leisner.wbst139@xerox.com (02/24/91)
I was an extensive user of Ms-Dos and tried to make my Ms-Dos machines look like Unix machines (as much as possible). The DOS operating system takes forward or backward slashes as path delimiters. There's a switchar command to configure command.com (or DOS tools or whoever looks at this). Some applications takes only backward slashes, some take either one. I also ran join on a drive to get /a instead of a: (no vendors seem to be able to handle this with their install scripts or programs). marty (Knowledge is useful in the Information Age) (I hate slow, non-intuitive non-creative computer systems) ARPA: leisner.wbst139@xerox.com NS: leisner:wbst139:xerox UUCP: hplabs!arisia!leisner
dwhite@dsys.ncsl.nist.gov (Doug White) (02/25/91)
The easist way to keep some sanity when working in both the unix & dos worlds is to take advantage of the dos command "switch". dos defaults to using the backslash "\" for path name delimitation and the slash "/" as the switch or option delimiter (instead of the hyphen "-" that we know and love). the command "switch -" in dos will let you use the hyphen for command line options, and the regular slash for path names in most cases. sometimes the dos applications themselves are assuming that the switch chracter will be a slash and bomb. I get around this by putting a directory /localbat first in my dos path, where the contents are dos batch files that switch the switch automatically and call the application. for example: to start wordperfect (which bombs with the wrong switch) create "wp.bat" in /localbat with (roughly) these contents- switch / wp.exe %1 %2 %3 %4 switch - if /localbat is first in the path (or ahead of the directory which contains wp.exe), this batch file will set the switch to the (argh) default, call the executable and pass command line options, then return the switch back to a hyphen. check out "switch" , "echo" , and parameter passing in the dos manual. (oooh, there's an oxymoron!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Douglas White National Institute of Standards & Technology Bldg. 225, Rm A216 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 ----------------- DISCLAIMER ------------------ dwhite@dsys.ncsl.nist.gov :) "The opinions contained herein are not Voice: (301) 975-2182 :) neccessarily NIST's, not neccessarily mine, FAX: (301) 590-0932 :) and probably not neccessary."