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========================== DUMP - File Dump Utility User's Guide Version 3.0 ========================== Copyright (C) 1985 Nick Richards 1124 S. Main Burlington, NC 27215 DUMP Version 3.00 (c) Copyright 1985 Argan Software; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Written by Nick Richards DUMP is the copyrighted property of Argan Software. You are granted a limited license to use DUMP, and to copy it and distribute it, provided that the following conditions are met: 1) You may not charge a fee for such copying and distribution. 2) You must distribute DUMP as a complete set of all files. 3) You may ONLY distribute DUMP in its original, unmodified state. This program is being distributed under the Freeware concept where users are urged to distribute this program in original form, not modified in any way, to their friends and other BBS. The author claims no responsibility for any damage either accidental or otherwise through use of this program. The program is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The entire risk as to the quality and compatibility of the program is with YOU. If you use this program and find it of value, any contributions ($5 suggested) will be greatly appreciated and will be used to further develop useful software. Send any contributions to: Nick Richards 1124 S. Main Burlington, NC 27215 ------- D U M P ------- Program to Search, Examine, and Modify Any File INTRODUCTION DUMP allows you to examine the contents of a file. You can also search for data within a file, as well as modify the file's con- tents. Why can't you just TYPE the file? Well, to an extent you can. TYPE will show you what is in the file. What it shows you, however, is often unreadable to the human eye. Files that are compressed and files that contain non-ASCII data will look like a stream of random characters. And, of course, you can't modify that stream of random characters, just look at it. Not very use- ful. What about text processors? Can they do the job? After all, you can modify files with a text processor, can't you? Yes, you can. Again, however, you are often faced with a stream of characters that make no sense to you. Trying to decipher a file is not always easy. Besides, isn't that what computers are supposed to do for you? Here comes DUMP to the rescue! Not only will DUMP allow you to search through the data, not only will DUMP allow you to EASILY modify a file, but DUMP will also present the data to you in an easy-to-understand display. In fact, it will display the infor- mation two different ways, so you can attack the data YOUR way, not just the way somebody else thought you should do so. Have you ever had a file corrupted? Don't worry! DUMP can fix it almost instantly. Program not working right and you suspect the file has wrong data? Relax! DUMP will show you exactly what data is in your file. No more guesswork. DUMP is easy to use and will prove itself invaluable as you work with your computer. HOW TO USE DUMP Format: DUMP [d:]filename[.ext][ O=offset][ S=search][ EOF] Type: Internal External **** Remarks: Specify the parameters: [d:]filename[.ext] to specify the file to be DUMPed. The drive specification [d:] is optional. The ext- ension [.ext] is optional, but if the file has an ext- ension, you must include it when you call DUMP. DUMP does not assume a specific extension. [ O=offset] to specify the byte offset into the file where DUMP is to begin. If O= is not specified, DUMP starts from the beginning of the file. offset can be a number from 0 up to the size of the file in bytes. If offset is not a multiple of 256, it will be rounded down to the nearest multiple of 256. [ S=search] to have DUMP search for the specified string. When the first occurence of that string in the file is found, DUMP stops searching and displays the file contents at that point. If S= is not specified, DUMP will not search for a particular string. search can be any string that does NOT contain a space. DUMP assumes that the first space it encounters after S= marks the end of the search string. [ EOF] to have DUMP jump to the end of the file and display the file contents at that point. EOF will override both O= and S=. Example: The following example DUMPs the file TEST.DAT on drive B. A>dump b:test.dat The following example DUMPs the file MYPROG.BAS start- ing with byte 2560. A>dump myprog.bas o=2560 The following example DUMPs the file DATA starting with byte 1280 and searching for the first occurrence of the string "filename". A>dump data o=1280 s=filename The following example DUMPs the last part of the file RANDOM.TXT. A>dump random.txt eof HOW TO USE DUMP (Continued) DISPLAY FORMAT When DUMP displays the file's contents, it does so in two dif- ferent formats: HEX and ASCII. Each line on the screen displays 16 bytes from the file. There are 16 lines displayed on the screen at once, for a total of 256 bytes on each screen. To make the screen easier to read, the 16 lines are broken into two groups of 8 lines. Each line is divided into two groups of eight bytes. On the HEX part of the screen, the groups are div- ided by a dot. On the ASCII part of the screen, the groups are divided by a double line at the top and bottom of the screen. On the left side of the screen is a column marked OFFSET. The offset numbers tell how far DUMP is into the file. Thus the first line has an offset number of 0 because at the beginning of that line, there are 0 bytes that came before it. The next line has an offset of 16 bytes because at the beginning of that line 16 bytes have already been DUMPed (the first line). At the beg- inning of the third line, 32 bytes have been DUMPed already (lines one and two), etc. Each screen shows 256 bytes, so the first offset number on a screen is a multiple of 256. The HEX part of the screen shows the file bytes in hex format (00 to FF). The ASCII part of the screen shows the ASCII equivalent of each HEX byte. The only exceptions are ASCII characters 0 - 31. These are represented on the screen by a period since their meanings are not clear visually. However, the HEX part of the screen tells you exactly which characters are being displayed, so you can always tell what it is. HOW TO USE DUMP (Continued) ACTIVE KEYS Once DUMP is started, there are several keys you can use: HOME SPACE END UP ARROW ESC DOWN ARROW PG UP INS PG DOWN HOME will cause DUMP to display the beginning of the file. This is a fast way to return to the beginning. UP ARROW will cause DUMP to display the previous screen (the previous 256 bytes). PG UP will cause DUMP to jump back 5 screens (1280 bytes). END will cause DUMP to display the end of the file. This is a fast way to jump to the end. DOWN ARROW will cause DUMP to display the next screen (the next 256 bytes). PG DOWN will cause DUMP to jump forward 5 screens (1280 bytes). SPACE will start DUMP scrolling through the file at a steady speed. To stop the scrolling, hit the space bar again. Once scrolling begins, the only keys that are active besides the space bar are the numeral keys 1 - 9. These cause the scrolling to speed up or slow down with 1 being the slowest and 9 being the fastest. The current speed is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Please note that the preceding keys are only active at certain times. Thus if you are at the beginning of the file, UP ARROW or HOME or PG UP will not go any farther. Similarly, if you are at the end of the file, DOWN ARROW, END, and PG DOWN will take you no farther. When a key is not currently active, the key message will disappear from the screen and hitting that key will have no effect. In addition, the RIGHT ARROW and LEFT ARROW keys can also be used if you started DUMP with the S= option. S= will show you the first occurrence of the search string. Hitting the RIGHT ARROW key will show you the next occurrence, if any. Hitting the LEFT ARROW key will show you the previous occurrence, if any. These keys can be used repeatedly until you come to the end or begin- ning of the file. However, if you did not specify S=, neither the RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW key will have any effect. ESC will exit from DUMP at any time except when scrolling or when in MODIFY mode (see below). HOW TO USE DUMP (Continued) MODIFY MODE INS will cause DUMP to enter MODIFY mode. The screen will change slightly as follows: The only special keys that will be active are INS (to leave MODIFY mode) and F9 (to write any modifications to the file in order to permanently save them). In addition, the cursor will appear as a large blinking box in the upper left corner of the HEX part of the screen. In MODIFY mode, you can overwrite any of the 256 bytes on the screen by typing over them. You can do this either by typing the hex codes if you are in the HEX part of the screen, or by typing the ASCII characters if you are in the ASCII part of the screen. To move from one part of the screen to the other, hit the TAB key. As you begin typing, your modifications will appear on the screen highlighted. This means that your modifications are not yet being saved to the file itself. To do this, hit F9. Any changes you made will now be permanently stored in the file and your changes will no longer appear highlighted. If you leave MODIFY mode before you hit F9, the changes will not be saved and the screen will be restored to the previous values. When you are finished making modifications, hit F9 to save the changes (if you want them saved) and hit the INS key to return to normal DUMP mode. You can then DUMP the next screen, hit INS to enter MODIFY mode and modify the next screen, if you want. 985 ight author. CED IS INTENDED FOR YOUR PRIVATE, NONCOMMERCIAL USE ONLY. You may make copies of the ced program and documentation files for your own use, and you may copy the files for others. You may not, however, charge for such copies, or in any other way sell the program or otherwise attempt to make money from it or any modified version of it. Please. An exception to the above is, however, granted to recognized