4DOS Quick Information File Version 5.0 -- November 23, 1993 Copyright 1988 - 1993, JP Software Inc., All Rights Reserved. Published by JP Software Inc., P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-3975. This file, 4DOS.INF, is designed to help you understand a little about 4DOS, what it is and what it does, so that you can decide whether you'd like to download it. Much of the information in this file is extracted directly from the full 4DOS manual. You can print this file by COPYing it to your printer with the following command: copy 4dos.inf prn The file already contains form feeds and page footers, so attempting to print it with a program that formats the pages may not work. Page length has been set to 58 lines so the file should print properly on laser printers. Of course you can also view this file in your editor or with a file viewer. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 1 Introduction Welcome, and thanks for considering 4DOS! 4DOS is designed to help you get the most out of your IBM PC or com- patible system. It replaces COMMAND.COM, the command interpreter that comes with all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS. You'll find 4DOS provides a wide variety of capabilities COMMAND.COM can't, ranging from a vastly enhanced DIR command, to point-and-shoot file selection for any command, to the ability to completely redefine your system's commands. Yet 4DOS is fully compatible with COMMAND.COM. 4DOS is a "DOS shell" (a program that gives you access to DOS func- tions and commands), but it's unlike most DOS shells on the market. Virtually all of these shells are designed to isolate the novice user from the DOS command line. 4DOS, on the other hand, is intended to make DOS easier to use and to make you more productive while working at the command line. It provides enhancements to most of the DOS commands, as well as more than 40 new commands. These improvements make 4DOS a much richer and more powerful working environment than COMMAND.COM, without sacrificing the compatibility, flexibility and control you get from working at the command line. If you're tired of the limitations of COMMAND.COM, you'll love 4DOS! 4DOS is distributed electronically as shareware, which means if you've downloaded it from a bulletin board or obtained it from a friend, you can try it before you decide whether you'd like to keep it. Like all shareware, if you do decide to keep 4DOS, you must pay a registration fee. 4DOS is also distributed through normal retail channels. If your favorite software retailer doesn't stock 4DOS, ask them to order it for you from JP Software. The Award-Winning Command Processor for DOS 4DOS was a 1989 finalist for one of the PC software industry's most important awards, a PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence. There were four nominees, and we are proud that 4DOS was among them. 4DOS also was voted a "Best of Shareware 1990" award by PC World, has been featured in PC/Computing's "Best Bets", and has repeatedly made the "top ten" in monthly shareware disk sales statistics from share- ware vendors. In case you're wondering what the reviewers have had to say, here are just a few quotes (we have many more like this!): 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 2 "... adds welcome features to your DOS command line ... 4DOS makes working from the prompt a pleasure" (Craig Ellison, PC Magazine). "The best thing that's happened to DOS since the subdirectory" (John Wolfskill, PC Resource). "Lets you do everything DOS should let you do but doesn't, and gives you up to 4K extra RAM as a bonus" (Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine). "Packs the brawny commands that DOS forgot ... makes entering DOS commands a breeze" (Chris DeVoney, PC/Computing). "Superior replacement for COMMAND.COM ... a sophisticated command processor and batch language" (John Udell, Byte). Downloading 4DOS If you'd like to download 4DOS from the bulletin board or on-line service where you found this file, be sure to download both 4DOS5A.ZIP (or 4DOS50A.ZIP -- the name used depends on what bulletin board or service you've called), which contains part A of 4DOS, and 4DOS5B.ZIP (or 4DOS50B.ZIP), part B. To use these files once you've downloaded them you'll need a decompression program such as PKUNZIP; such programs should be available from the same place where you found this file. Shareware Information 4DOS is a copyrighted program protected by both U.S. and internation- al copyright law. If you obtain 4DOS from a shareware disk vendor, an on-line computer service or bulletin board, a friend or colleague, or another similar source, you will have an unregistered (trial) copy. You may use this copy without charge for a limited period of time under the terms of the 4DOS license agreement. After this time is up, you must register and pay for 4DOS to continue using it. This method of distribution is known as shareware. It allows you to determine whether 4DOS meets your needs before you pay for it. The registration fee for a single copy of 4DOS is $69 including ship- ping to the US and Canada (add $5 for all other countries). Payment of this fee entitles you to: * A disk with the latest version of 4DOS, registered to you. * One copy of the 360-page printed and bound 4DOS user manual and reference guide, plus the 4DOS quick-reference card. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 3 * A downloadable upgrade to the next major release of 4DOS. (Upgrades are available for downloading from a wide variety of sources at no additional charge from JP Software, or may be pur- chased.) * Technical support via electronic mail or telephone. * A subscription to "The Prompt Solution", a newsletter from JP Software. Multi-system licenses are also available; contact JP Software for more information. Association of Shareware Professionals The authors and publisher of 4DOS are members of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP), a group which sets standards for shareware and shareware authors. More information on the ASP and its standards is included in the 4DOS manual. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 4 4DOS Features 4DOS is a complete computing environment that works with all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS from 2.0 to 6.2; with DR-DOS 3.4, 5.0, 6.0 and above; and in OS/2 1.x and 2.0 DOS sessions. It is compatible with virtually all application programs, with Microsoft Windows, and with task switching programs like DESQview and Back & Forth. 4DOS version 5.0 offers full support for the new features of Microsoft's latest DOS release, MS-DOS 6.2. It also includes support for the latest release of IBM OS/2, version 2.1. 4DOS replaces the traditional DOS user interface with a more modern, friendlier, and more powerful one. 4DOS is completely compatible with traditional DOS commands, and adds dozens of new features that aren't available with any version of DOS. Minimal Memory Usage 4DOS can take advantage of extended memory, expanded memory, and memory managers for 80286, 386, and 486 computers that let programs "load high." If you load both 4DOS and the environment "high," 4DOS will use only 256 bytes of base memory, less than any version of the traditional DOS command processor, COMMAND.COM. Online Help 4DOS has complete, full-screen, context-sensitive help for all of its commands and all DOS utilities. The F1 key pops up the help system at any time from the 4DOS prompt. The help system is cross-refer- enced and includes examples. Directory Navigation 4DOS's enhanced CD command lets you specify where to look for subdi- rectories you're changing to. CDD lets you switch drives and direc- tories simultaneously, and the new automatic directory change feature changes directories for you when you type a directory name at the command line. Faster and Better Batch Files 4DOS speeds up traditional DOS batch files, and introduces a new kind of batch file processing that is 5 to 10 times faster than tradition- al batch files as well. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 5 In addition, 4DOS has more than two dozen new batch file commands, and many other enhancements that will make your batch files easier to write and far more powerful. Powerful new "internal variables" and "variable functions" allow you to display menus, test system configu- ration and device status, and manipulate strings and file names with- in your batch files. Command Line Enhancements 4DOS replaces the traditional command line with a much friendlier and more powerful command line environment. Among the features which 4DOS offers are: Command Line Editing: You can use the cursor keys to make cor- rections, in the same way that you would with a text editor. Command History and Recall: 4DOS keeps track of each command you type. You can recall any command and issue it again, or edit it to create a slightly different command. Commands can be re- called one at a time, or you can pop up a window of recently entered commands and choose the one you want. Directory History: Need to return to a directory you used recently? Just pop up the 4DOS directory history window, select a directory, and hit Enter to switch back to it. Automatic Filename Expansion: If you type part of a file or directory name, with or without wildcards, 4DOS will fill in the complete name for you at the touch of a key. Multiple Commands on a Single Line: You can type a series of commands on a single line instead of waiting for each one to finish before you issue the next one. Multiple Filenames: Most 4DOS commands can operate on multiple files at once. For example, you can copy several files at once from your hard drive to drive A with a command like: copy *.wks *.dat *.txt a:\ Date, Time, and SIze Ranges: This powerful capability allows you to select files for processing based on their date or time of last modification, or their size. It can be used with virtually all 4DOS file processing commands (COPY, DEL, DIR, LIST, MOVE, REN, etc.). Point-and-Shoot File Selection: The SELECT command lets you choose files with the cursor keys instead of remembering their names. It gives you a full "point-and-shoot" environment for other 4DOS commands. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 6 Aliases An alias is a command you create, assigned to a name you select or to a key or key combination of your choosing. You can use aliases to rename commands, to set command defaults, and to create new commands that are a combination of other commands. When aliases are combined with the 4DOS multiple command feature, they act like very fast batch files. File Descriptions 4DOS lets you assign a description to each of your files and directories. The descriptions are displayed with the DIR and SELECT commands, and move with their files when you use a COPY, DEL, MOVE, or RENAME command. Descriptions can be up to 40 characters long by defauly, and you can expand this limit to up to 200 characters if you wish. Executable Extensions Executable extensions let you associate a file extension with the program that processes files of that type. For example, you could associate .BAS files with the BASIC interpreter, or .DBF files with dBase or Foxbase. 4DOS runs the appropriate program automatically whenever you type the name of a file that has an extension you have defined as executable. Compatibility You can use 4DOS: * with all monochrome, CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA, PGA, and XGA video systems, with any number of screen rows and columns; * with DOS-compatible networks, including Novell Netware, 3Com 3+, Microsoft LAN Manager, Banyan Vines, and Artisoft LANTastic; * with all popular memory managers and task switchers; * with virtually all commercial applications, utility programs, and memory-resident utilities (TSRs). 4DOS Commands 4DOS has over 80 internal commands, many more than any version of DOS. A few are the same as traditional commands. Many are compati- ble with traditional commands but are enhanced with several addition- al options. The majority are unique to 4DOS. If you have always 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 7 wished that DOS had a command to help in a special situation, you will probably find that command in 4DOS. 4DOS neither replaces nor interferes with external DOS commands like ASSIGN, BACKUP, CHKDSK, DISKCOPY, SUBST, or XCOPY. Once 4DOS is installed, you can continue to use those utilities like you always have. Also, 4DOS has been designed so that it is compatible with virtually all traditional internal commands, even though it enhances many of those commands with additional options and capabilities. Once you have installed 4DOS, you can continue using the commands that you already know and get the same results. The best way to learn the 4DOS commands is to use them and experiment with them. The following lists categorize the available commands by topic and will help you find the ones that you need. System configuration: BREAK CHCP CLS COLOR CTTY DATE FREE HISTORY KEYBD LH LOG MEMORY PROMPT REBOOT SETDOS SWAPPING TIME VER VERIFY VOL File and directory management: ATTRIB COPY DEL DESCRIBE LIST MOVE REN SELECT TRUENAME TYPE Subdirectory management: CD CDD DIR DIRS MD POPD PUSHD RD Input and output: DRAWBOX DRAWHLINE DRAWVLINE ECHO ECHOS INKEY INPUT KEYSTACK SCREEN SCRPUT TEXT VSCRPUT Commands primarily for use in or with batch files and aliases (some work only in batch files; see the individual commands for details): ALIAS BEEP CALL CANCEL DELAY DO ENDLOCAL FOR GLOBAL GOSUB GOTO IF IFF LOADBTM ON PAUSE QUIT REM RETURN SETLOCAL SHIFT TEXT UNALIAS 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 8 Environment and path commands: ESET PATH SET UNSET Other commands: ? EXCEPT EXIT HELP LIST START TEE TIMER Y Most 4DOS commands are either enhanced traditional commands or are entirely new. If you are comfortable using traditional commands, you can switch to 4DOS without making any changes in your habits. But you will be missing a lot of the power of 4DOS's enhancements and new commands unless you take a few minutes to see what's available when you use 4DOS's new features and capabilities. In the lists below we have picked out just a few of the 4DOS commands and described what they do. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it will give you a flavor of what you can accomplish with 4DOS. General commands (useful at the command line and in batch files): ALIAS / UNALIAS: Define aliases for commonly used commands, allowing you to execute a complex series of commands with a few keystrokes or assign the sequence to a single keystroke. ATTRIB: Display or change the file attributes (read-only, hid- den, system, and archive) for files and directories. CDD: Change the current drive and directory simultaneously. COLOR: Set the screen foreground and background colors. COPY: COPY can copy entire subdirectory trees, copy only updated files (where the source is newer than the target), prompt for confirmation before overwriting existing files, and much more. DESCRIBE: Add 40-character descriptions to filenames. The de- scriptions are displayed when using DIR and SELECT. DIR: Display the disk directory with a wide variety of options, including 1, 2, 4, or 5 column display; color code the display by file extensions and attributes; sort by name, extension, descrip- tion, size, or date/time; display subdirectories; display file attributes; and display subtotals only. ESET: Interactively edit environment variables and aliases. EXCEPT: Execute a command except on the specified file(s). 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 9 FREE: Display the total disk space, free space, and space used on one or more disk drives. GLOBAL: Execute a command in the current directory and all of its subdirectories. HELP: Display a pop-up help window for 4DOS internal commands and MS-DOS external commands. LIST: Display a file on the screen. LIST provides forward and backward paging, vertical and horizontal scrolling, text search, and printing. LOG: Keep a disk log of each command executed, with the date and time. MEMORY: Display the amount of total and available DOS, expanded, XMS, and extended memory, and environment space. MOVE: Move files, directories, or directory trees between direc- tories and/or drives, move changed files only, and optionally prompt before overwriting existing files. PUSHD / POPD / DIRS: Use a "directory stack" to change directo- ries, perform some work, and then return to the original directo- ry. RENAME: In addition to renaming files, 4DOS also allows you to rename files to another directory, and to rename directories. SELECT: Perform a command on selected files (using "point-and- shoot" selection). SETDOS: Configure the 4DOS internal parameters, including the default line editing mode (insert or overstrike), the default batch echo mode, the compound command character, the escape char- acter, screen size, and cursor shape. START: Starts a new DOS or OS/2 session if you are running under OS/2 2.1. TIMER: A system stopwatch for timing events, including split times. Batch commands (designed primarily for use in batch files): BEEP: Beep the speaker at a specified frequency and for a speci- fied duration. CANCEL: Terminate nested batch file processing. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 10 DELAY: Wait for a period of time before continuing batch pro- cessing. DO: Perform a loop in a batch file. You can create loops that are based on a counter, or the value of a logical expression (like IF and IFF). Loops can be nested up to 15 levels deep. DRAWBOX / DRAWHLINE / DRAWVLINE: Draw boxes, horizontal, and vertical lines in single or double widths, in your choice of colors. These commands automatically make connectors when cross- ing other lines. GOSUB / RETURN: Call subroutines within a batch file. IF: Many new comparison tests, (including less than, greater than, etc), separate numeric and string tests, and AND and OR operators to combine test conditions. IFF / THEN / ELSEIFF / ELSE / ENDIFF: Allows nested IF / THEN / ELSE tests in batch files and aliases, and supports all of the new IF tests and operators (see above). INPUT / INKEY: Input variables from the keyboard while in a batch file, with an optional timeout period and (for INKEY) an optional list of keystrokes allowed. KEYSTACK: Send keystrokes to a program, as if entered from the keyboard. ON: Control error handling in batch files. ON BREAK specifies a command to execute when Ctrl-Break is pressed; ON ERROR specifies a command to execute when a 4DOS, DOS, or other error occurs. QUIT: Exit the current batch file. SCREEN: Position the cursor and display text. SCRPUT: Position the cursor and display text in specified col- ors. SETLOCAL / ENDLOCAL: Define a local environment within a batch file, saving the original environment, aliases, disk, and direc- tory, and restoring them when finished. TEXT / ENDTEXT: Display a block of text quickly (much faster than ECHO!). 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 11 If you have any questions about 4DOS please contact us in any of the following places: JP Software Phone 617-646-3975 P.O. Box 1470 Fax 617-646-0904 E. Arlington, MA 02174 Orders Only 800-368-8777 USA CompuServe: Technical Support: GO JPSOFT or GO PCVENB, section 10 Mail: 75020,244 (sales / customer service); 75300,1215 (tech support); 75300,210 (other matters) Internet: Customer Service: 75020.244@compuserve.com Technical Support: 75300.1215@compuserve.com Other Matters: 75300.210@compuserve.com BBS (direct): Via Channel 1, Boston, 617-354-5776, 2400 - 14,400 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit. Channel 1 is an independent BBS used as a home base for 4DOS support. It is not owned or operated by JP Software. BBS Network Conferences: ILink SmartNet RIME (PCRelay) FidoNet (mail address 1:130/29.110) 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] 4DOS.INF page 12