Re: what's III+ suffixes for use in organizing program

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Like free love in the 60s, you have missed one of life's great experiences,
and it's probably too late.

In DOS, you take standard DOS commands, and a few extras, and instead of
typing them on the command line, type them into a file. The file has the
extension *.BAT. For example, suppose you created a file consisting of the
command DIR and named it TEST.BAT. Every time you type "TEST", DOS will run
DIR.

For example, there is the famous AUTOEXEC.BAT, which used to start my
computer, but is now of marginal importance with Windows 98. In my case:

@ECHO OFF
VERIFY ON
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\NORTON;C:\XTPRO;C:\XY;C:\WP50;C:\LIST;C:\COMM;C:\COMM\DOW
NLOAD;C:\PCFDB;
FR /SAVE
PROMPT $P$G
VER
NCC C:\NORTON\WHITE /SETALL
NCD

I cheated there by using a couple of lines from Norton Utilities.

Here's another one that I once used to create a file with a directory of
the contents of the floppy disk back in the days when we used floppy disks
to back everything up:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO This batch file copies the directory in A to file DIRLIST.DOC
:LABEL
ECHO This is the volume in a:
VOL A:
DIR A: ≫ DIRLIST.DOC
DIR A:
ECHO Insert the next disk (or Ctl-Pause to stop)
PAUSE
GOTO LABEL

Batch files use a pretty powerful programming language and can automate
operating system tasks and do all sorts of neat tricks if you take some
time with it. The old DOS manuals explained them. (The old DOS HELP screens
before Win98 explained them too.) There was a high priesthood devoted to
the study of batch files, but they have mostly disbanded. There may not be
any point learning this stuff under Windows.

I wish there was something like batch files to use in Windows 98, but so
far I haven't found anything. Anybody know?


At 01:36 PM 6/28/99 EDT, ArtL7@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>How exactly does one, step by step, "create batch files using the directory
>to rename files, move them, etc." for selected files? I don't even know what
>a batch files is or how to create one, to be honest/. thanks, art.
>In a message dated 6/28/99 10:36:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>nbauman@xxxxxxxx writes:
>
>≪ ght. Actually, checking back, I see that Rene did it differently than I
> do. I use XyWrite to create batch files using the directory to rename
> files, move them, etc.
>
> At 11:35 AM 6/28/99, Yo Intl. wrote:
> >
> ≫What's the "batch-file-from-the-directory trick"?
> ≫--------------
> ≫Carl Distefano
> >
> >I think he means what I described earlier. Give a "Dir" command
> >and then use the directory screen as a template for a Xywrite program
> >that does all sorts of housekeeping jobs. ≫


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Norman Bauman
411 W. 54 St. Apt. 2D
New York, NY 10019
(212) 977-3223
http://www.nasw.org/users/nbauman
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