amount is the total space actually dedicated
to those files on the disk, which may be different, because DOS allocates
space in units (called clusters) whose size can vary. The final "used/free"
space shown by DTA is for the entire drive; free space is also reported as a
percentage.
(Cluster size ranges from as little as 128 bytes on a RAMdisk, to
typically 1k on a floppy disk, to 2k, 4k, even 8k on a hard disk. For
example, DTA reports a 500 byte file as "1k", but on a hard disk with 4k
clusters it actually uses 4k; on a RAMdisk, it may only use 0.5k. Thus,
depending on the disk type, the "use" amount may be a little less, or
significantly more, than the reported "total" of the displayed sizes.)
ATTRIBUTES, when displayed, show as a letter ("A,R,H,S") if set, or a dot
"." if clear. The "A"rchive attribute indicates to a backup utility that a
file has been changed recently, and needs to be backed up; the attribute is
cleared by the utility once it has done so. (Simple backup utilities that
work well with DTA include the DOS XCOPY command, and my own ARCOPY.COM.)
The "R"ead-only attribute prevents a file from being changed or deleted,
though it can be read and copied. The "H"idden and "S"ystem attributes both
exclude items from normal searches: they cannot be accessed at all by ordinary
MSDOS file commands. The DOS command DIR does not show hidden files like
MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS, but DTA will (unless you use the options "/hs").
TIME/DATE, when displayed, appear in the appropriate format for your DOS
country setting, unless you have customized DTA.COM, or used a different entry
format (US, European, or Numeric) with the /B, /L, or /@ options. The date of
a volume is when the disk was labeled; of a subdirectory, when it was created;
of a file, when it was last modified.
FILE TEXT, when displayed, appears as one or two lines in an abbreviated
format with many duplicate or non-alphabetic characters filtered out. If the
initial part of a file contains a sizable proportion of binary (non-text)
data, DTA will not attempt to display it, reporting "Bin" instead.
-------------------------------- DTA OPTIONS ---------------------------------
By default, DTA will display a list of all files specified, along with
their sizes, and some disk space information. However, options are available
to do a wide variety of other things. One slash "/" must precede any options;
further slashes may be used or not, as desired.
/? = help. Gives version message, brief summary of usage and options.
These options scan an entire drive, instead of the contents of one directory:
/T = tree: display tree, starting at specified or current directory.
/G = global: search for specified files throughout the tree.
These options affect the contents of the display:
/F = full: for directory display, show attributes and time/date also;
for tree/global search, show file size information also;
for text view, show three additional lines of text.
/W = wide: just like DIR /W, five columns of filenames only (no sizes).
/V = view: show single column display with view of initial file text.
These options affect the format of the display:
/O = order: order items by row instead of column.
/N = narrow: use only half the usual number of columns.
/M = mono: use monochrome output instead of color.
/P = no pause: don't pause for keystroke after each full screen.
These options determine which items are selected:
/X = except: select only items other than those named.
/D = directories: select directories instead of files.
/U = universal: select both directories and files.
/B = before: select files before specified date,time.
/L = later: select files later than specified date,time.
/K = size: select files by specified size ("+"=greater, "-"=less).
/A,H,R,S = select only items with the specified attributes:
Archive; Hidden; Read-only; System.
/a,h,r,s = select only items WITHOUT these attributes.
These options change the DOS directory information for items selected:
/@ = set time stamp on items to date,time.
/C = change attributes of items to the following settings.
MORE ABOUT OPTIONS
When you use an argument without wildcards, the /F option is assumed, and
the single item displays with full information. When more items than will fit
on a single line are displayed, DTA defaults to vertical (column) ordering,
which many users find most intuitive; but horizontal (row) ordering is
available as an alternative, with the /O option.
The view option /V is useful when filenames alone don't remind you
exactly what the files contain; it produces a single column of output, with a
compact display (one line, or four if /F was also used) from the initial text
of each file that appears readable. Note that some "text" files created by
word processors actually contain lots of binary data, and therefore won't
display; whereas some "binary" files, especially in .COM format, may contain a
sufficient amount of displayable text.
With the /B,/L,/@ options, the date and/or time should follow the option
letter; if both are specified, separate them with a comma. If the time is
omitted, it defaults to 0 hours (12am); if the date is omitted, it defaults to
TODAY. If both are omitted, /@ defaults to today, now; /B,/L default to
today, 0 hours. DTA recognizes U.S., European, and Numeric formats for
entering each, by the punctuation used:
U.S.(M/D/Y,H:MMa-p) Euro (D.M.Y,H:MM) Num (Y-M-D,HHMM)
3/25/90,1:45p = 25.3.90,13:45 = 90-3-25,1345
(If you add the /A or /P option after a Euro format time, insert a slash or
space so it doesn't look like a U.S. format time.) The date "00/00/00" may be
used to set a blank timestamp; otherwise the year must be 80 or above.
To make selecting files by age more convenient, you can specify a time so
many days or hours AGO simply by using a "-" sign: thus "-3" means 3 DAYS ago,
"-,2" means 2 HOURS ago.
With the /K option, the file size in kilobytes (from 0 to 999) should
follow the option letter; files of that size only will be listed. Add a "-"
after the size to include smaller files as well, or a "+" to include larger
ones (for example, "/K100+" to list all files of 100k or more).
Note that the file attribute options /A,R,H,S are case sensitive (upper-
case=set, lower=clear) and position sensitive. When listed without or before
the change option /C, they SELECT the items to be listed or acted upon; after
/C, they represent CHANGES to be made. The /C option can also be used alone,
with NO following attributes, simply to cause attributes to display instead of
file sizes (no attributes will be changed).
Options /T,G,X do not allow multiple filename arguments. If you specify
contradictory selection or formatting options like /U and /D, the later one
will override the earlier one. Certain other combinations of options are
simply not supported and will produce an error message: /G with /X, etc.
Be careful with the /@ and /C options, because they actually CHANGE the
DOS time stamp and attributes for files! Time stamps, especially, provide
valuable information about the age and revision of a file, and should not be
changed without good reason. (Note: if you are using the DOS FASTOPEN
feature, /@ may fail to change the time stamp of a file.)
/C can change the attributes of directories as well as files, but /@
cannot change a directory's creation time.
The best way to make DTA usage clear will be by a series of examples:
EXAMPLES: FILES and DIRECTORIES
C> dta a:\*.doc *.txt /v
Show all files *.DOC and *.TXT in the root directory on A:, with text view.
C> dta a:\*.sys /xf
Show all files EXCEPT *.SYS, with "full" display (attributes and time/date).
C> dta \work /uo
Show all files AND subdirectories in C:\WORK, ordered by row.
C> dta /d
Show all subdirectories in the current directory.
EXAMPLES: SIZES and TIMESTAMPS
C> dta d: e: /k0
Show only empty (0k) files in the current directory on drives D: and E:.
C> dta \work /l-2
Show only files in directory C:\WORK dated in the past two days.
C> dta /b9/1/89
Show only files in current directory dated before 9/1/89.
C> dta *.doc /l/b1700
Show only files *.DOC dated today before 5:00pm.
C> dta log /@1.9.89,13:20
Change the timestamp of file C:LOG to 1 September 1989, 13:20 (1:20pm).
EXAMPLES: ATTRIBUTES
C> dta /cp
Show all files *.* with their attributes, without pausing after each screen.
C> dta /A
Show only files in current directory marked with the Archive attribute.
C> dta a: /SH
Show only files in current directory on A: which are System and Hidden.
C> dta a:*.sys /Hca
Select only Hidden files *.SYS on A: and clear their Archive attribute.
EXAMPLES: TREE and GLOBAL SEARCH
C> dta \work /tf
Show the directory tree starting from C:\WORK, including size information.
C> dta /gl
Find all files on drive C: that have been modified today.
C> dta *.bak /gk100+f
Find all files *.BAK of 100k or larger on drive C:, and show total sizes.
NOTES ON DIRECTORY NAME ARGUMENTS
As explained above, if you give DTA a directory name alone as an
argument, it stands for the contents of that directory -- so "MYDIR" is
shorthand for "MYDIR\*.*". This convenience introduces two complications.
First, it becomes a little awkward to use DTA to operate on a single
directory itself, for example, to make \MYDIR hidden. Don't try "DTA \MYDIR
/CH"; it will change all the files in \MYDIR instead. Even "DTA \MYDIR /D
/CH" won't work; it will change all the subdirectories in \MYDIR. You must
resort to a subterfuge: add a superfluous wildcard to the argument as well, so
DTA doesn't recognize it as a specific directory name and add on "\*.*".
Thus, "DTA \MYDIR? /D /CH" finds all subdirectories matching "\MYDIR?" --
namely, \MYDIR itself -- and changes the desired attribute after all.
Second, the rule for inheritance of directories among multiple arguments
becomes a little confused. Normally, "DTA PATH1\NAME1 NAME2" means "DTA
PATH1\NAME1 PATH1\NAME2". However, if NAME1 is a directory, "PATH1\NAME1"
really means "PATH1\NAME1\*.*", which would make the second argument
PATH1\NAME1\NAME2, which probably isn't the result you would expect by looking
at the command as you typed it. So DTA recognizes this case as an exception
to the rule; if NAME1 is a directory, it does NOT become part of the path
inherited by NAME2.
------------------------------ CUSTOMIZING DTA -------------------------------
You can use DEBUG or a similar utility (like the Norton disk editor) to
change DTA's default options, time/date format, and text colors (on IBM PC
compatibles). All values below are in hexadecimal. (Note: addresses shown
are for DEBUG; for most disk editors, subtract 0100.)
ADDRESS ORIGINAL
IN DTA.COM VALUE FUNCTION POSSIBLE VALUES
0108 FF Default format FF=ask DOS, 00=US, 01=Euro, 02=Num
0109 FF Use color output? 00=no, FF=yes
010A 07 Message color 00-FF \
010B 0F File/text color 00-FF >see below
010C 07 Attrib/date color 00-FF /
0110-011F 00 Default options Any
DEFAULT FORMAT: With this set to FF, DTA will use the current DOS
country code to determine its default time/date format. If you need to
override this, you can specify another format. In any case, if you enter any
time options (/B,L,@) DTA will adopt whatever format you use.
COLOR OUTPUT: With this set to FF, DTA will use PC BIOS output for a
color display, and its page pause will recognize any current screen size. Use
of contrasting colors can make the display more easily readable. If you set
this to 00, DTA will use standard DOS output and assume a 25 line screen.
Whichever setting you choose can be reversed with the /M option.
COLORS: Specify each color by a pair of hex digits for background and
foreground, according to the following codes:
0 = BLACK 4 = red 8 = GREY C = bright red
1 = blue 5 = magenta 9 = bright blue D = bright magenta
2 = green 6 = brown A = bright green E = yellow
3 = cyan 7 = WHITE B = bright cyan F = BRIGHT WHITE
For example, "17" means "blue background, white text".
All monochrome screens can display black, white, and bright white; in
some cases, grey may also be visible.
Colors 8-F should generally be avoided as background colors because they
produce blinking video. On EGA/VGA displays, if blinking video is disabled,
the whole range of background colors will be available.
DEFAULT OPTIONS: DTA checks this area for a string (up to 15 characters)
of default option selections, terminated by a null (00). Thus, if you'd like
DTA to display in its wide format by default, and ordered by row instead of
column, place the ASCII values "WO" (57 4F hex) followed by 00 at this
address. If you'd like DTA to display more or less the way the DOS command
DIR does, use "FNUhs" instead. (Full information, narrow output, directories
along with files, skip hidden and system files.)
Any options you type that conflict with these defaults will supersede
them. Thus if your defaults are "FNUhs", you can still specify "/HS" to show
(only) hidden and system items, overriding "hs"; or "/D" to show only
directories, overriding "U"; or "/W" for wide display, overriding "FN".
You can also cancel any individual default option by repeating it. Thus
if defaults are "FNUhs", you can display files only by specifying "/U" again,
or all items regardless of attributes by specifying "/hs" again.
When you display the help message with "DTA /?", any default options
installed will be reported.
(Note that options "C,@,X,G,T,B,L,K" may not be specified as defaults.)
EXAMPLES: To change to numeric time/date format as default, type "DEBUG
DTA.COM", then "E0108 02", then "W", then "Q". To install default options
"WO", use "E0110 57 4F 00".
Please distribute copies of DTA with original settings only, to avoid
confusing other users.
------------------------------- ERROR MESSAGES -------------------------------
0 (such) items "NAME" - Nothing exists by that NAME (or nothing matches the
other criteria specified: attributes, date, etc).
Invalid argument - Invalid or conflicting option, bad path, illegal
character in filename... Think and try again.
Out of memory - Not enough free memory to run DTA, or too many items
to list (try a more restrictive filespec).
---------------------------------- HISTORY -----------------------------------
DA 1.0 (Sep87) - First release, based on my previous CP/M utility DA.
1.1 (Aug88) - Improved parsing; select AND change attributes; new options.
DTA 1.2 (Oct88) - New /T tree option; DA is now called DTA.
1.3 (Sep89) - New /G search, /E,L,@ options for time/date.
1.4 (Mar90) - New /X (except) option; removed /V (version) option.
1.5 (May91) - US/Euro/Numeric date,time; /E changed to /B(efore).
1.6 (Sep91) - Multiple filespecs; new /K (size) option; file selection
options work with /G; improved, color display.
1.7 (Jan92) - New /M (mono) option; /B,L,@ accept "-" for "ago";
handles drive sizes over 64meg; uses DOS country code.
1.8 (Aug92) - New /V (view) option; changeable /P default.
2.0 (Nov92) - New /O (ordering); environment variable for default options.
2.1 (Dec93) - Fixed "% free" on drives >64meg; default options in DTA.COM.
2.2 (Oct94) - /VF shows 4 lines; column display improved; small fixes.
DTA and its documentation are (c)1987-94 Eric Meyer, all rights reserved.
They may be freely distributed, but not modified or sold for profit without my
written consent. (Exception: Libraries may charge up to $6 for a disk.) The
user takes full responsibility for any damages resulting from the use of this
program. For a disk with the latest versions of all my programs send $10 to:
Eric Meyer
3541 Smuggler Way CompuServe [74415,1305]
Boulder, CO 80303 USA Internet: 74415.1305@compuserve.com