CC004049%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (11/27/85)
From: George S. Musser Jr.
I've hacked out the meaning of most of the CLI commands. If anyone
has any corrections, drop Info-Amiga or me a line. I'll post a
revised version if necessary.
If you type <command> ?, CLI will tell you the syntax of that command.
I omit the command syntax here; generally, it's obvious from the meaning
of the command.
Summary Of CLI Commands
RUN Execute program and offer a new CLI prompt.
(If you execute a program by typing its name, CLI
will wait for the program to end before prompting.)
BREAK n ... Executes appropriate control code in task n.
Defaults to |C.
Say task 2 is ABasiC. BREAK 2 would execute a |C in
ABasiC, halting any BASIC program.
ASSIGN Define location of system 'volumes', such as C:, S:,
DEVS:, LIBS:, FONTS:, and SYSTEM:.
These default to the appropriate directory on the disk
with which you booted up.
This is my favorite CLI command. With ASSIGN, you can
boot up using one disk, and then start using another disk
instead of getting that annoying 'Insert WorkBench disk'
message.
For example, I copy the CLI commands to RAM:, then
ASSIGN C: RAM:. From now on, Intuition will look to
RAM: to find system commands, instead of asking me to
insert the disk with which I booted up.
CD Change directory. A la UNIX.
DATE Set system time/date. Unlike MSDOS, the syntax is quite
strict: You MUST type the 24-hour time, then the date in
26-Nov-85 format.
(Why didn't CBM-Amiga include a hardware clock?
Setting DATE on boot-up is a real annoyance.)
DIR Lists filenames in alphabetical order and in two columns.
ECHO "string" Print string on console.
EDIT Line editor. I prefer ED.
ENDCLI Close current CLI window.
EXECUTE Run executable file. An exec file is a list of CLI
commands, waiting to be used.
FAULT n Display error message corresponding to error code n.
FORMAT Disk format and verify.
INFO Check information on mounted disks.
JOIN x y as z Combine files x and y into z.
LIST List files, file sizes, date and time of last mod, etc.
MAKEDIR Create directory.
PROMPT Redefine CLI prompt to a desired string.
QUIT Exit EXEC file.
RENAME Rename file. Will also take a file into a new directory.
SEARCH Scans ASCII file for specified text.
SORT Sort text file alphanumerically.
WAIT Pause for x seconds, y minutes, or until a given time.
COPY Copy a file or a directory.
To copy all the files in a directory, use COPY C/ TO D ALL.
Single-drive users, beware! COPY seems to have almost
no memory buffering, so COPYing a 2K file may take a dozen
swaps -- or, worse, an infinite number of swaps. (I'm
serious. After 25 swaps for a 2K file, I decided something
was wrong. After rebooting, I found that the file had
COPYed correctly; apparently, COPY doesn't know when it's
done.)
DELETE Annihilate file(s). Here's another of my favorite things:
you can delete up to nine files on a single DELETE line.
DISKCOPY Copy a disk, track by track.
ED Full-screen editor. I'll post ED commands later.
INSTALL Put the system onto a disk. Equivalent to MSDOS's SYS.
LAB <label> Label for SKIP command in EXEC files.
LOADWB Invoke WorkBench. The WorkBench backdrop will appear behind
the CLI window from which LOADWB was typed.
NEWCLI Open a NEWCLI window.
PROTECT Protect or unprotect a file from deletion.
RELABEL Define synonym for a mounted disk, i.e. rename a disk
temporarily.
I like to RELABEL my Graphics Demonstrations disk as G.
IF..ELSE..ENDIF Conditional execution of a group of lines. Be sure to put
the keywords IF, etc. on lines by themselves. ELSE is
optional. Currently, IF supports not, warn, fail, eq, exists.
(I sure wish I could prompt the user and let IF check the
response.)
FAILAT Instruct program to end if the error code equals or exceeds
the parameter.
FILENOTE Add comment to INFO file. Note that you can't do this
from WorkBench, until Amiga fixes the bug.
SKIP label Goto <label>, as defined by LAB. You can only SKIP ahead.
STACK Set stack size. Defaults to 4K-bytes. You need 8K for ABasiC.
TYPE Dump file contents to the console. You can use TYPE on
non-text files, but it usually sets the font to
gibberish, so you have to ENDCLI and get a new CLI.
WHY Ask Amiga why the last program bombed. It generally
won't know, though.
FRAGS List how memory is allocated. This has something to do
with the fact that Amiga allocates memory dynamically.
AVAIL How much memory do we have? This command is better than
the so-called memory meter in WorkBench, because it
also tells you the largest contiguous block of memory.
You could have 1M-byte (sigh) of available memory, but
if it's in 2K chunks, you're sunk. (I've loaded programs
into RAM: and deleted programs from RAM:. The memory
meter said 250K, but I still couldn't run Robo 'cause
the 250K was really two 125K blocks.)
STRIPA Hmm. Maybe it strips off the high bit.
DOWNLOAD Sounds like it'll download programs from a mainframe,
but I don't have a modem yet so I can't check.robert@gitpyr.UUCP (Robert Viduya) (11/29/85)
>CC004049%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (CC004049%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA, <578@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>): > From: George S. Musser Jr. > > TYPE Dump file contents to the console. You can use TYPE on > non-text files, but it usually sets the font to > gibberish, so you have to ENDCLI and get a new CLI. I've found it to be much easier to just type "esc c" (escape followed by a lowercase c). I discovered early on that the console driver on the amiga was based on ANSI's X3.64 and an escape c is essentially a reset-all in X3.64. By the way, an article was recently posted giving all the escape codes that the printer driver understood. Could someone in the know also post the same, but for the console driver? I've figured out most of it (X3.64 references can be handy), but I don't know if I've missed anything or not. robert -- Robert Viduya 01111000 Office of Computing Services Georgia Institute of Technology UUCP: ..gatech!gitpyr!robert ..gatech!gt-oscar!robert ..gatech!gt-felix!robert BITNET: CC100RV @ GITVM1
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (12/01/85)
In article <578@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> CC004049%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA writes: >DATE Set system time/date. Unlike MSDOS, the syntax is quite > strict: You MUST type the 24-hour time, then the date in > 26-Nov-85 format. > (Why didn't CBM-Amiga include a hardware clock? > Setting DATE on boot-up is a real annoyance.) I discovered a couple of 'cute' things about the date command, you can specify the date as 'today' if you only want to change the time, it also understands 'tomorrow', 'yesterday', and all the days of the week. Days of the week will set the date to the date for the NEXT day forward of that name from when the date was before the date change command. I too, prefer a battery backed up clock, but if AT LEAST the date command would update the date somewhere on disk so the next time you boot you have the date as of the last time you set it would make these features more useful. I'd then be able to use the 'date today hh:mm' or 'date tomorrow hh:mm' more often, as now the date gets further away every day because only the preferences utility will update the saved date on disk. (unless someone out there knows of a parameter you can pass 'date' to have it update it's last saved date somehow.) Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd # cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa
biggers@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Mark Biggers) (12/03/85)
In article <974@cadovax.UUCP> keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) writes: > >I discovered a couple of 'cute' things about the date command, you can >... >name from when the date was before the date change command. I too, prefer >a battery backed up clock, but if AT LEAST the date command would update >the date somewhere on disk so the next time you boot you have the date >as of the last time you set it would make these features more useful. >I'd then be able to use the 'date today hh:mm' or 'date tomorrow hh:mm' >... >preferences utility will update the saved date on disk. (unless someone >out there knows of a parameter you can pass 'date' to have it update it's >last saved date somehow.) > >Keith Doyle ># {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd ># cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa Yep, one of the earliest things I discovered about Preferences was that it always wrote a file called 'now' in the root directory when the date was updated. So, before you shut down the Amiga, go to df0: root and type: date >now That should update the 'last' date saved for the system. mark ========================================================================== Mark Biggers New Brunswick, NJ (201) 249-7939 uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!biggers ==========================================================================
jerem@tekgvs.UUCP (Jere Marrs) (12/04/85)
In article <974@cadovax.UUCP> keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) writes: >> (Why didn't CBM-Amiga include a hardware clock? > > I too, prefer >a battery backed up clock, but... > >Keith Doyle There is a real-time clock for the Amiga that has been announced by a company in Texas called "Akron Systems Development" which is battery-backed. It is called "A-Time." It is a calendar also that remembers leap years and such. The price is $39.95 plus shpg. For in- formation, contact: Harry Evangelou Akron Systems Development Box 6408 Beaumont, TX 77705 (409)833-2686 I found this on CompuServe and know nothing more than is given here. I'm not connected to this company in any way. They are aparently shipping now. Jere M. Marrs Tektronix, Inc. Beaverton, Oregon tektronix!tekgvs!jerem