Topic: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (1 of 22), Read 229 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Gary Darsey Date: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 07:29 AM I was wondering if there is any ready source of documentation for all the "DOS" utilities for Windows NT (like those under \Winnt\system32 on my some of my work computers, such as CMD.EXE). I'm a dinosaur when it come to keeping up with these sorts of things, with my work schedule not allowing me to keep up as I did way back in the DOS days. -Gary Darsey

Topic: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (2 of 22), Read 163 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Mike O'Connor Date: Sunday, February 09, 2003 07:55 AM Can't remember whether NT has the 'help ' available but otherwise most of the commands should at least respond with a syntax help screen to ' /?', without the quotes in both cases. If there is too much to fit in the NT command-window you can always pipe it out to a file by appending e.g. ' > ' to the ' /?'. For example d:\desktop\cmd.exe /? >d:\desktop\cmd-info.txt hope this clarifies it.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (3 of 22), Read 168 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ted Green Date: Monday, February 10, 2003 10:46 AM At 07:55 AM 2/9/2003, you wrote: >Can't remember whether NT has the 'help ' >available but otherwise most of the commands should at >least respond with a syntax help screen to >' /?', without the quotes in both cases. >If there is too much to fit in the NT command-window you >can always pipe it out to a file by appending e.g. >' > ' to the ' /?'. >For example d:\desktop\cmd.exe /? >d:\desktop\cmd-info.txt >hope this clarifies it. Win2000/XP have the "help" command and the 'help ' syntax. It may surprise many people how many new useful commands keep getting added. You can even check filetype associations this way, use PUSHDIR and POPDIR in batch files and much more. Ted.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (4 of 22), Read 149 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Pauli Lindgren Date: Monday, November 03, 2003 01:11 PM Windows NT4 has help-command, too. However, it does not give help for all the commands. I think it only gives help for the commands internal to CMD.EXE. I almost solely use 4NT (the NT version of 4DOS). It is far superior to CMD.EXE. It has a good help that uses the Windows help system instead of displaying the help texts in the DOS box. It, too, only gives help for 4NT internal commands and some general Windows related stuff. Windows help (Start -> Help) does give help for DOS commands, too. For example, type CMD as search string in Index tab. This gives the help for CMD command, and gives an alphabetic index of the commands available. -- Pauli

Topic: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (5 of 22), Read 133 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Saturday, February 14, 2004 04:56 PM Gentlemen, Inspired by your discussion of DOS, I went back to my two favorite DOS programs and tried to run each of them in a DOS box of my Win98. To my great surprise, they did run like a charm. In fact, I think that they run "better" now than in their original environment. More specifically, one of them is a shareware cousin of XTREE and better means it displays 34 lines instead of the old 25 lines. Thanks to Ted again. I did find two old Vedit 28.COM and 34.COM commands. So, when I am in a DOS box first I run 34.COM and after it QFiler. Then, I get 34 lines of directories, minus some overhead. Well, I had to make a slight adjustment, in which other Vedit users might be interested too. I have written a short batch file, 34.BAT, which runs 34.COM. Then, in the MSDOS95.PIF files I have entered this batch file. So, whenever I shell out from Vedit to a DOS, I get 34 lines displayed. PS. I tried to look for written documenation for 34.COM. All that I could find was VGA34.COM in, I believe, the Version 5.2 manual. Thanks, -peter.

Topic: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (6 of 22), Read 129 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ian Binnie Date: Thursday, February 19, 2004 08:04 PM On 4/4/2001 7:29:00 AM, Gary Darsey wrote: >I was wondering if there is >any ready source of >documentation for all the >"DOS" utilities for Windows NT >(like those under >\Winnt\system32 on my some of >my work computers, such as >CMD.EXE). I'm a dinosaur when >it come to keeping up with >these sorts of things, with my >work schedule not allowing me >to keep up as I did way back >in the DOS days. > >-Gary Darsey You should try the following XP Help topics:- Command shell overview Command-line reference A-Z Alternatively check out the Command Line Interface (CLI) script programming tricks from Prof. Timo Salmi For NT/2000/XP with the CMD.EXE interpreter. http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (7 of 22), Read 136 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ted Green Date: Thursday, February 19, 2004 08:30 PM At 08:05 PM 2/19/2004, you wrote: >From: Ian Binnie >You should try the following XP Help topics:- > >Command shell overview > >Command-line reference A-Z You can also just start by typing "help |more" at the NT/2000/XP command prompt. You might be surprised by how many interesting commands have been added over the years. The 2000/XP command and batch) files are much more powerful than the old DOS 6.x. Once you find any interesting command, e.g. FTYPE, type "help fype" to see the detailed help on that command. For example, this command lets you see/change the program associated with each filetype. Ted.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT? (8 of 22), Read 121 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Gary Darsey Date: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 01:36 PM Thanks for all the above posts. I've found some of the ways to get the help on commands that I was looking for, and lots of other interesting things besides. I stumbled across 4NT and TakeCommmand information and find them interesting, but I can't afford to buy them just now (I just replaced my computer at home, an original issue 20-year-old IBM PC-AT) so my funding is a bit thin. Gary Darsey

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (9 of 22), Read 99 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:56 AM On 8/4/2004 1:36:17 PM, Gary Darsey wrote: >Thanks for all the above >posts. Gary, Are you still interested in this question? In any case, I would like to add a footnote to the above discussion, from which I learned a lot. Thanks to a recent suggestion of Ian Binnie, I could write a simple Vedit macro which copies the result of SET /? to a file that I called my.tpl. Here is the macro: System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") I have also replaced the set command by other commands of of my CMD.EXE of my WIN 2000. For example, I got help for the DIR and DOSKEY commands similarly. So, I would have much preferred to use the name cmd_set.tpl instead of my.tpl. In other words, to make it explicit that this file came from the set command which, in turn, came from the cmd command. However, when I did this I got a CAN NOT SHELL OUT, ERROR 2 message from Vedit. In other words, the name of the files that I use is relevant. In case you are wondering why I used the .tpl name for the extension, here is my reason. First, I wanted to avoid conflict with the Vedit help files, so I could not use .hlp. Second, I plan to copy and paste from my "help file" into other Vedit macros. In other words, I want to use it as a template. So, .tpl is a short for template. -peter.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (10 of 22), Read 99 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Christian Ziemski Date: Monday, June 04, 2007 01:54 PM On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:56:00 -0400, Peter Rejto wrote: >Thanks to a recent suggestion of Ian Binnie, I could write a >simple Vedit macro which copies the result of > > SET /? > >to a file that I called my.tpl. Here is the macro: > >System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") Peter: %COMSPEC% already _is_ the "cmd". It's not necessary to use both. In fact you can use "set /?" alone. To be able to use long filenames and spaces in it (shrug..) you have to use quotes. Due to some strange effects it then looks like: System('"set /? > "f:\xxx\long file name.tpl""', DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) - The single quotes are the quotes for VEDIT's command. - The outer double quotes surround the command for CMD.EXE. - And the inner double quotes surround the (long) filename. - The SIMPLE and SUPPRESS options make the shelling-out ~ invisible. There may be an even easier way to do it... Christian - using Windows 2000

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (11 of 22), Read 105 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:38 PM On 6/4/2007 1:54:39 PM, Christian Ziemski wrote: >Peter: > >%COMSPEC% already _is_ the "cmd". >It's not necessary to use both. > >In fact you can use "set /?" alone. > > >To be able to use long filenames and >spaces in it (shrug..) you have >to use quotes. > >Due to some strange effects it then >looks like: > >System('"set /? > "f:\xxx\long file >name.tpl""', DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) > >- The single quotes are the quotes for >VEDIT's command. >- The outer double quotes surround the >command for CMD.EXE. >- And the inner double quotes surround >the (long) filename. > >- The SIMPLE and SUPPRESS options make >the shelling-out ~ invisible. Thanks Christian, and special thanks for explaining the single and double quote conventions. Your suggestions work like a charm. Probably you will not be surprised to learn that with your suggestions, I can use strings like DOSKEY in the filenames. Something I could not do before, Here are the specifics: The first macro, System(' " set /? > "c:\util\cmd_set.tpl" " ', DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) works like a charm. The second macro, System(' " cmd /c set /? > "c:\util\cmd_set.tpl" " ', DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) is functionally equivalent to to the first one. Thanks again, -peter.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (12 of 22), Read 108 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ian Binnie Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 08:41 AM On 6/4/2007 1:54:39 PM, Christian Ziemski wrote: >On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:56:00 -0400, >Peter Rejto wrote: > >>System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") > >Peter: > >%COMSPEC% already _is_ the "cmd". >It's not necessary to use both. > >In fact you can use "set /?" alone. Christian, This was my suggestion because the Run menu does not always allow redirection. http://webboard.vedit.com/read?33348,42 Starting a new shell resolves this problem.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (13 of 22), Read 111 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 01:27 PM On 6/5/2007 8:41:17 AM, Ian Binnie wrote: >>This was my suggestion because the Run >menu does not always allow redirection. > >http://webboard.vedit.com/read?33348,42 > >Starting a new shell resolves this >problem. Ian, Sorry for misquoting you and thanks for clarifying the issue. This is how I see it: The problem of running set /? within Vedit and within Win 2K are two separate problems. The idea of adapting your Win2K suggestion of shelling out to Vedit was totally mine. This is where I slipped. Specifically, I ended up starting 2 new shells instead of 1 and this is where I introduced some new problems. I am interested in each of these two problems. So, a big thank you to Ian for showing me how to do this in Win2K and to Christian for showing me how to do this in Vedit. -peter

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (14 of 22), Read 120 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Christian Ziemski Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 04:02 PM On 6/5/2007 8:41:17 AM, Ian Binnie wrote: >>>System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") > >Christian, >This was my suggestion because the Run menu does not always allow redirection. > >http://webboard.vedit.com/read?33348,42 > >Starting a new shell resolves this problem. Strange effect, really. I didn't know about that. I never used the Start-Run menu for those things. Christian

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (15 of 22), Read 122 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 01:22 AM >On 6/5/2007 8:41:17 AM, Ian Binnie >wrote: > >>System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") >>This was my suggestion because the Run menu does not always allow redirection. >> >>http://webboard.vedit.com/read?33348,42 >> >>Starting a new shell resolves this problem. Ian, I have found another application of your "Starting a new shell resolves this problem." trick. Here are the details: I would like to have a Vedit macro that calls my office telephone. In the good old days of DOS ,I found a very short dialer program, called ATSEND.EXE. The ATSEND documentation allowed me to write a short batch file, which does exactly that. I called this batch file DIAL.BAT. If I am in Vedit and use the System(' "dial.bat" ', DOS) macro in the usual way, then the modem starts to dial. However, the dialing process does not get completed. Now comes your trick of "Starting a new shell resolves this problem." to the rescue. Specifically, if I am in Vedit and use the System(' "cmd /k "dial.bat" " ', DOS) macro, then this macro works like a charm. This sounds like black magic to me. Of course, it is perfectly possible that another macro without your "shelling out" trick would also work. Thanks again, -peter.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (16 of 22), Read 108 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:31 AM On 6/5/2007 4:02:43 PM, Christian Ziemski wrote: >On 6/5/2007 8:41:17 AM, Ian Binnie >wrote: > >>>>System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") >> >>Christian, >>This was my suggestion because the Run menu does not always allow redirection. >> >>http://webboard.vedit.com/read?33348,42 >> >>Starting a new shell resolves this problem. > >Strange effect, really. I didn't know >about that. >I never used the Start-Run menu for >those things. > >Christian > Gentlemen: I am back to Ian's suggestion again. Specifically, I would like to compare the commands System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > c:\util\my.tpl") and System(' " cmd /c set /? > "c:\util\cmd_set.tpl" " ', DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) However, I have a new and important twist. Specifically, I have the new operating system Windows XP x64, the emphasis being on x64. Here are the results of my experiment: The first command works like a charm !. The second command gives an error message. This says, essentially that, MSDOSNTI.PIF can not start since it is not compatible with the Windows 64 bit system. I tried to execute several System("..", DOS) commands and I always came up with the same error message. -peter

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (17 of 22), Read 111 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ian Binnie Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 01:55 AM On 6/11/2008 12:31:36 AM, Peter Rejto wrote: > >I am back to Ian's suggestion again. >Specifically, I would like to compare >the commands > >System("cmd %comspec% /k set /? > >c:\util\my.tpl") > >and > >System(' " cmd /c set /? > >"c:\util\cmd_set.tpl" " ', >DOS+SIMPLE+SUPPRESS) > >However, I have a new and important >twist. Specifically, I have the new >operating system Windows XP x64, the >emphasis being on x64. > >Here are the results of my experiment: >The first command works like a charm !. >The second command gives an error >message. This says, essentially that, > >MSDOSNTI.PIF can not start since it is >not compatible with the Windows 64 bit >system. Peter, I have never used XP64, but I note the PIF refers to %SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE I am unsure whether this is correct for XP64. In XP you can right click on the .pif file, and modify its properties. If this works in XP64 it may help.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (19 of 22), Read 116 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 07:23 PM Ian, Let me back track. Thanks to your suggestion in this thread, read?33453,49, I did find a work around for the Vedit Windows XP 64 issue. Specifically I have replaced the command System("command",DOS+DELETE) by the command System(`cmd %comspec% /c "command"`). This worked for me, at leas for some examples of the "command" . To be on the safe side, I am copying the description of this command in the Vedit on line help. --------------------------------- System("command",DOS+DELETE) Windows: The file MSDOS95C.PIF, MSDOSNTC.PIF or MSDOS31C.PIF is used to start up a DOS box and run the specified command or program. This box runs in a normal window which auto-closes when it is done. VEDIT 6.15 Help ----------------------------------- I wonder whether you do use this Vedit command on your machine? If so, I would appreciate your making the same replacement and see whether it works for you as well ? Thanks again for all your help. -peter

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (20 of 22), Read 140 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ian Binnie Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:23 PM On 6/11/2008 7:23:47 PM, Peter Rejto wrote: >Ian, > >Let me back track. Thanks to >your suggestion in this >thread, >read?33453,49, I did find a >work around for the Vedit >Windows XP 64 issue. > > >Specifically I have replaced >the command > >System("command",DOS+DELETE) > >by the command > >System(`cmd %comspec% /c >"command"`). Firstly, the above contains an unnecessary shell call. I think Christian pointed this out earlier. My example was for use in the Run menu, vedit System already creates a shell. All you need is System(`cmd /c "command"`) OR System(`%comspec% /c "command"`) These are equivalent. The significant thing about these is that they create a new shell which allows you to control the environment (and redirection etc). If you want to see what is actually happening, replace the /c by /k, and the shell will not close on completion - you will need to explicitly close. This can be handy for debugging. Secondly, a System("command",DOS) causes windows to execute ntvdm.exe, which tries to emulate a real mode DOS environment. I found the following (on Wiki) "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (x86-64) ... no longer include the NTVDM so are unable to run 16-bit DOS or Windows applications." Unless you are trying to run a really ancient program, there is no reason to use System(... ,DOS). You are out of luck on xp64 anyway. (I have one pre 1988 database application which needs ntvdm.exe) I am not sure exactly what you wanted me to test. System(`cmd /k dir`) certainly works OK on my computer. In fact I don't use System in vedit. The last time I wrote a macro using this was in 2004, and that was to rename a directory, something I couldn't do from within vedit. #83=System('cmd.exe /C REN "|@(80)" "|@(83)"') // rename directory I write quite a few command mode programs, but execute them externally (usually from ZTreeWin) and call vedit as needed to run macros. You did not tell us what command you are trying to run. It should be possible to run any command which you can run from the command line (unless you run out of environment space - very unlikely on XP). Let me know if I can help. >This worked for me, at leas >for some examples of the >"command" . To be on the safe >side, I am copying the >description of this command >in the Vedit on line help. >------------------------------ >--- >System("command",DOS+DELETE) > >Windows: The file >MSDOS95C.PIF, MSDOSNTC.PIF or >MSDOS31C.PIF is used to start >up a DOS box and run the >specified command or program. >This box runs in a normal >window which auto-closes when >it is done. > >VEDIT 6.15 Help > >------------------------------ >----- > >I wonder whether you do use >this Vedit command on your >machine? If so, I would >appreciate your making the >same replacement and see >whether it works for you as >well ? > >Thanks again for all your >help. > >-peter > > >

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (21 of 22), Read 86 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Peter Rejto Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010 08:47 PM On 6/11/2008 10:23:33 PM, Ian Binnie wrote: >On 6/11/2008 7:23:47 PM, Peter Rejto >wrote: >>Ian, >> >>Let me back track. Thanks to >>your suggestion in this >>thread, >>read?33453,49, I did find a >>work around for the Vedit >>Windows XP 64 issue. >> >> >>Specifically I have replaced >>the command >> >>System("command",DOS+DELETE) >> >>by the command >> >>System(`cmd %comspec% /c >>"command"`). > >Firstly, the above contains an >unnecessary shell call. >I think Christian pointed this out >earlier. My example was for use in the >Run menu, vedit System already creates a >shell. >All you need is System(`cmd /c >"command"`) OR System(`%comspec% /c >"command"`) >These are equivalent. > >The significant thing about these is >that they create a new shell which >allows you to control the environment >(and redirection etc). > >If you want to see what is actually >happening, replace the /c by /k, and the >shell will not close on completion - you >will need to explicitly close. This can >be handy for debugging. > > >Secondly, a System("command",DOS) causes >windows to execute ntvdm.exe, which >tries to emulate a real mode DOS >environment. >I found the following (on Wiki) "Windows >XP Professional x64 Edition (x86-64) ... >no longer include the NTVDM so are >unable to run 16-bit DOS or Windows >applications." > >Unless you are trying to run a really >ancient program, there is no reason to >use System(... ,DOS). >You are out of luck on xp64 anyway. >(I have one pre 1988 database >application which needs ntvdm.exe) > > >Let me know if I can help. > >>This worked for me, at leas >>for some examples of the >>"command" . To be on the safe >>side, I am copying the >>description of this command >>in the Vedit on line help. >>------------------------------ >>--- >>System("command",DOS+DELETE) >> >>Windows: The file >>MSDOS95C.PIF, MSDOSNTC.PIF or >>MSDOS31C.PIF is used to start >>up a DOS box and run the >>specified command or program. >>This box runs in a normal >>window which auto-closes when >>it is done. >> >>VEDIT 6.15 Help Ian, Once again a big thank you for this information. The System("command",DOS) issue came up again. This time it was a Microsoft Update on my office computer. I discovered that my old LATEX.VCS file had such a command. So, when I tried to launch my latex compiler from Vedit, I got the error message: CAN NOT SHELL OUT, ERROR 5. My systems person told me that this Microsoft Update, eliminated 16 bit API programs. So, your explanation was great. Then I found out that Christian and Fritz have also updated LATEX.VCS. Needless to say, the updated file works like a charm. Incidentally, is there a direct way of finding out that MSDOS95C.PIF makes a 16 bit function call ? -peter

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (22 of 22), Read 58 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ian Binnie Date: Monday, March 01, 2010 11:44 PM On 2/28/2010 8:47:42 PM, Peter Rejto wrote: > >Ian, > >Once again a big thank you for this >information. > The System("command",DOS) >issue came up again. This time it was a >Microsoft Update on my office computer. >I discovered that my old LATEX.VCS file >had such a command. So, when I tried to >launch my latex compiler from Vedit, I >got the error message: > >CAN NOT SHELL OUT, ERROR 5. > >My systems person told me that this >Microsoft Update, eliminated 16 bit API >programs. So, your explanation was >great. > >Then I found out that Christian and >Fritz have also updated LATEX.VCS. >Needless to say, the updated file works >like a charm. > >Incidentally, is there a direct way of >finding out that >MSDOS95C.PIF makes a 16 bit function >call ? MSDOS95C.PIF does not "make a 16 bit function call", but is a "Shortcut to MS-DOS Program". Windows (at least 32 bit Windows prior to Vista) associated these files with ntvdm.exe - this is the NT Virtual Dos Machine i.e. a DOS Emulator As I have explained earlier, there is no reason to use a PIF (unless you REALLY need the 16 bit environment) as the NT command shell runs in the 32/64 bit space. Vedit should not be using this to access its pdf User Manuals.

Topic: Re: Documention for 'DOS' utilities for Windows NT (18 of 22), Read 112 times Conf: Other (Not related to VEDIT) From: Ted Green Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:14 AM At 12:32 AM 6/11/2008, you wrote: >MSDOSNTI.PIF can not start since it is not compatible with the Windows 64 bit system. That is a known problem. I don't have a solution now as I have not used Win-XP-64 very much. Ted.