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╔════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ THE DIRECTORY DICER (version 1.1) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════╝ Copyright 1990 by A. Preston Moser This program is being bundled with DoTree, a command executor. While DoTree is a public domain program, DI.COM is not. DI.COM is a Charware program with proceeds going to The Hunger Project. See TERMS AND CONDITIONS below. SETUP To set up the Directory Dicer, simply place the DI.COM file in one of the directories in the computer's PATH. (That is, one of the directories named in the path command in the autoexec.bat file.) Putting this program in the first directory listed in your path command will increase the access speed. In my CONFIG.SYS file I set up a RAMDRIVE. I then have my AUTOEXEC.BAT file copy my most often used utility programs into the Ramdrive, and I make the Ramdrive the first directory in my path command. This speeds things up and lessens the strain on the hard drive. GETTING STARTED At any time when you would normally type DIR to get a listing of the files in a directory, instead, type DI. (That's one less letter you'll have to type). You will find that the directory is listed much the same way that it is with DIR with a few notable exceptions: 1) All subdirectories will be listed first, and in alphabetical order. 2) All of the files will be listed (also in alphabetical order). 3) The display pauses after each screenful instead of scrolling off the screen before it can be read. 4) Pressing ESC will cause the program to exit to DOS immediately (unless it is executing a command from the DOS shell, but more on that later.) 5) The list of filenames will include commas in the file size number for greater readability. 6) Information about whether the file is Read-only, Archived, System, or Hidden is given at the right side of the listing. 7) After all of the files have been listed, the program gives the sum of the file sizes in addition to how many files were found and how much free space remains. So far, so good, but wait! There's much more! SORTING OPTIONS By default, all files will be listed alphabetically by filename. You can tell the program to list the files sorted by Size, Date and time, Extension, or you can have the files Unsorted. This is done by adding a "/S", "/D", "/E", or "/U" (respectively) after the command. Adding "/R" either by itself, or with one of the other sort options, will Reverse the order in which the files are displayed. DOUBLE DIRECTORY DISPLAY If you give the program the name of two directories (separated by a space,) it will print both directories side by side for easy comparison. Thus, entering "DI . \/d/r" will cause the current directory and the root directory to be displayed side by side, sorted by Date and time, with the newest files listed at the top. (Note that there must be a space between the two directory names, but there doesn`t have to be a space between the second directory name and the options.) Page 3 USING SIGNS The DI program can be used to compare two directories and to list the files in the first directory for which there is a matching filename in the second directory. If, for instance, there were two directories containing the following files: Directory #1 - C:\TEXT LETR11.TXT 3,421 bytes Jan. 14, 1988 1:30p .A.. RESP01.TXT 5,123 bytes Jan. 27, 1988 11:15a .A.. NOTE_2.DOC 23,332 bytes Sep. 15, 1989 4:20p RA.. PROG_NOT.DOC 1,462 bytes Mar. 27, 1987 2:15p .... MYNOTES.TXT 7,878 bytes Feb. 8, 1990 9:21a .A.. READ.ME 2,731 bytes Apr. 22, 1986 12:01a .A.. Directory #2 - C:\WPDOC LETR22.TXT 17,899 bytes Aug. 7, 1988 12:01a .A.. READ.ME 47,592 bytes July 4, 1987 10:36a .A.. LETR11.TXT 3,421 bytes Jan. 14 1988 1:30p .A.. RESP01.TXT 8,432 bytes Feb. 2, 1988 3:14p .A.. PROG_NOT.DOC 1,462 bytes Mar. 27, 1987 2:15p RA.. ... And you were to enter the command "DI \TEXT = \WPDOC" while you were in the "C:\NOTES" directory, the following files would be listed: LETR11.TXT 3,421 bytes Jan. 14, 1988 1:30p .A.. PROG_NOT.DOC 1,462 bytes Mar. 27, 1987 2:15p .... READ.ME 2,731 bytes Apr. 22, 1986 12:01a .A.. RESP01.TXT 5,123 bytes Jan. 27, 1988 11:15a .A.. As you can see, those files with the same name were listed (in alphabetical order). If you enter the command "DI \TEXT - \WPDOC", (read that "TEXT directory MINUS the WPDOC directory") then the files listed would be those files in the first directory for which there were no matching filenames in the second directory. In our example the results would be: MYNOTES.TXT 7,878 bytes Feb. 8, 1990 9:21a .A.. NOTE_2.DOC 23,332 bytes Sep. 15, 1989 4:20p RA.. Notice that LETR22.TXT would not be printed even though it is in the second directory but not the first. Only files from the first directory will be printed. Page 4 There are two options that work with the "=" sign. They are "/M" and "/N". If you enter the command "DI \TEXT = \WPDOC /m", you will get those files whose names, dates, times, and sizes all Match exactly. For our example you would get: LETR11.TXT 3,421 bytes Jan. 14 1988 1:30p .A.. PROG_NOT.DOC 1,462 bytes Mar. 27, 1987 2:15p .... Thus, the "/M" option (M for Match) will only pass those files that APPEAR to be identical. The DI program does not compare the data in the files, it only compares their directory listings. Furthermore, the file's attributes (Read only, Archive, System, and Hidden) are not compared. Entering the command "DI \TEXT = \WPDOC /N" causes the following files to be named: RESP01.TXT 5,123 bytes Jan. 27, 1988 11:15a .A.. READ.ME 2,731 bytes Apr. 22, 1986 12:01a .A.. That is, those files with matching filenames whose date, time, OR size do Not match (/N is for Not match) will be listed. It should be noted that two files that are created a few seconds apart, but within the same minute will not have the same date and time number even though they appear the same when listed with DI or DIR. For, while the DIR command in DOS or the DI program show the time in hours and minutes, the actual number that is stored includes seconds in two second increments. THE ".DIR" FILE So far we have discussed two of the three possible signs ("=" & "-".) There is one more sign that has not been mentioned, namely the "}", or right brace. To use this sign with the example above we might enter the command "DI \TEXT } TEXTFILS". To do so would create a file named TEXTFILS.DIR which would contain all of the directory information for each of the files in the C:\TEXT. The length of the file would be the number of files in the directory * 22. The file that was created could then be used as the second directory in subsequent DI commands. For instance, three weeks after creating the TEXTFILS.DIR file you could enter the command "DI \TEXT = TEXTFILS /n" and you would see a list of any files that had been changed in the last three weeks. (It would not, however, mention any files that had been deleted.) If you suspected that any files had been deleted, you could enter the command "DI \TEXT TEXTFILS" and you would see the files from the \TEXT directory and the TEXTFILS.DIR file displayed side by side. There is another way of viewing the data that bears mentioning now. In our example above, if we had entered the command as "DI \TEXT TEXTFILS /M" then the files would have been listed side by side, but they would have been staggered according to the sort criterion, with files that had the same name (when sorting alphabetically) side by side. In the first example, I mentioned that we were issuing the command from the C:\NOTES directory. If that were the case when we created the TEXTFILS.DIR file in the example above, then the TEXTFILS.DIR file would have been placed in the C:\NOTES directory, and we would have had to run the comparisons from the same directory, or made the command look like "DI \TEXT = \NOTES\TEXTFILS/n". Page 5 The ".DIR" files created by the DI program cannot easily be read by a normal text editor or word processor, because the file contains numbers that are in binary format instead of ASCII text format. Furthermore, the files do not contain carriage returns. Consequently, to a text editor or a word processor, all of the data will appear to be on one very long line. If you would like to be able to read the list of filenames, you can create the file using the command "DI \TEXT } TEXTFILS /T". The "/T" option (T for Text mode) causes all of the numerical data in the file being created to be replaced by spaces and a final carriage return. The resulting file will have the same length as the file created without the "/T" option, but you should have no trouble reading it with a text editor or the DOS TYPE command. The .DIR file in text format can still be used by the DI program, but the /M and /N features will no longer work. If you wish to edit a text mode .DIR file, you should do so VERY CAREFULLY. In order for the file to still be usable by the DI program, the number of spaces after each filename must be maintained. Each line of the text mode .DIR file should contain the filename in upper case letters followed by spaces and a carriage return. The number of spaces added to the number of characters in the filename should equal 20. The "}" sign can also be used to add more files on to the end of an existing .DIR file, however, the program will not check for duplication of filenames in the .DIR file. Adding files to a .DIR file with the /T option will cause all of the files in the .DIR file to be converted to the text mode. Once a .DIR file has been created in text mode or converted to text mode, all files that are later added to that file will be added in text mode whether a /t option is given or not. THE EXECUTE OPTION Perhaps the most powerful function of the DI program is the "/X" option. An example of its use is "DI \TEXT = \WPDOC /XCOPY TEXT\%1 A:\". In this example, those files in the \TEXT directory that are also named in the \WPDOC directory will be printed. After each file is printed, the command "COPY TEXT\FILENAME.EXT A:\" will be executed with the name of each file in the place of the "%1". Therefore, all of those files listed would also be copied to the A: drive. The "%1" becomes the complete filename with the period and the extension. If "%2" is used, it will become the first part of the filename, minus the period and the extension. If a "%3" is used, it will become the files extension, minus the first part of the filename and the period. A simple way to test this is to create a batch file named DITEST.BAT that contains the following commands: ECHO OFF ECHO This program tests how DI.COM passes filenames ECHO The full filename is %1 ECHO The filename minus the extension is %2 ECHO The extension of the filename is %3 ECHO Press CTRL-BREAK to exit this test program PAUSE A batch file named DITEST.BAT may already be included with this file. Then enter the command "DI /X DITEST %1 %2 %3" to see DI's /X function in action. I have noticed that if I try to run the DI program from a batch file, I am unable to include the "=" sign. This is because the batch file will not pass the equal sign to the DI program as an argument. Page 6 The DI program employs special redirection characters. If you wanted to append some text to the end of a number of files, you could use DI to accomplish the task. Hovever, if you entered the command, "DI \TEXT /X TYPE ADDITION.TXT >> \TEXT\%1" in order to have ADDITION.TXT appended to all of the files in the \TEXT directory , DOS would intercept the ">> \TEXT\%1", and execute the command "DI \TEXT /X TYPE ADDITION.TXT" with all of the output being appended to a file named "%1" in the \TEXT directory. In order to accomplish the task, you would have to enter "DI \TEXT /X TYPE ADDITION.TXT ]] \TEXT\%1".The DI program would then substitute a ">" for each "]" when it executed the command. In order to use the redirection or pipe characters you should substitute "]" for ">", "[" for "<", and "!" for "|". The "\X" option must always be the last option on the command line, since the DI program assumes that everything that follows is part of a command to be executed. The "/x" option can be used with any of the DI signs. The command after the "/X" will be executed ONCE FOR EACH FILENAME THAT IS PRINTED. Thus, if you enter a command like "DI \TEXT \WPDOC /xditest %1 %2 %3" the DI program will cause both directories to be printed side by side, and it will execute the command once for each of the files in BOTH directories. (Actually, the running of the DITEST batch file might mess up the way the two directories are printed, but it will never-the-less be run once for each filename.) This version of DI is being bundled with the DoTree Command Executor. When used together, the capabilities of DI's "/X" option can be greatly enhanced. ESTIMATING FILE SPACE If you have ever wanted to copy a number of small files to a floppy only to discover that they would not fit (even though there was more space on the floppy than the sum of the file's sizes,) then there is a feature of this program that you might find handy. You can add a "/#" option to the command, and it will tell you APPROXIMATELY how much disk space will be required for your files to fit on the different types of media. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The computer's operating system (DOS) divides any disk up into small sections known as CLUSTERS. When the computer is commanded to write a file onto the disk, the operating system assigns as many of these clusters as are necessary to store the file. If there are only a few bytes in a file, the operating system will assign only one cluster for that file's storage. The operating system will not attempt to have two files sharing the same cluster. Each file gets its own cluster or clusters. Clusters can vary in size from a low of 512 bytes (for 1.2 and 1.44 Meg floppies) to a high of several KiloBytes for some hard drives. The 360K and 720K floppies have cluster sizes of 1024 bytes. You can now see how a number of very small files (each requiring at least one cluster) can take up much more disk space than they would seem to need. MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION You probably noticed that I said that the "/#" option would find out APPROXIMATELY how much space was needed to store the files. The reason that I used the word "approximately" is not because I mistrust my math. I used the word approximately because there is a factor that prevents our being able to know exactly how many clusters will be needed to store a given number of files. That factor is the directory listings. Page 7 The information that you see when you type DIR (or preferably DI) is stored in a special file that the computer takes care of. The operating system won't let us edit these files in the same way we edit text files. Access to these files is restricted in order to keep us from messing up our disk's storage system. With the exception of the root directory, the size of a directory file is determined by the number of clusters needed to store its data. Each file listing and each subdirectory listing in a directory takes up 32 bytes. As a directory grows in size, it may require additional clusters to store its data. The additional clusters that are added to a directory decrease the amount of free space on a drive. That is what makes knowing the storage requirements for a number of files difficult. The root directory is a horse of a different color. The root directory on any given drive is of fixed length. The operating system cannot add clusters to the end of the root directory when it fills up. Once the root directory is full, an attempt to add more files or subdirectories results in an error. The number of files or subdirectories that will fit on the root directories of the various types of floppies is as follows: 360K - 112 entries 720K - 112 entries 1.2 Meg - 224 entries 1.44 Meg - 224 entries If you are going to copy the files to the root directory of a floppy, and there is room in the root for the files, then the numbers given with the "/#" option will be exact rather than approximate. ESTIMATING HARD DRIVE SPACE The "/#" numbers for the hard drive are determined as follows. The DI program checks to see if there is a hard drive installed. If there is, it examines the C: drive to determine the cluster size. If no hard drive is found, the program assumes a default hard drive cluster size of 2048 bytes. A LITTLE TRICK Suppose you entered a DI command without the "/#" and then realized that you also wanted to know the storage requirements. At the final pause, when the screen says "Press any key to exit...," press either the "#" or the "3", and the storage data will print as if you had entered the "/#" option. PAUSE OPTION The program's default is to pause after each screenful, except when the "/X" option has been chosen. When the "/X" option is selected, the program will NOT pause after each screenful. Entering the "/P" option will toggle the pause mode. It will prevent pauses in normal mode, and allow them if the "/X" option is chosen. Page 8 TECHNICAL LAYOUT OF A .DIR FILE The layout of a normal (not text) mode .DIR file is as follows: bytes # Field description 0 - 11 FILENAME AND EXTENSION in ASCIIZ format with zeros to fill out leftover space 12 ZERO (always) that's a binary zero, not the character "0" 13 ATTRIBUTE BYTE 14 & 15 TIME (16 bit word with L.S.Byte first) 16 & 17 DATE (16 bit word with L.S.Byte first) 18 - 21 FILE SIZE (32 bit double word with L.S.Byte first) The layout of a text mode .DIR file is as follows: bytes # Field description 0 - 11 FILENAME AND EXTENSION the same as the normal mode above except that all zeros are replaced with spaces 12 SPACE (always) This byte of the first record is what the program checks to determine if it is a text mode file 13 - 19 SPACES (the character " ") 20 & 21 CARRIAGE RETURN AND LINE FEED (0dh and 0ah) TERMS AND CONDITIONS This program is CHARWARE! That is to say you may freely distribute this program with its accompanying document file (DI.DOC). You are encouraged to use this program as many times as you like to determine its usefulness. Once you are hooked, please send at least $10 to the following CHARITY. DI SOFTWARE REGISTRATION, DEPT. 0612 THE HUNGER PROJECT 1388 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94109 The proceeds of this software will go towards putting an end to hunger by the end of the century. No restriction will be placed on how this software may be distributed or who may use it, with the following exceptions: 1) This program (DI.COM) must be distributed with this documentation file (DI.DOC). 2) Neither of these two files may be edited or altered in any way that will effect their performance or meaning (Archiving excepted.) 3) If any software company wishes to include these two files in their software package, they must make it clear that the purchase of their software package does not release their customers from their obligation to register the DI program with The Hunger Project (unless the software company sends The Hunger Project $10 for each software package sold.) Please contact the author before including this program in any package you may be offering (nothing formal, I'm just curious.) 4) Any and all use of this software is subject to the WARRANTY AND LIABILITY DISCLAIMER. No attempt will be made to enforce the registration of this software package, and no action will be taken against anyone who is found to be using an unregistered copy of this program. Enforcement of the requirement that the user register their software will instead be a function of each user's conscience. And now for the legal stuff... WARRANTY AND LIABILITY DISCLAIMER The DI.COM program and its accompanying documentation are provided "AS IS" and are without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, as to fitness for any particular purpose. We do not warrant that any functions contained in the DI.COM program will meet your requirements or that your use of this program will be free of errors. This author and The Hunger Project shall not be liable for consequential, special, indirect, or other similar claims or damages including loss of profits or any other commercial damages arising from the use and/or distribution of this program or any of the files or documentation associated with it. Have a nice day. Page 9 VERSION INFORMATION Version 1.0 The original version. Version 1.1 Comes bundled with the DoTree Command Executor. This version will not pause before exiting when it is run with the "/X" option, thereby allowing DoTree to work with DI without interruptions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Rick Carrara whose moral support and thorough and painstaking scrutiny as a beta tester and advisor have helped make this software as useful and error-free as it is. I especially want to thank my wife Hindey without whose patience, support, and understanding this program would never have been written, (and without whose help as a proofreader you might never have figured out how to use this program.) QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS Users with questions or comments can send them to me (the author) at the following address: Preston Moser 807 Bennett Ave. #6 Medford, OR 97504 Or send me E-Mail on Compuserve, at 72621,1377 Don't forget to register your software! You CAN make a difference!