Command Changes

What's New - Command Changes 

        »  ACTIVATE:  This new command switches to another window. 

        »  ATTRIB:  Added the /E switch to disable display of non-fatal 
           errors.  Also, ATTRIB now allows underscores in the attribute 
           string, so that you can get a result from the %@ATTRIB variable 
           function and feed it directly to the ATTRIB command. 

        »  CD and CDD:  Now support extended directory searches, which 
           allow you to change to a directory anywhere on your system by 
           entering only part of its name.  The CDD /S switch builds the 
           extended directory search database.  Extended directory 
           searches mmust be explicitly enabled before you can use them. 
            See Directory Navigation for complete details. 

        »  CDD:  Added the /A switch to display the current directory for 
           all existing and ready drives from C: to Z:. 

        »  CHCP:  Changed to only affect the current process and its 
           children, as in CMD.EXE. 

        »  COPY:  Added several switches: 

           /E   Disable display of non-fatal errors. 
           /K   Preserve read-only attributes during a COPY. 
           /X   Clear the archive bit from the source file after a 
                successful copy. 
           /Z   Overwrite read-only target files. 
 »COPY:  When copying from a FAT drive to an HPFS drive, COPY will now use 
 the .LONGNAME extended attribute of the source file (if available) to 
 determine the long name.  When copying from HPFS to FAT, COPY sets the 
 .LONGNAME attribute if possible, to preserve the long name. »DEL:  Added 
 two switches: 

           /E   Disable display of non-fatal errors. 
           /W   Clear the file to 0's before deleting it. 
 »DIR:  Added or modified several of the DIR switches: 

           /2   Now forces the use of truncated names on HPFS drives. 
           /4   Now forces the use of truncated names on HPFS drives, and 
                displays files between 1 and 9.9 Mb in tenths (i.e., 
                "2.4M"). 
           /G   (New) Displays the allocated size instead of the file 
                size. 
           /W   Now forces the use of truncated names on HPFS drives. 
 »DIRHISTORY:  This new command has the same syntax as HISTORY, but it 
 modifies the directory history. »DO:  Added two new DO loop types: 

        *   "DO x IN filename" retrieves each matching filename from a 
            wildcard spec and inserts the value into the variable. 
        *   "DO x IN @filename" retrieves each line in the file and 
            inserts it into the variable. 
 »ECHOERR and ECHOSERR:  These new commands are like ECHO and ECHOS, but 
 output goes to the standard error device instead of standard output. 
 »ENDLOCAL:  To aid in making batch files portable, SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL 
 now save and restore the command separator, escape character, parameter 
 character, and decimal and thousands separators. »FFIND:  Added two new 
 switches: 

           /I   Do a literal match even if the text search string contains 
                wildcard characters. 
           /R   Start searching for text from the end backwards. 
 

 Also, the /X switch will now display the offset in both hex and decimal. 
 »FOR:  Added several new switches for compatibility with Windows NT 4.0's 
 CMD.EXE; see the command reference information for complete details. 
 »GOTO:  Added support for Windows NT 4.0's "GOTO :EOF" -- If there is no 
 ":EOF" label, GOTO ends the current batch file (equivalent to a QUIT). 
 »IF / IFF:  These commands now support nested conditional tests, with 
 parentheses, e.g.: 

 
         if  (%a == 1 .or. %b == 2) .and. %c == 3 echo something
 

 See the command reference information for complete syntax rules. »Added a 
 new "IF DEFINED varname" test, which succeeds if the specified variable 
 exists in the environment.  This is included for compatibility with 
 Windows NT 4.0's CMD.EXE, and is the same as a test like: 

 
         if  "%varname" ne "" ...
 

 »Changed the comparison tests to accept a leading decimal separator as a 
 numeric character, provided the remainder of the string is numeric and 
 does not contain additional decimal characters. »KEYSTACK:  This new 
 command allows you to pass keystrokes to PM and VIO windowed applications 
 (but not to DOS apps or VIO full-screen sessions). »LIST:  Added a range 
 of enhancements, including: 

        *   Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn will go to the previous and next file 
            in the current group, respectively. 

        *   Ctrl-F searches backwards for a text string; Ctrl-N repeats 
            the last search, searching backwards. 

        *   Matching strings on the first page are now highlighted after a 
            search. 

        *   When piping output to LIST in most cases you no longer need 
            the /S switch; for example, to view DIR's output in LIST you 
            can now use: 

            
                    dir  | list
            

            Also, added three new switches: 

           /I   Ignore case in a /T search. 
           /R   The search initiated by /T goes backwards from the end of 
                the file. 
           /T   Search for text when LIST starts. 
 »MD:  Added the /N switch to create a directory without updating the 
 extended directory search database (useful for temporary directories). 
 »MOVE:  Added the /E switch to disable display of non-fatal errors. 
 »MOVE:  When moving files from a FAT drive to an HPFS drive, MOVE will 
 now use the .LONGNAME extended attribute of the source file (if 
 available) to determine the long name.  When moving files from HPFS to 
 FAT, MOVE sets the .LONGNAME attribute if possible, to preserve the long 
 name. »OPTION:  This new command can be used for two purposes.  When 
 invoked without parameters, it loads configuration dialogs which adjust 
 most commonly-used settings in the .INI file.  The dialogs provide a 
 convenient method of adjusting configuration without manually editing the 
 .INI file.  OPTION can also be used to change specific settings on an 
 individual basis with the OPTION Name=value ... syntax; see the command 
 for complete details. »PROMPT:  Added the $+ metacharacter, which 
 displays one + for each PUSHD level. »REN / RENAME:  Added the /E switch 
 to disable display of non-fatal errors. »RETURN:  Now accepts an optional 
 argument for the errorlevel to return.  The errorlevel can be tested with 
 %? or IF ERRORLEVEL. »SCREEN, SCRPUT, and VSCRPUT:  If you specify 999 
 for the row, the text will be centered vertically; if you specify 999 for 
 the column, the text will be centered horizontally. »SELECT:  You can now 
 type characters from the start of a filename and the selection bar will 
 jump to the first matching name.  Due to this change, the key to popup 
 LIST on the currently selected file has been changed from L to ^L.  Also, 
 added the /T:acw switch to select the date and time to use for display 
 and sorting on HPFS drives. »SETLOCAL:  To aid in making batch files 
 portable, SETLOCAL now saves the command separator, escape character, 
 parameter character, and decimal and thousands separators; ENDLOCAL 
 restores them. »SHIFT:  The new "/n" argument will start the shift at the 
 specified argument -- i.e., "shift /2" moves %3 to %2, %4 to %3, etc. 
 »START:  Added /LD for a local directory history list. »START:  Added 
 support for the (undocumented) Warp 4 CMD.EXE "DosSetting.xxx=yyy" 
 environment variables to specify settings for DOS sessions. »SWITCH: 
  This new command provides a C-like switch construct for batch files. 
  SWITCH scans each CASE statement looking for a matching value; if it 
 finds one it executes the block of code inside that CASE statement, and 
 then jumps to the end of the switch block (ENDSWITCH).  If no CASE 
 statement matches, SWITCH will execute the code in the (optional) DEFAULT 
 block. »TITLE:  This new command changes the CMD.EXE window title for 
 windowed sessions (it is not effective in full-screen sessions). »TOUCH: 
  This new command changes the date and/or time for a file or files.  You 
 can set a specified date and time or use the current system clock, and 
 you can optionally change the last access / creation date and time fields 
 on HPFS drives. »TREE:  This new command displays a graphical directory 
 tree using either line-drawing or ASCII characters.  It can also 
 optionally display file names, dates, times, and sizes. »UNALIAS:  Added 
 the /R switch to read a file of aliases to remove. »UNSET:  Added the /R 
 switch to read a file of variables to remove. 

 3.01  »   FFIND:  Added support for piping into FFIND.  You can either 
           specify CON for the filename, or if no filename is specified 
           FFIND will detect whether STDIN is a pipe and use that. 

 3.01  »   TOUCH:  /T[acw] and /D[acw] now default to the current date and 
           time.  Previously when the "a", "c", or "w" was specified the 
           date or time had to be specified also. 

 3.02  »   CD and CDD:  Added the /N switch to disable extended directory 
           searches and the change directory popup window (intended 
           primarily for use in batch files).