Running MS-DOS® 20th Anniversary Edition

Author Van Wolverton Pages 640 Disk N/A Level All Levels Published 07/17/2002 ISBN 9780735618121 Price $29.99 To see this book's discounted price, select a reseller below.	More Information About the Book Table of Contents Sample Chapter Index Related Series About the Author Support: Book & CD Rate this book

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Introduction	xix
PART 1:  GETTING TO KNOW MS-DOS	2
CHAPTER 1  What Is MS-DOS?	5
MS-DOS Is a Program	6
Hardware Makes It Possible	6
Software Makes It Happen	6
MS-DOS Is a Disk Operating System	7
What Can You Do with MS-DOS?	9
Chapter Summary	10
CHAPTER 2  Starting MS-DOS	11
Starting the System	12
The System Prompt	16
Entering MS-DOS Commands	16
Getting Started	18
Keeping Track of the Date and Time	19
Changing the Current Drive	22
Printing What's on the Screen	22
Clearing the Screen	23
Turning the System Off	23
Chapter Summary	24
CHAPTER 3  Getting Your Bearings	25
The Directory	26
Displaying a Directory	28
Some Important Keys	30
Restarting the System	38
A Short Diversion	39
Chapter Summary	40
CHAPTER 4  A Look at Files and Floppy Disks	41
Types of Files	42
How Files Are Named	43
Preparing for the Examples	43
Qualifying a Command	44
Displaying Specific Directory Entries	44
Preparing a Floppy Disk for Use	46
Creating a Text File	48
Some Advanced Features	52
Chapter Summary	56
PART 2:  LEARNING TO USE MS-DOS	58
CHAPTER 5  Managing Your Files	63
The MS-DOS File Commands	65
File Names and Extensions	65
Preparing for the Examples	67
Wildcard Characters	69
Help When You Need It	71
Displaying Directory Entries	74
Displaying a File	77
Making Copies of Files	78
Sending Files to Devices	81
Combining Files	82
Moving Files	83
Deleting Files	83
Changing File Names	86
Comparing Files	88
Printing Files	91
CHAPTER 6  Managing Your Floppy Disks	97
Handling Floppy Disks	99
Backing Up Your Floppy Disks	100
How Information Is Stored On a Floppy Disk	101
Preparing for the Examples	104
Preparing a Floppy Disk for Use	104
Copying a Complete Floppy Disk	108
Comparing Two Floppy Disks	110
Checking the Condition of a Disk	111
Assigning or Changing a Disk's Volume Label	114
Displaying a Disk's Volume Label	115
CHAPTER 7  Managing Your Devices	117
Device Names	119
Preparing for the Examples	120
Checking System Memory with the Mem Command	121
Clearing the Screen	123
Fine-Tuning the Keyboard	123
Controlling the Display	124
Controlling the Printer Width and Spacing	125
Controlling the Serial Communications Port	128
Connecting a Serial Printer	130
Finding Out About Your System	131
Copying from a Device to a File or Another Device	133
Printing Graphics Images	134
Changing the Keyboard Layout	135
CHAPTER 8  A Tree of Files	141
Defining a Subdirectory	142
Preparing for the Examples	143
Creating a Multilevel File Structure	143
Adding More Levels to Your File Structure	150
Managing Your Subdirectories	160
Chapter Summary	172
CHAPTER 9  Managing Your Hard Disk	173
Putting Application Programs on Your Hard Disk	175
Preparing for the Examples	175
Changing the Attributes of a File or a Directory	178
Copying Selected Files	184
Stretching Your Hard Disk	190
Storing Files Efficiently on Disk	199
MS-DOS and Your Hard Disk	201
Chapter Summary	203
CHAPTER 10  Protecting Your Disks and Files	205
Recovering Deleted Files	207
Reformatting and Unformatting Disks	215
Guarding Against Virus Programs	218
Developing a Backup Procedure	224
Backing Up and Restoring Files with MSbackup	224
Backing Up Files with the Backup Command	232
Restoring Files to the Hard Disk with the Restore Command	237
CHAPTER 11  The MS-DOS Shell	241
Starting the Shell	242
Help Is a Keystroke Away	246
The File List	248
The Program List	262
CHAPTER 12  Creating and Editing Files of Text	277
Using the Keyboard and the Mouse	279
Starting Edit	281
Help	281
Entering Lines	285
Adding Text to a File	285
Where's the Margin?	286
Printing a File	287
Saving a File	288
Deleting Text	289
Ending an Editing Session	290
Editing an Existing Text File	290
Searching for a Group of Characters	291
Replacing One Group of Characters with Another	292
Inserting and Overstriking Text	293
Copying from Another File	293
Changing the Screen Display	294
Chapter Summary	295
CHAPTER 13  Taking Control of Your System	297
Redirecting Command Output	299
Redirecting Command Input	300
Filter Commands	300
Preparing for the Examples	300
The Sort Filter Command	302
The Find Filter Command	304
More on Redirecting	307
Connecting Commands with a Pipe	308
Editing an MS-DOS Command with Doskey	310
Entering Multiple Commands with Doskey	313
Chapter Summary	314
CHAPTER 14  Creating Your Own Commands	315
A Batch of What?	316
How MS-DOS Searches for a Command	316
Creating the Sample Files	317
Creating a Batch File	318
Developing Your Own Startup Procedure	323
Some Useful Commands	327
Creating Commands with Doskey	329
CHAPTER 15  Creating Smart Commands	335
Preparing for the Examples	336
Creating an Archive Command	337
Modifying the Sample Batch File	338
Controlling the System Messages	338
Making the System Pause	339
Controlling Which Commands Are Carried Out	340
Changing the Sequence of Commands	342
Dressing Up Your Archive Command	346
Chapter Summary	350
CHAPTER 16  Creating More Smart Commands	351
Preparing for the Examples	352
Commands for Searching Through a File	352
Some Useful Batch Files	357
Four Advanced Batch Commands	361
Some More Useful Batch Files	370
Chapter Sumary	374
CHAPTER 17  Tailoring Your System	375
Defining Your System Configuration	376
Other Configuration Commands	391
Commands for Occasional Use	394
PART 3:  APPENDIXES	400
APPENDIX A  Installing MS-DOS	403
APPENDIX B  Glossary	413
APPENDIX C  MS-DOS Command Reference	427
INDEX	591

Last Updated: August 7, 2002

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