              ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
              │  This help contains the following chapters :  │
              │                                               │
              │        1. Introduction                        │
              │        2. How to use UDEL ?                   │
              │        3. Examples                            │
              │        4. Default options                     │
              │        5. UDEL limits                         │
              └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘


──────────────────────────── 1. INTRODUCTION ─────────────────────────────────


UDEL (the Ultimate DELete command) will be a component of UTOOLS (the Ultimate
TOOLS) which will contain the following four tools :

UCD    Intelligent directory change that works between disks/partitions and
       whitout having to give a complete path.
UCOPY  File and/or directory copy with several selection options. When the des-
       tination disk is a floppy diskette,  UCOPY is able to split files on se-
       veral diskettes if necessary and may restore only designated files.
UDEL   Files/Directories deletion with numerous options (see below). Note that
       without any option, UDEL works like the DEL command.
UDIR   File list with numerous selection options (date, size, type, ...) and
       usable like a more powerful WHERE.

              ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
              │  IMPORTANT NOTE :                             │
              │                                               │
              │  Today (08/01/91) UDEL is the unique UTOOL    │
              │  really available. Other components will be   │
              │  distributed as soon as they will be avai-    │
              │  lable.                                       │
              └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘



UDEL is distributed as shareware, which means if you've downloaded it from a
bulletin board or obtained it from a friend, you can try it out before you
decide whether you'd like to keep it.  Like all shareware, if you do decide to
keep UDEL, you must pay a registration fee.

UDEL is a copyrighted program protected by both international and U.S. copy-
right law.  If you obtained UDEL from an on-line computer service or bulletin
board, a friend or colleague, or another similar source, you have an unregis-
tered (trial) copy.  You are authorized to use this copy without charge for a
limited period of time (One month).  After this time is up, you must register
and pay for UDEL to continue using it.

You may freely give your copy of UDEL but without discarding or modifiing any
of the files in the package which MUST contain :

          README.TXT       An introduction english text file
          MELIRE.TXT       An introduction french text file
          UDEL.EXE         DOS Executable file
          UDELW.EXE        Windows Executable file
          UDEL_END.HLP     English DOS help file
          UDEL_FRD.HLP     French DOS help file
          UDEL_ENW.HLP     English Windows help file
          UDEL_EN.CFG      English configuration file (may be renamed UDEL.CFG)
          UDEL_FR.CFG      French configuration file (may be renamed UDEL.CFG)


The registration fee for a single copy of both versions UDEL is $20 (or 120 FF).
Corporate licenses are available. Please, contact us.

Payment of this fee entitles you to :

∙ A disk with the latest version of UDEL, registered to you.
∙ A complete documentation file ready to print.
∙ A free upgrade to the next major version of UDEL.  Future upgrades will be
  available for downloading from different sources ; if you do not have a
  modem there will be a minimal processing charge ($5 including shipping) to
  obtain an upgrade on diskette.



Why are these tools modestly called Ultimate Tools ?

First, we wanted to call them YADEL (Yet Another DELete command), YADIR, YACOPY
and YACD (As you can see, these names are a little bit less pretentious).
But these names are too long to be efficiently and rapidly typed. And the key-
board layout is not adapted to a fast typing of the three consecutive letters
Y, A and D.
Besides, the name YATOOLS for the complete package didn't suit to us.
That's why, after a long time of reflexion (maybe about 2 seconds), we humbly
decided to call our tools the 'Ultimate' tools, because we did not see so
powerful tools on the freeware or shareware market until now and wa are sure
that it would be impossible to write better tools like these, now. ;-)


If you like UDEL and decide to pay your fee, please send it to :

        GREEN Informatique
        ATTN : Mr. Georges PLANELLES
        Rue du Tour de l'Eau
        ZI de Champ Roman
        F-38400 ST MARTIN D'HERES
        FRANCE
        Fax : (33) 76.44.34.50

And please, don't forget to give the following informations :

        - Your complete address,
        - Version number of your copy of UDEL.
        - Diskette format desired.

For outside Europe users, if you want a fast delivery via air mail (instead
of surface mail - may last one or two monthes), please add $3.


Every remark or suggestion or bug report about UDEL will be welcome.



─────────────────────────── 2. HOW TO USE UDEL ? ─────────────────────────────


What is UDEL ?

UDEL allow you to select and delete files AND directories across disks or
partitions if desired, all in one command.
Several file specifications are allowed on the same command line.
Several options allow you to select with precision which files to delete.
UDEL may also only list the selected files acting like a more powerful WHERE.

                   This command may be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. As an example, when
 ┌────────────┐    no default option is defined, the command UDEL /R /X \*.*
 │ BE CAREFUL │    deletes ALL the files AND ALL the directories on ALL the
 └────────────┘    mounted disks or partitions without asking for confirmation
                   (incredible, isn't it ? Yes, but fast and efficient ! I hope
                    you have a recent backup)

UDEL Syntax :

      UDEL [[-|/<Options>] [<Parameters>] [<File Spec.>] ...] ...

Options must allways be preceded by a '-' or '/' sign. Those options that must
not be followed by a parameter may be combined (/ABC, for example).
Some options must be followed by one parameter (date or file name). In that
case, the following parameter in the command line is supposed to be the awaited
parameter.
Most options act like a toggle : If a default option is defined (See UDEL /I),
the same option ine the command line toggles the corresponding default option ;
Each occurence of the option on the command line toggles the previous state of
the option.

Note that UDEL without any option acts like the DOS 3.x or 4.x DEL command.

Available options :

- *NW* stands for : Feature not available in the Windows version -

/?  Help in english or french, depending on the default language
/A  [A]ide (Help in french) (*NW*).
/C  [C]onfirm before each deletion of a file or a directory
/D  Confirm only before each deletion of a [D]irectory
/F  The list of files to be deleted is in the following [F]ile name (*NW*).
/H  [H]elp (Help in english !)
/K  [K]eepDir - Do not delete directories, only files
/I  [I]nstall default options
/L  Only [L]ist files and directories without deleting them
/N  [N]ewer - Delete only files which have been modified since the following
    date (MMDDYY if language is english, DDMMYY if french)
/O  [O]lder - Delete only files which have not been modified since the follo-
    wing date
/P  [P]aginate the list of deleted files (if /L or /V option) (*NW*)
/R  [R]ecursevely delete files in sub-directories of the current or designated
    directory
/S  Delete also [S]pecial files (invisible, system or read-only)
/V  [V]erbose - List all deleted files and directories.
/X  Repeat deletion across [X] all disks or partitions (except for floppies).
/Z  [Z]ero - Rewrite file with zeroes before deletion. This action prevent the
    undelete function of some popular tools like PCTOOLS(tm).
/1  Delete Recursiveley but only from the first [1] level of the current tree
    (see below for more explanations).



────────────────────────────── 3. EXAMPLES ───────────────────────────────────


Explanations for these examples are given supposing that no default option
is installed with the UDEL /I command.


UDEL *.BAK
Deletes all the .BAK files in the current directory.

UDEL /R *.BAK
Deletes all the .BAK files and directories in the current directory and all
sub-directories of the current directory.

UDEL /R \*.BAK
Deletes all the .BAK files and directories in the current partition/disk.

UDEL /R /X \*.BAK
Deletes all the .BAK files and directories in all directories of all the mounted
disks/partitions.

UDEL /R /X D:\*.BAK
Deletes all the .BAK files and directories in the D: disk/partition (note that
the unit specification D: supersedes the /X option).

UDEL -RXL \*.BAK
Lists all the .BAK files in all the mounted disks/partitions without deleting
them (The /X option works only with file specs of the form '\<file spec>'
without any drive spec. or subdirectories).

UDEL -RV -O 072290 *.BAK *.OLD *.SAV
Deletes and lists all the .BAK, .OLD and .SAV files in the current directory
and in all the sub-directories if they don't have been modified since 07/22/90

UDEL /RV \*.BAK /R \*.OLD /RV \*.SAV
1. Deletes and lists all the .BAK files in the current disk/partition
2. Deletes and lists all the .OLD files in the root directory of the current
   disk/partition (note that the second /R option toggles the first one)
3. Deletes and does not list all the .SAV files in the current disk/partition
   (note that the third /R option toggles the second one and the second /V
   option toggle the first one)

UDEL -RV -F LIST.DEL
Recursively deletes and lists all the files and directories which specifications
are founded in the text file LIST.DEL (This file must be a text file with only
one file specification on each line).


IMPORTANT NOTE :
--------------

With the /R option, if \AAA\BBB and \AAA\CCC\BBB subdirectories are present in
the current drive (same BBB name, but not at the same level in the tree), the
following commands :

    'UDEL /R \AAA\BBB' or
    'UDEL /R BBB' if the current directory is \AAA

will delete both BBB subdirectories in the tree because all subdirectories of
AAA will be scanned, not only the \AAA\BBB one.
This may be annoying if not wanted.

The /1 option (which works with the /R option) tells UDEL to scan only from
the first level of subdirectories.

The command :

    'UDEL /R /1 \AAA\BBB'

will destroy the complete sub-tree under \AAA\BBB (BBB included), but NOT other
BBB subdirectories.


─────────────────────────── 4. DEFAULT OPTIONS ───────────────────────────────


The UDEL /I command allow you to define some default options, that is to say
options it is not necessary to repeat in the UDEL command line each time you
use it.
These default options are saved in the UDEL.CFG file which is in the same
directory as UDEL.EXE.

Available default options are :

/R  Recursive mode
/V  Verbose mode
/C  Confirm each file/directory deletion
/D  Confirm only each directory deletion
/K  Do not delete directories, only files
/Z  Rewrite files with zeroes before deleting
/S  Delete invisible and read-only files
/X  Delete across mounted disks/partitions
/P  Paginate list of deleted files/directories (if /V or /L option)
/L  Only list files without deletion
/1  Delete recursively from the first level only

Besides, it is possible to indicate which language to use for UDEL messages and
UDEL help (english or french - sorry, the english version is not a very good
one and there is no german or spanish version available !) and which default
answer must UDEL propose in case of confirmation.


When default options are installed, you must NOT repeat them on the command line
(remember that an option toggles the state of the last same option). In fact,
you must use the option if you do want to toggle it.

In verbose mode, default options are repeted embedded in '[]' characters on the
first line of the screen.

Example :
IF the /L option is a default one, if you really want to delete a file, you
must use a UDEL /L command to toggle the /L default option.


───────────────────────────── 5. UDEL LIMITS ─────────────────────────────────


UDEL is NOT able to delete read-only directories.
"But what can be the use of such a read-only directory ?" could you say.
An example of such a directory is the protection directory of Excel 2.x (in the
french version). This directory is also invisible. No one has to create a
file in this directory, only Excel has to control that this directory exists
and is invisible and is read-only.


──────────────────────────────── LAST WORDS ──────────────────────────────────


To english readers: If you have read this text before it has been corrected
by somebody who really speaks english, I think you have understood that english
is not my native language.
Be that as it may, I hope you have also understood this help (*) even if you
would'nt have written it exactly like it was ...

(*) That is to say I hope you do not need help to read this help !


──────────────────────────── END OF ENGLISH HELP ─────────────────────────────
