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ATTRIBUTES OF POWER (C) Copyright 1986 Brian Murphy ATTRIBUTES OF POWER Copyright (c)1986 Brian Murphy TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Attribute/Command symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Search/Set symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Notes On the D,V,X, and Y Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Specific Effects Of Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Sample outputs of "dir" and "AT" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 This program requires DOS 2.0 or above and a display width of 80 characters per line for proper operation. RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, INFORMATION, AND OF COURSE: THAT LEGAL STUFF This program is distributed under the "Userware" concept. This means that you are free to use, copy, and distribute the program and its associated files free of charge. What the author of the program asks in return is that you send a registration fee of an amount which you feel appropriate for the program ($10 suggested). Of course you are under no obligation to send in this registration fee. Not doing so will in no way interfere with your right to use and distribute copies of the program. But look at it from the programmer's point of view. A lot of time went into development and testing of this program, as well as money to find the best compiler for the job to make the final product as quick and painless for YOU to use as possible. Surely $10 is not to much to ask for in return. After all, while public domain programs are for your use, the people who create the truly useful programs are going to get tired of taking the time and effort to make programs which the PC world NEEDS, and distribute them free of charge, if they are not rewarded in some small way for their efforts. Please take the time NOW to send your registration check to: Attributes Of Power c/o Brian Murphy 711 Arch #304 Ann Arbor, MI 48104 ----- Copyright Notice: ATTRIBUTES OF POWER (AT) AND THE ASSOCIATED MANUAL are (C) Copyright 1986 by Brian Murphy. AT, and the accompanying user manual may not be modified or distributed in modified form without the express written permission of Brian Murphy. Furthermore, AT and its manual, or any modified derivative thereof may NOT be sold, or distributed as a bonus accompanying the sale of third party hardware or software. ----- Disclaimer: AT and its manual are distributed without guarantee. Responsibility lies solely with the user. Brian Murphy shall not be held responsible for any damage incurred by the use of AT or the manual to hardware, software, peripheral device, or any loss of productivity or profit resulting from the use of this software. ----- FYI: AT was developed on a Compaq Deskpro 286 using the small version C compiler: "Mark William's Let's C". This compiler was used because it resulted in execution speeds ~40% faster than the same program compiled with Microsoft's V3.0 C compiler. The manual was written using Word Perfect 4.0 ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 1 Quick overview of ATTRIBUTES OF POWER: In a nut shell ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, besides giving you a wealth of information beyond that given by the normal DOS "dir" command, also gives you complete control over the file/system attributes which DOS supports but hasn't made available to the general user. The control of attributes such as the read-only attribute, which protects your files from accidental erasure and alteration, or the archive attribute which allows custom tailoring of files to be archived with DOS's "backup" and "restore" commands, or the hidden attribute which allows you to eliminate the utility files which continually swamp out the files you really want to see in your "dir" listings, is the kind of control AT puts at your fingertips. Of course there are several programs currently available which allow one to change the attributes of files, so what makes AT so unique? AT is the only program which allows you to perform directory searches and subsequent attribute modifications based on file specifications, attribute specifications, or combinations of both. This ability, coupled with the ease of issuing multiple attribute setting commands from a single command line, gives you the added control and flexibility which is necessary for full and easy use of the attributes on your system, allowing you to capitalize on the options which come with such added potential. With this program you have complete control over the attributes which the operating system has supported all along, but which have been out of reach because until now you, the user, had been provided with no simple method for manipulating them. Installation: Fixed Disk: If you have a hard disk, you should copy AT to the directory which contains DOS. If you do not have a DOS directory, the easiest thing to do is to copy AT to the fixed disk's root directory; for example, put the AT disk into drive A and type: "copy a:\at.exe c:\" (assuming your hard disk is drive C). In addition, you should use the "path" command to specify the root directory of you hard disk as part of your command search path. This may be done as follows: If you have a "path" command in an autoexec.bat file on your hard disk's root directory, append the following to it: ";C:\" so it would look like "PATH=(whatever you had previously)\;C:\" (again assuming your hard disk is drive C). If you have an autoexec.bat file, but do not have a path command in it, add the line "PATH=C:\" to it. If you do not have an autoexec.bat file in the root directory of your hard disk you may create one by typing the following: C:{Enter} (Assuming your hard disk is drive C.) cd\{Enter} copy con autoexec.bat{Enter} path=C:\{Enter} (Again, assuming C is your hard disk.) ^Z{Enter} (Press CTRL and Z simultaneously, or F6.) ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 2 Floppy Disk: Copy AT to the floppy disk where you want to use it. In most cases this will be your working DOS diskette. For example, if your DOS diskette is in drive A, put the AT diskette in drive B and type "copy b:\at.exe a:\". Note: AT, like any program, will only run if it is 1) in the current working directory, or 2) if it is in the command path search set by the "path" command. If one of these criteria are not met, when you type AT{enter} you will get the following message: "Bad command or file name". To correct this problem you must change either the command search path, or copy AT.EXE to the current working directory. TEST SPIN: You can use AT in many ways, the easiest of which is just like the DOS "dir" command. Simply type "AT" and return. On a more advanced level you can use AT in conjunction with specific search patterns you create to look for filespec/attribute combinations, and, at your option, change the attributes on files which match those search patterns. Below is an example of how AT works which shows how to set the read-only attribute on the installed copy of AT and thus make it immune to accidental erasure or modification. Change AT's attributes: To protect AT now that it is on the disk where you will be using it, make sure that disk is the current default disk, and that AT.EXE is in the current default directory (both conditions are met if you see AT.EXE when you get a "dir" listing) and type the following: at at.exe /+r{Enter} This command will invoke AT and cause it to set the read-only attribute on AT.EXE while telling you it has done this by placing a "*" at the end of AT.EXE's attribute listing line. Congratulations! With this one simple command you have demonstrated all the skills necessary to use AT. What follows are the details of running AT by specifying search parameters, an explanation of AT's output, and definitions of specific attributes and their functions; but remember, anytime you want a directory listing, just type AT! ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 3 USAGE: 1) AT {Enter} Nice and simple, like "dir", or . . . 2) AT filespec {Enter} and still on comfortable ground, or . . . 3) AT [filespec] [/{*=~/+-rashvdxycwb]}{...}. .] {Enter} and POWER! Command: What it does: 1) AT Expands to AT *.*; gives complete listing of current directory. 2) AT filespec Expands to AT filespec, (or filespec.* if you do not supply a file extension). Note that this method of extension expansion is slightly different from DOS's "dir" in one respect: with this convention c:\path1\path2 expands into c:\path1\path2.* "look for file path2 in directory path1" instead of DOS's "look in directory path2 for any files". If this is what you mean, you must enter c:\path1\path2\ Other than this AT works with file names the same way DOS's "dir" command does. 3) The third command format, which is where AT is at its best, has an added element which the first two formats do not, and that is the command field. The command field is composed of combinations of two kinds of symbols, the attribute/command symbols, and the search/set symbols. The attribute/command symbols tell AT what attributes you want to look for, the search/set symbols tell AT how to look for these attributes (e.g. find any file which has all specified attributes, or find any file which has none of the specified attributes), and what you want to do with the matching files found (set or reset specified attributes). Attribute/Command symbols: attributes: r - read only s - system h - hidden v - volume a - archive d - directory x - Xunused y - Yunusd commands: b - blank w - wide c - clear Note: See the section titled "Specific Effects Of Attributes" for an explanation of what specific attributes are used for. Also, be aware that the attributes X and Y are unused by the current version (3.1) of DOS. As soon as a version of DOS is released which allows you to manipulate them, this program is written to allow you to do so. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 4 The "b","w","c" command symbols are not attributes. They are commands to AT. The 'b' command tells AT to look for files which have no attributes set ("b"lank). The 'w' symbol ("w"ide) tells AT to give a condensed report, omitting a display of individual file times, dates, sizes, slack, etc. This mode is like the "dir /w" report. For the individual files, all you get are the file names and their attributes. The 'c' symbol ("c"lear) tells AT to clear the attributes of all the files it finds. This is the only symbol of the attribute/command symbol group which alters the attributes of files. The symbols which control the searches are listed below. All symbols may be used in any logical combination (and AT can figure out most illogical combinations as well). If you specify more than one condition in the command field, only files which meet all the conditions will be listed. The best way to figure out how AT works is to look at the examples which follow, and play (on a spare floppy if you feel uneasy). Attribute Search/Set Symbols: In what follows, xxx represents an arbitrary combination and number of the attribute characters "rhshavdxy". You should specify at least one attribute after a search/set symbol, but may specify more. Note that the command field must begin with a "/". / : /xxx -> search for files with any of the specified attributes. The "/" may be omitted if the xxx characters immediately follow the command "/". + : +xxx -> set the listed attributes. - : -xxx -> reset the listed attributes. ~ : ~xxx -> search for files which do not have any of the listed individual attributes. = : =xxx -> search for files which only have all of the listed attributes. ~= : ~=xxx -> search for files which do not contain this complete block of attributes. =~ : =~xxx -> (same as ~=). * : *xxx -> search for files which have at least all of the listed attributes. The attribute/command and search/set symbols may be combined in many ways. Following is a very small sampling of the possibilities. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 5 EXAMPLES: Note: the examples do not take into account the 'x', and 'y' attributes since they are currently not used. An extension to the use of these attributes requires no more than a straightforward application of the principles illustrated below with the attributes currently available. at /~hsv This says: "List any files in the current default directory which do not have either the 'h','s', or 'v' attributes." This command combination gives a listing which is the equivalent of DOS's "dir". Only files with a combination of the 'a','r', or 'd' attributes (and no others) are listed. at /a This says: "Look in the current default directory, and list any files which have the 'a' (plus any other attributes) set". If you have not purposely manipulated the 'a' attribute of these files, such a listing would show you all the files on your disk in the current root directory which have been created or modified since they were last backed up with DOS's "backup" command. at /dhs This says: "Look in the current default directory, and list all subdirectories which have been hidden with the 'h', 's', or both attributes." at c:\123\ /c This says: "Clear the attributes of all files in the C:\123 directory." The command is handy if you want to eliminate a subdirectory. This will turn off all read-only, hidden, and system attributes of all files in the directory, thus allowing you to delete them with a single "del *.*". Note that if you didn't have AT, and a commercial program had transferred hidden files to a directory (as many do), you would be unable to erase that directory. Some people have faced this maddening experience: the "dir" command shows the directory as being empty, but when you try to erase the directory with "rd" DOS tells you the directory isn't empty. With AT such paradoxes vanish with a few keystrokes. Without AT you would be stuck. Period. at /a~r-a+r This says: "Look in the current default directory for any files which have the 'a' attribute, plus any other attributes besides the 'r'. For those files, turn 'a' off, and turn 'r' on". A similar command is "at /a~rc+r". There is a difference though: the former command turns only the 'a' attribute off, and sets the 'r'. The latter turns all attributes off and sets the 'r'. This is an easy way to find out which files are new or which have been modified in a directory, but are currently not write protected, and then protect them from accidental erasure or modification. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 6 at c: /=shrc+r This says: "Look in the C: default directory. If there are any files which have both attributes 's','h','r' and no others, clear these attributes and make the files read only". Note that the 'c' command is always executed first, so "at c: /=shr+rc", "at c:/=cshr+r", and at "c: /c=shr+r" all have the same effect. This command would effectively unhide the write protected hidden and system files in the directory, while still protecting them from accidental erasure or modification. An equivalent command would be "at c: /=shr-sh". at data /b+a This says: "Look for all files of the form 'data.*' in the current directory which have no attributes set and turn on their 'a' attribute." The 'b' command, like the 'c' command, is always executed first, so the commands "c: /+ba", and "c: /+ab" would have the same effect as the one above. at /*sh-s This says: "Look for all files in the current directory which have both the 's' and 'h' attributes, as well as any others, and turn the 's' attribute off. Files with an 'h' but not 's', or an 's' but no 'h', or neither an 's' or 'h' will not be affected. at data path1\path2\ /+sh-ac This says: "Look for data.* in '(current drive\directory)\path1\path2\*.*'. For all files of that form in that directory, clear their attributes and turn on the 's','h' attributes and turn off the a attribute". Note the -a is really not needed because the 'c' turns off all attributes on the specified files. at accounts /d+h This says: "Look for any subdirectories in the current directory named 'accounts' (while ignoring any files of the form 'accounts.*') and turn on the 'h' attribute." This will effectively hide the "accounts" directory from any normal DOS "dir" listings. The subdirectory may still be entered via "cd" as usual if you know it's name, and will be backed up as normal with the DOS "backup" command. at /+wr~c=rh This is an exemplary bit of illogic, if ever there was one, to give you an idea of how AT goes about deciphering the command line. Despite the confusion, AT knows what you meant (do you?). It knows you mean: "Search for all files which satisfy "~=rh", "c"lear them and turn on 'r'. Finally, print out the results in wide format. You didn't really think it mean turn on the 'w' and 'r' attributes for any file which doesn't have the 'c' attribute and has only the 'r','h' attributes did you? ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 7 This brings us to a the way AT parses you command line. All commands are initiated with the "/". Without this, AT will ignore whatever you type after the first field following "AT". Once AT encounters the "/", it knows you're issuing a command and sets about deciphering it. When AT encounters one of the search/set mode indicators (=,/x,*,+,-,~), it treats all attribute letters following that symbol as belonging to it. Things proceed in this manner until another search/set mode indicator is encountered. Then the following attribute letters correspond to that mode, and so on. The special command symbols 'b', 'c', and 'w'. are noted when AT finds them, but since they are not attribute letters they are ignored, or considered invisible, to the part of AT which is associating attributes with mode/set indicators. Because of this way of parsing the command line, the order in which commands are issued does not matter, so "AT /=rh+a-s", "AT /-s+a=rh", and "AT /+a+rh-s", etc. are equivalent. What counts is what letters follow the previous set/mode symbol. As mentioned earlier the 'c' and 'b' command are always executed before any others, so a command of the form "/+ac+h" does not set the 'a' attribute, then clear it and set the h attribute. This command would clear all attributes and then set the h & a attributes. ERROR MESSAGES: If you issue commands which contain illegal characters, AT will prompt you with an error message which shows you the command you tried, and the illegal characters [within square brackets]. AT will not, however, balk at obviously meaningless expression such as "AT /=a~a" which tell it to "search for all files which have only the 'a' attribute, but which do not have the 'a' attribute." AT will proceed as usual and simply give you the "No files found" message. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 8 OUTPUT: Below is an explanation of the output you get in the various AT modes. For a visual guide to go along with the explanations, see the sample AT listings at the end of this manual. VOLUME LABEL: First AT prints the Volume label (if any) of the media (disk) you are reading from. If there is no label, you are told that. PATH SPECIFICATION: Next comes the path specification. This tells you the device, path, and file name you told AT to look for. All components (such as device, path, etc) default to their current values if not specified. Note that the path listing also displays any wildcards you may have specified in your original command. Contrast this to the "dir" path listing which says "Directory of A:\ACCOUNTS" whether you typed "dir a:\accounts" or "dir a:\accounts\paid.up". This is useful if you make printed directory listings for reference or distribution. Now you will know if the directory listing you hold in you hand is of a complete directory, or a partial one. COMMAND FIELD: Following the path display, AT prints the commands you gave it (if any) in between the "[...]" symbols. INDIVIDUAL FILE LISTINGS: ATTRIBUTE LINE: Next comes the file listings, which begin with the attribute line. This line has a "_" in places where no attributes are present, or a character representing attributes which are set. Following this line, depending on the command you issue, you may see the file name, a "*", or an "E". If one of these single character symbols is present, It mean you issued a "change attributes" command, and AT is letting you know the results of that command. Whenever AT changes the attributes of a file, it puts a "*" next to the attribute line of the file whose attributes were changed. The attributes listed are the new attributes. If AT tries to change the attributes of a file and DOS won't let it, instead of the "*", a "E" appears with the file's current attributes. If you order the attributes on a file changed, and no "*" appears, that means the file was already set to the attributes you specified. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 9 FILESPEC, TIME, DATE: Next come the File Name and File Extension (or <DIR> if file is a directory). If you did not specify the wide mode you will also see: "Time of file creation" (identical to "dir" except for the listing of the day and month in English (note "dir" doesn't even give you the day of the week)). FILE SIZE, %LAST CLUSTER SLACK: The final entries on the individual file line are the size of the file in bytes, and %Last Cluster Slack. The %Last Cluster Slack following each file size is the amount of disk space which is slack (i.e. unoccupied but unusable) associated with the particular file. Disk space is parcelled out by DOS in units of fixed number of bytes (called clusters), so if a file's size doesn't go into this allocation size exactly, some of the allocated space will be unused. The %Last Cluster Slack is simply the % unused space in the last cluster the file occupies. For example, If a file is 700 bytes long, and the disk space is allocated in clusters of 512 bytes, then the file requires 2 clusters (1024) bytes because one cluster is not large enough to contain it. Thus with two clusters taken, 324 bytes (1024 - 700) will be unused, and the last cluster will be 36.7% slack. DIRECTORY SUMMARY INFORMATION: CURRENT DATE/TIME: At the bottom of the listing you are given the current date/time in the same format as for individual files. TOTAL BYTES IN FILES/SLACK: Next comes the total number of bytes in the files (actual file sizes, not bytes occupied on the disk), and the total number of bytes slack. Both byte totals are given in bytes and KB. The file totals appear first (under the listing of individual file sizes in AT's normal mode). The slack totals appear next (under the %Last Cluster Slack numbers of the individual listings in AT's normal mode). FOUND FILE CATEGORIES, FILE CHANGED COUNT, LISTING SLACK: Following this is a count of the total number of files found, the number of real files found (non-directory, non-volume files), the number of files changed (if any) and the %Slack for the total listing (This %Slack is calculated slightly differently than that for the individual listings. Instead of being the %Slack of the last cluster, this %Slack is the %unused disk space with respect to the total disk space (slack and data) occupied by the listed files). ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 10 DISK STATISTICS: Lastly AT gives you information about the disk from which the directory listing was obtained. It gives you the amount of free space in bytes, KB, and % free formats. The last numbers given, contained in square brackets, tell you the base capacity of the drive (lo and behold! a 360KB drive doesn't give you 360KB of usable file space), and the number of bytes in one allocation unit (cluster, abbreviated "clust"). Note that this cluster size is the one used to calculate the %Last Cluster Slack. It is the minimum number of bytes the disk can give away when DOS asks for storage space. NOTES ON THE D, V, X, AND Y ATTRIBUTES: Currently (DOS 3.1 or earlier), DOS will not let you set the d,v,x,or y attributes. There are good reasons for this. To unset/set the 'd' attribute would be suicide in the sense that suddenly your directory, and all its contents, would no longer exist as far as DOS was concerned, or a new directory would be indicated where DOS had no record of one, which drives DOS crazy. On the other hand, you can set the 'a','r','s', and 'h' attributes on a subdirectory. The effects of these attributes on a subdirectory is discussed in the section titled "Specific Effects Of Attributes". As far as the 'v' attribute is concerned, one could get around DOS by direct reads and writes to the disk and set the 'v' attribute, but again, this could only mess things up as files with this attribute must have zero length and thus cannot be created by conventional means at our disposal. Unlike the case with the 'd' attribute, other attributes may not be set on an entry which has the 'v' attribute. Similarly, you could get around DOS and set the 'x', and 'y' attributes. I have done this as an experiment, and AT indicates their presence (without any apparent disastrous consequences). However, I am betting that since DOS doesn't let you at these bits in a civilized manner, the mighty makers of DOS don't want you fooling around with them yet. Perhaps in the future these attributes will be given the meaning "on power up, search for any files with these attributes and erase them." So, to play it safe, this program only lets you access the things DOS consents to letting you at. In the future, if DOS is written to allow access to the 'x' and 'y' attributes, you will not be left out in the cold. AT will ask DOS, DOS will say yes, and AT will go ahead and change them; so in this sense you have a program designed to take advantage of attributes not even implemented yet! ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 11 SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF ATTRIBUTES: r - READ ONLY The file cannot be erased or modified when this attribute is set, thus protecting it from such commands as "del" and "edlin" (you may edit such a file with "edlin", but when you go to end the session with the "e" command, which normally saves the changes, DOS responds with an error message and the original file is not modified). The file may be renamed, however the renamed file will still carry the 'r' attribute. Finally, you can copy a file with the 'r' attribute to another file. In this case the copied file will not have 'r' set while the original remains unaffected. Trying to erase a file with the 'r' attribute results in the message "Access denied"; trying to write over the file with another file of the same name results in the message "File creation error". If an applications program attempts to modify the file, it will be denied access. The error message you will get in this situation depends upon the way the program is set up to deal with such events. This attribute may also be set on subdirectories, but it has no effect on DOS; such directories can still be removed with the "rd" command. However, setting this attribute on a directory could useful as a method of flagging the directory to signal something about the directory or its contents. a - ARCHIVE Under normal DOS operation this attribute is automatically set on a file when it is created or modified. It also has significance in conjunction with DOS's "backup" and "restore" commands. The backup command uses the archive attribute with its two options "/m" (backup only files which have changed since the last backup), and "/d" (backup only files which have changed since a given date). The way DOS determines whether or not a file has been modified is by examining its archive attribute. If this attribute is set, DOS considers the file as having been changed. The restore command uses the archive attribute with the "/p" (have DOS prompt you for confirmation before restoring files which have changed since the last backup). Again, the way DOS determines whether or not a file has changed is by examining the file's archive attribute. This attribute may also be set on a directory, but it has no meaning to DOS. As with the 'r' attribute, however, you could use the 'a' attribute on a directory to distinguish it from others for whatever reason you might have. d - DIRECTORY This attribute indicates that the directory entry associated with it is actually that of another directory (subdirectory). You cannot set or unset this attribute with AT. You may, however, set the 'r','a','s', and 'h' attributes on a directory entry. Look under a specific attribute to see its effects when applied to a subdirectory. ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 12 v - VOLUME LABEL This attribute indicates that the directory entry is a volume label (present only with DOS 2.0 and above). Under normal situations, volume labels will be found only in a disk's root directory. This attribute cannot be set or unset with AT, nor can other attributes be set on a entry which has this attribute. h - HIDDEN This attribute excludes files from ordinary DOS "dir" directory searches, as well as making them inaccessible to the "copy", "del", and "ren" commands. Such files may, however, be accessed by the "type" and "edlin" commands if you know their names. Note too that some utilities, such as the Norton Utilities++ "FINDFILE" (and AT!) can list files regardless of their attribute settings. Subdirectories which are hidden are simply removed from the "dir" listing. They may still be accessed as usual with the "cd" command, removed with the "rd" command, and have a file within them accessed, if you know the name of the hidden directory. Note that such hidden directories will still be backed up as normal with the DOS "backup" command; and while they will not be listed by some DOS utilities, such as "tree", they will be listed by others such as "chkdsk" used with the "/v" option. The 'h' attribute will not prevent a data file from being read, and in most cases does not prevent a file from being executed or used by another program; for example AT.EXE may be hidden and still function just fine. However, there are some programs (because of the kind of DOS calls they use to access files) that cannot run with their HIDDEN attribute set. The best way to determine whether or not a given file will work in the hidden mode is to hide it and then attempt to use it. A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT UNHIDING FILES: Many valid copy protection schemes involve the placing of hidden files on your disks or hard disk. Removal of the 'h' attribute from these files may interfere with the operation of their associated programs. Also, some software intentionally ignores hidden files (hard disk optimizers for example) as operating on these files (in this case relocating them on the disk) may cause the programs associated with them to be rendered inoperable. A good rule of thumb is to hide or unhide files you create, and to leave any hidden files created by software you use alone. s - SYSTEM This attribute is functionally equivalent to the HIDDEN attribute for data files and directories. However, an executable file cannot be run from the DOS command level if this attribute is set (the program may, however, be run by another program which calls it via the 4Bh DOS function call). x - UNUSED as of DOS 3.1 y - UNUSED as of DOS 3.1 ++ "Norton Utilities" is a registered trademark of Peter Norton ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 13 What AT looks like in its various output forms as compared to DOS's "dir" command. DOS "dir" command: Volume in drive C is FIXED DISK Directory of C:\ ASM <DIR> 4-10-86 2:52p BASIC <DIR> 1-08-85 1:18p CM <DIR> 4-28-86 11:47a CW <DIR> 4-13-86 12:33a DTA <DIR> 1-08-85 1:39p WRITING <DIR> 1-08-85 1:57p LOGLOG 2271 5-23-86 12:49p AUTOEXEC 2 246 4-06-86 10:13p AUTOEXEC BAT 283 5-06-86 11:33a 9 File(s) 13479936 bytes free ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 14 The same directory with AT in the "wide" mode: ATTRIBUTES OF POWER (V2.2, DOS 2.0 or later; Copyright (c)1986 Brian Murphy) Volume in drive C is labeled: FIXED DISK Directory of C:\*.* [/w] _____hsr IBMBIO COM _____hsr IBMDOS COM ____v___ FIXED DISK ___d____ ASM <DIR> ___d____ BASIC <DIR> ___d____ CM <DIR> ___d____ CW <DIR> ___d_h__ DOS <DIR> ___d____ DTA <DIR> ___d_h__ FILE <DIR> ___d_h__ GAMES <DIR> ___d_h__ RESEARCH <DIR> ___d____ WRITING <DIR> __a_____ LOGLOG _______r AUTOEXEC 2 __a____r AUTOEXEC BAT __a__h_r MPATH BAT _____h_r BASICA COM _____h_r CBASIC COM __a__h_r COMMAND COM _____h__ HENP DBU __a__h_r AT EXE _____h_r BASICA EXE _____h__ BWM0200 HEN _____h__ ASSERT LLP _____h__ DBATE OMS _____h__ ANSI SYS _____h_r CONFIG SYS _____h__ VDISK SYS Mon Sep 22, 1986 4:04:26 pm Total bytes: 376457 20855 KB: 367.6 20.4 29 Entries found (18 proper files); listing is 5.2% slack. Drive C: 13479936 bytes free (13164.0KB or 45%); [cap:29496.0KB clust:2048] ATTRIBUTES OF POWER, V2.2; September 22, 1986 pg 15 The same directory with AT used in the default "detailed" mode: ATTRIBUTES OF POWER (V2.2, DOS 2.0 or later; Copyright (c)1986 Brian Murphy) Volume in drive C is labeled: FIXED DISK Directory of C:\*.* _____hsr IBMBIO COM Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 9728 25.0% _____hsr IBMDOS COM Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 27760 44.5% ____v___ FIXED DISK Sat Apr 12, 1986 10:37:18a ___d____ ASM <DIR> Ths Apr 10, 1986 2:52:24p ___d____ BASIC <DIR> Tue Jan 8, 1985 1:18:48p ___d____ CM <DIR> Mon Apr 28, 1986 11:47:12a ___d____ CW <DIR> Sun Apr 13, 1986 12:33:44a ___d_h__ DOS <DIR> Tue Jan 8, 1985 1:15:18p ___d____ DTA <DIR> Tue Jan 8, 1985 1:39:26p ___d_h__ FILE <DIR> Tue Jan 8, 1985 1:52:18p ___d_h__ GAMES <DIR> Mon Apr 7, 1986 7:32:18p ___d_h__ RESEARCH <DIR> Ths May 22, 1986 11:48:18p ___d____ WRITING <DIR> Tue Jan 8, 1985 1:57:28p __a_____ LOGLOG Fri May 23, 1986 12:49:24p 2271 89.1% _______r AUTOEXEC 2 Sun Apr 6, 1986 10:13:48p 246 88.0% __a____r AUTOEXEC BAT Tue May 6, 1986 11:33:36a 283 86.2% __a__h_r MPATH BAT Tue May 6, 1986 11:26:36a 168 91.8% _____h_r BASICA COM Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 1173 42.7% _____h_r CBASIC COM Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 1175 42.6% __a__h_r COMMAND COM Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 23210 66.7% _____h__ HENP DBU Mon Jul 16, 1983 10:44:44a 53760 75.0% __a__h_r AT EXE Ths May 22, 1986 3:51:08p 16707 84.2% _____h_r BASICA EXE Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 66576 49.2% _____h__ BWM0200 HEN Fri Mar 14, 1986 3:48:34p 4096 0.0% _____h__ ASSERT LLP Mon Jul 16, 1984 10:44:48a 15223 56.7% _____h__ DBATE OMS Sat Nov 3, 1985 1:43:18p 149504 0.0% _____h__ ANSI SYS Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 1593 22.2% _____h_r CONFIG SYS Sun Apr 6, 1986 5:20:14p 58 97.2% _____h__ VDISK SYS Mon Sep 30, 1985 12:00:00p 2926 57.1% Mon Sep 22, 1986 4:04:32 pm Total bytes: 376457 20855 KB: 367.6 20.4 29 Entries found (18 proper files); listing is 5.2% slack. Drive C: 13479936 bytes free (13164.0KB or 45%); [cap:29496.0KB clust:2048]