Re: DOS commands etc. [Off Topic]

[cld@xxxxxxxx (Carl Distefano)]

Reply to note from "J. R. Fox"  Fri, 18 Jan 2002
23:36:27 -0800

> > Command PULL XCOPY/? to find out.
>
> That PULL thingie is rather neat. How does it work ?

Redirection. It takes the output from the DOS command and redirects
it to a temp file (XCOPY/? > PULL.TMP). Then it MErges the temp
file into an Untitled screen.

> I don't happen to have XYOS2SHL installed . . . .

Be clear on what you're getting here. It's the Help screen for the
*DOS* XCOPY command. You don't need XyShell for that, because all
PULL (or P1, for short) "shells" to is DOS. Another U2 routine, P2,
shells to OS/2 or Windows; that, of course, does require XyShell.
In the Windows environment this is a distinction without a
difference as far as OS commands are concerned, because the same
interpreter (COMMAND.COM or CMD.EXE) runs both DOS programs and OS
commands; indeed, you can even launch Windows programs from the
CMline with Xy's DOS command (although this sometimes causes Xy to
suspend while the Windows program is running, and you can't make the
"return trip" to Xy after quitting the Windows program, as you can
with XyShell). In contrast, OS/2, as you know, has a separate 32-
bit, long-filename command-line environment, which is distinct from,
and far more capable than, DOS. Having said all that, however, it
turns out that the Help screen for OS/2 XCOPY is identical to the
one for DOS XCOPY, so in this case you're even.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/