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Table of Contents Read this first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 String Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 DIRMAGIC Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Command Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Enter Key F1 Copy F2 Delete F3 Rename F4 Move F5 Clear marks F6 Mark free F7 Sort Name F8 Sort Ext. F9 Sort Size F10 Sort daTe Alternate Command Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Alt-F1 Copy/V Alt-F2 Confirm Alt-F3 Protect Alt-F4 Sort Alt-F5 HighBit Alt-F6 Attributes Alt-F7 File search Alt-F8 New path Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DINSTALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 PRMANUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ==== IMPORTANT: READ THIS FIRST ==== Okay, nobody likes manuals. But this one's short, and you should at least skim it to learn how powerful DIRMAGIC really is. If you think you can figure it all out from the onscreen menu, at least note a few critical points: The most important is that DIRMAGIC is really a pair of files -- the muscular DIRMAGIC.COM file handler itself plus a subdirectory manager called DM.COM. You can run DIRMAGIC as a standalone program (by typing DIRMAGIC), but it's much more capable when you start the whole process off by running DM first. Then, when DM is active, you can summon DIRMAGIC just by pressing F10. Here are the other key points: First, DIRMAGIC is designed to let you use the function keys (as well as the Enter key and Esc key) to give you total control over DOS. But it does so many things that that we couldn't cram them all onto the ten basic function keys. To use the ones listed in the lower part of the menu you have to hold down the Alt key and then press the specific function key. 1 Second, install the program properly by running DINSTALL. This lets you pick the screen colors (on a color system) and change a few important settings. It will take just a few seconds, but it's worth it. Note that DINSTALL will modify the program file only if it's named DIRMAGIC.COM. And the DM F10 key will load DIRMAGIC.COM only if you haven't changed its filename. Don't try renaming DIRMAGIC.COM to something like D.COM to make it easier to execute. The easiest way to run it is by loading DM first and then pressing F10. But if you really do want to give it a shorter name, make a copy of it called something like D.COM each time you install or reinstall it. The program itself is so small that an additional copy of it won't take up very much room. Third, you can run the program one of two ways. You could enter just: DIRMAGIC by itself just to run the file-handling part of the program. But there's a much better way. Make sure you have both the DM.COM and DIRMAGIC.COM programs on your disk, and type: DM /G (The /G stands for Go.) This will load the directory-manager part of the program into memory, and will let you jump around from one subdirectory to another, see how many files are in each directory and how much space they take up, create or delete or rename subdirectories, and do tricks with the file attributes in them. When DM is loaded, you can run DIRMAGIC by making sure the highlighted DM bar is on the subdirectory you want to examine, and then pressing the F10 key. If this doesn't summon DIRMAGIC, make sure you have a DIRMAGIC.COM on your disk and that it's in a place where DM.COM can find it. You can run DM each time you need it (which takes a few seconds since DM has to read in the directory structure from your disk), or you can install it in memory so that typing DM at the DOS prompt will pop up an instant map of your subdirectory structure (which is far faster). To run the program WITHOUT installing it in memory, type just: DM To install it in memory and have it remain active, type: 2 DM /G If you want to install it each time you boot up your system, so that it remains lurking in memory just waiting to spring into action whenever you enter DM at the DOS prompt, include the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: DM /I (The /I stands for Install.) If you keep DIRMAGIC.COM and DM.COM in your \UTILITY subdirectory, you'd modify the line to: \UTILITY\DM /I ==== String Searches ==== One feature of DIRMAGIC isn't mentioned in the onscreen menu. To view the contents of any file, use DIRMAGIC's moving bar to highlight the filename, then press the Enter key. Once you're viewing a file, you can scan through it for up to 30 characters of text, by typing F (or Ctrl-QF). But you have to be viewing a file to search for text inside it. When you are viewing a file and you type F -- or the equivalent Ctrl-QF, which should be familiar to WordStar and SideKick users; or the equivalent F7 -- the top of the screen will clear and DIRMAGIC will display the last search string, if any. (Of course, the first time you enter this command, the top of the screen will be blank.) You can either reuse the last search string by pressing Enter, or type in a new string. Any existing string will vanish instantly if you enter a new character. You can edit the current string by backspacing or pressing the End key then appending to the string. Once you've entered a string, DIRMAGIC will ask you for the search options G, W, or U: G -- (global) lets you search the entire document regardless of the current viewing page. W -- (whole words only) skips matches embedded in words. For instance, this finds "port" but not "important." U -- (upper/lower case) finds all matches regardless of case. For instance, this finds "PC" and "pc." You can skip the options by pressing the Enter key, and the search will begin. If it finds a match, it positions the line with the match at the top of the screen and places the cursor placed under the first character. You may repeat the search operation by pressing Ctrl- 3 L, or F8, or just plain L. You can quickly search through multiple files for the same search string by pulling up each individual file for viewing and typing L. ==== DIRMAGIC Overview ==== Just enter DIRMAGIC, and faster than you can say PC COMPUTING you'll see a sorted directory listing in the same format as the DOS DIR command on the left side of the screen. In the 40 columns to the right of the listing will be a menu chock full of powerful file functions. You can flip through the directory by using the keypad cursor up and cursor down keys to move the highlighted bar. Park the bar on a file of interest and tap the appropriate function key and DIRMAGIC will either display the file for viewing, copy it, move it, delete it, rename it or change the file's attributes. You can even sort the directory in four different ways. DIRMAGIC also offers a filename-initial search feature that will quickly navigate you to a specific file. For example, pressing P will take you to the first file that starts with the letter P. Another press of P and you will arrive instantaneously at the next P file. A beep indicates that no more files start with the letter you entered. To call up a directory for viewing simply tell DIRMAGIC the path and, if any, the sort priority. DIRMAGIC [d:][directory][/N][/E][/S][/D][/T][/O][/R][/F] N = Sort by name E = Sort by extension S = Sort by size D = Sort by date T = Sort by date O = Original order (no sort) R = Reverse all sorts F = Files only (no directories) This may look intimidating but that's just because DIRMAGIC offers lots of options. To use DIRMAGIC in the current directory, just type: DIRMAGIC and the listing for the default directory will appear. Add a drive and/or directory if you want to examine a directory other than the default. The switch characters like /N and /E tell DIRMAGIC the way you want it to sort your directory. DIRMAGIC defaults to sorting by filename, which alphabetizes the listing. (You can change the defaults; see DINSTALL below.) Don't worry if you can't remember the switches. All the sorting functions except O and F appear in DIRMAGIC's menu. 4 Unlike the DOS DIR command that scrolls off your screen forever, DIRMAGIC gives you complete control over the directory listing display: Up-arrow and down-arrow keys scroll the highlight bar one line at a time. PgUp and PgDn keys flip to the next screenful of the 21 filenames that DIRMAGIC displays at any one time. (DIRMAGIC also supports EGA 43-line mode, listing 39 files at a time.) Home and End keys take you to the beginning and end of the directory. Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn take you to the top and bottom of the current screenful of filenames. Tab key scoots you down the listing of filenames seven hops at a press. Shift-Tab will move you up the listing seven files at a time. WordStar users will feel at home with the Ctrl-letter function keys. They give you the option of pressing: Ctrl-V -- to View a file Ctrl-C -- to Copy a file Ctrl-D -- to Delete a file Ctrl-M -- to Move a file Ctrl-R -- to Rename a file Ctrl-W -- to toggle the WordStar high bit on and off Ctrl-N -- to sort by Name Ctrl-E -- to sort by Extension Ctrl-S -- to sort by Size Ctrl-T -- to sort by daTe To use these, hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter for the appropriate function. The Copy, Delete, Rename, and Move functions work directly while you're viewing a file. For example, if while you view a file and decide on the spot that you want to delete it, you don't have to return to the main menu. Instead, just press F2 (or Ctrl-D) and you will be automatically returned to the menu's confirm deletion prompt. This assumes the Confirm toggle is ON. If this toggle 5 is set to OFF, DIRMAGIC will not pause before deletion. At any time if you wish to abort a process, just press the Esc key. Pressing Esc while in the listing window will exit DIRMAGIC and return you to the DOS prompt. If you press any key while copying files, DIRMAGIC will screech to a halt and abort the copying process. If there is not enough disk space for a marked file, DIRMAGIC skips it and checks to see if the next one will fit. This will continue until all marked files are checked for their size, optimizing the use of target disk space. When DIRMAGIC copies a file successfully it turns the arrow at the left edge of the screen next to the filename into an asterisk. DIRMAGIC observes all the DOS file handling rules. You can't mark, copy, move, or delete hidden files (or directories) and you can't delete read-only files. You can't copy a file over itself or over a read-only file. And you can't move a file to a directory that contains a file of the same name. You probably won't want to use DIRMAGIC to copy files between the two logical drives A: and B: if you have only one physical floppy drive, since the constant swapping of source and target diskettes will drive you up the wall. In this case either use the DOS XCOPY program, or copy all of the target floppy files to a temporary directory on drive C: and then use DIRMAGIC to copy them back selectively to the target diskette in drive A:. DIRMAGIC uses all 80 columns of your screen to display files. It keeps displaying one line until it either encounters a carriage return or gets to the last column of the screen. DIRMAGIC won't try to outguess you by implementing a different kind of word wrap or taking a stab at the default margins of your word processor. Standard ASCII text files with margins of 80 columns or less will look just as you'd expect, but text files from word processors that either omit carriage returns, or format the text within specified margins, will not display in the same format in which they were created. Also, if your word processor prefaces your document files with control codes for something like page formatting, these will appear as gibberish before the text. The variety of algorithms used by word processors to format text makes it impossible for DIRMAGIC to display all documents in their original form. This, however, should present no major distraction. The text will still be quite readable. If you choose to view an executable file, however, unless it contains some embedded text strings such as a copyright notice or error messages, it all will be gibberish. You might find it interesting to look for all the command strings in COMMAND.COM. ==== Command Set ==== Enter Key 6 One of the most useful DIRMAGIC functions is its ability to let you view any file. Just highlight a filename and press the Enter key and DIRMAGIC will instantly let you scan through the file. Once you're viewing the file, use the arrow keys to browse through it. The up and down arrow keys scroll the file one line at a time. PgUp and PgDn move to the previous or next page. Both Ctrl-PgUp and Home take you to the top of the file and Ctrl- PgDn or End take you to the bottom of the file. When you're done viewing, press the Enter key one more time, or press Esc to exit to the menu. As it should in all applications, pressing Esc takes you back one step in all the modules of DIRMAGIC. Pressing Esc from the directory listing will return you to DOS. This lets you jump in and out of files with a minimum of keystrokes -- and assures that you'll never again have to resort to the DOS TYPE command or, for that matter, be bothered with typing the name of the file. Pressing the Enter key when the highlighted bar is on a subdirectory will change (CHDIR) to that directory and return you to the DOS prompt. Typing Ctrl-Enter while the highlighted bar is on a subdirectory will display that directory. Pressing Ctrl-Enter when a dot entry (.. <DIR>) is highlighted will load the parent directory. Pressing Ctrl-Enter when you've highlighted an executable filename will run the file if it has an extension of EXE or COM. When the executable program is finished you will be returned to DIRMAGIC. Some programs merely print some sort of output and then exit, leaving the output on the screen. With these programs you can have DIRMAGIC pause before erasing the output by holding down one of the Shift keys while pressing Ctrl-Enter. Any keypress after an appropriate pause will return you to DIRMAGIC. [See also Alt-F5 HighBit.] +/- (Plus/Minus) Keys Pressing the plus key will place a little right-arrow character in front of a highlighted filename and move the bar down one line so you can mark the next file. By marking several files you can "tag" or gang together commands and execute them in one gulp. For example, by marking several files before pressing F1 Copy, you can copy a group of selected files to one destination. Pressing the minus key will erase any marks that may have been attached to a filename by mistake. A shifted plus or minus will move the highlight bar in the opposite direction (up the listing) after placing or erasing the mark at the present position. F1 Copy 7 Press F1 and DIRMAGIC will prompt you for the destination of either the highlighted file or the marked files. If no files are marked, the highlighted file will be copied. If you want the files to retain their normal names (the most frequent case) just give DIRMAGIC a path. Enter the path and/or filename, press Enter and the copy will be made. DIRMAGIC will let you know if the operation was successful by placing an asterisk in front of the source filename in the listing. You can enter any legal combination of path and filename, or omit a destination path, just as with the DOS COPY command. If you want the name of the copy to be the same, you need only enter the directory or specify the drive for the copy. If you press the Enter key without typing in any specification, DIRMAGIC will attempt to copy the file to the default directory and drive -- the active drive and directory when you entered DIRMAGIC at the DOS prompt. Note that this may or may not be the same as the drive and directory you told DIRMAGIC to display. DIRMAGIC's Copy command follows all the same rules as the DOS COPY command. If you aren't sure about what you're doing, or are trying something complex, first change to the directory you're going to copy to before you enter into DIRMAGIC, or include the complete path as the destination entry. You can add the familiar *.* to the end of the path but it's not necessary. Note: Be very careful not to specify a single filename if you are copying a block of marked files or all the files will be copied over the same target file. You can enter a filespec such as *.BAK to make backup copies. The global ? character is also acceptable. You can also copy a file to the printer. Just enter as the destination PRN. [See also Alt-F1 Copy/V and Alt-F3 Protect.] F2 Delete If you decide that you want to wipe out a file, press F2 Delete. If the Alt-F2 Confirm feature is ON (it is by default) before deleting the highlighted file or block of marked files, DIRMAGIC displays a verification warning, giving you a chance to abort just in case you made a typing mistake and hit the F2 key in error. To continue with the deletion, press Y. Or press N or Esc to abort the process. When a file is successfully deleted, DIRMAGIC tidies up the listing by removing the filename. And it adjusts the file count and number of bytes free at the bottom of the screen. [See also Alt-F2 Confirm.] F3 Rename 8 When you press F3, DIRMAGIC prompts you for a new name for the file you've highlighted. Your response cannot contain the path characters : or \ or the wild card characters ? or *. Once you have entered the desired new name, press Enter, and if you have given the file a valid name, the new name will replace the old in the directory listing. If you pressed F3 and wish to change your mind in midstream, press Esc. F4 Move F4, which moves a file to another directory, is extremely useful if you use one directory as a dumping ground for files and later move them to their proper places. The F3 Move function operates in the same manner as F1 Copy, prompting you for the new home of a highlighted file or a group of marked files. If able, DIRMAGIC will move the file or files to the destination directory you indicate. Confirmation of a successful move is the same as when you delete a file; the name will be removed from the directory listing. Don't panic. Your file is not lost; it's in the new directory. DIRMAGIC moves files across drives by first copying the file as if you had pressed F1 Copy. It will then delete the source file only if the copy operation succeeded. You can rename a file that you're moving simply by tacking on the new name to the end of the destination path. Actually, if the source and destination are in the same drive, all that happens is that the directory entry is changed. Since this leaves the actual physical data alone it's very fast and easy. This also lets you move files around on a full disk. You can trick DIRMAGIC into renaming a file and leaving it in the current directory by telling it to move the file to the source directory with the new name. DIRMAGIC will appear confused, since it will remove the old name from the listing without replacing it with the new one. Your file, however, is safe. F5 Clear Marks and F6 Mark All F5 will clear all marks (both arrows and asterisks) attached to filenames and F6 will mark all blank or non-marked filenames for gang-tagging operations. F6 will not mark files that have a confirmation asterisk in front of them. The F6 Mark All lets you split up a directory into two different target disks or directories. Mark the files destined to go to the first directory and copy them. All the arrow marks will turn to asterisks after completion. A press of F6 will then mark all the rest of the files and you will instantly be ready to copy the balance of the files to the other destination. If your copying needs are simpler than that, you can, of course, use F6 as a Mark All function to copy all files of a directory. Suppose you need to copy all the files in a hard disk directory 9 to diskettes but they won't all fit on one flopoy. First mark all the files by pressing F6, then press F1 and indicate that the target is drive A:. DIRMAGIC will copy all the marked files that will fit on the diskette, and will turn these files' arrow marks to asterisks. Next, insert a blank diskette in drive A: and press F1 again and DIRMAGIC will try to copy all the files not copied the first time. You can continue this process until all the files are marked with asterisks, indicating all have been copied to diskette. F7 Sort Name F8 Sort Ext. F9 Sort Size F10 Sort daTe The last four functions of DIRMAGIC control the different ways you can sort the directory listing -- by Name, by Extension, by Size, and by DaTe. Unlike the DOS SORT.COM, the Date sort correctly handles the old problem of sorting by year as well as month, date, and finally time. You would use the F8, Sort by Extension, for example, if you were just interested in your BAK files. The Sort functions can be used in combination with other functions. If you want to see all your COM files sorted by size, press F9, Sort by Size and then F8, Sort by Extension. [Also see Alt-F4 Sort.] ==== Alternate Command Set ==== Alt-F1 Copy/V Alt-F1 Verify function does the same as the /V switch does with the DOS COPY command. Alt-F1 toggles whether or not verify is ON or OFF. All that verify does is check to see if the file can be read after writing; as with the DOS /V switch it doesn't do a byte-by-byte comparison. It simply checks whether DOS can read the newly copied data without an error. And just as with DOS, the Verify switch command defaults to OFF because reading the data a second time to verify it obviously takes longer than omitting this step. Today's disks are so reliable that you should probably leave Verify OFF. The function was provided for those who sleep better with the /V switch. Alt-F2 Confirm Alt-F2 Confirm works with F2 Copy, controlling whether or not DIRMAGIC warns you before it deletes a file. By default, the Confirm switch is displayed as ON, so that you will be warned before any deletion. However, if you feel confident about your typing abilities and have a lot of purging to do and don't want to be bothered with the extra Y confirmation keystroke that comes 10 with every deletion request, press Alt-F2 and OFF will be displayed next to Confirm. Alt-F2 is a toggle so you can turn the Confirm function back on with another tap. Warning: If you turn Confirm OFF and you press F2, the deletion is instantaneous. You will be given no second chance. Alt-F3 Protect DOS lets you blithely copy old files over new ones. DIRMAGIC is smart enough to avoid this. You can use Alt-F3 to enable or disable protection in copying over existing files with the F1 Copy function. The default is OFF, which lets you copy over files just as you can with the DOS COPY command. But if you toggle Protection ON you will be given the choice to continue copying or abort if the target file already exists. Alt-F4 Sort DIRMAGIC defaults to doing all directory sorts in ascending order, from A to Z. F4 will toggle the sorting order from Ascending to Descending. You can also change the default sorting order to Descending with the /R switch. Alt-F5 HighBit WordStar and some other word processors set the high bit of an ASCII character on to control page formatting. This will cause a normal text character to be displayed as a high bit graphics character. DIRMAGIC by default strips this high bit so text files controlled in this manner will look normal when you view them. However, if the file you wish to view has graphics characters you want displayed as graphics characters, press F6 and the ON next to WordStar will be toggled OFF and DIRMAGIC will leave the high bit alone. The WordStar toggle does the same thing as the Ctrl-QG in SideKick's Notepad. Alt-F6 Attributes At the right edge of the directory listing you'll see the letter(s) H, S, R, or A beside any files that have an attribute of Hidden, System, Read-only, or Archive. Alt-F6 will let you change three of these attributes -- H, R, and A. Press Alt-F6 and DIRMAGIC will prompt you to enter the change in attribute(s) of the highlighted file or group of marked files. To add an attribute, preface the attribute with a plus sign. To remove an attribute preface it with a minus sign. For example, to remove the archive attribute so the DOS BACKUP or 11 XCOPY commands won't back up a file, enter -A. If you don't preface the attribute with either a plus or minus, DIRMAGIC will assume you wish to add the attribute. Making a file read-only with +R prevents you or anyone else from accidentally deleting it or changing it or copying another file over it. You can also change the attribute of directories. Hiding a directory with a +H is an easy way to keep the files of a sensitive directory from easy reach of probing eyes. Of course, if the intruder is familiar with DIRMAGIC, the protection scheme will be defeated, since DIRMAGIC will list the hidden directory. Alt-F7 File Search Press Alt-F7 and DIRMAGIC will ask for the name of a file to locate. Enter a filename and DIRMAGIC will begin a diskwide search of the default drive (the one you logged DIRMAGIC onto at the DOS prompt) for that file. Add a drive request to search a drive other than the default. You can narrow down the search by adding a path. For example, if the default drive is C: and you wish to look for MYFILE in the \BIN directory on A:, you would enter: A:\BIN\MYFILE You can use any combination of the wildcard global characters (* and ?) in the filename. For example, to find all the files related to a file called THISFILE on the C drive, you would enter: THISFILE.* DIRMAGIC will clear the directory listing on the left side of the screen and list the directory and filename of all, if any, matching files. You can stop the search at any time by pressing Esc. The list of matches will pause if it fills the screen. Pressing any key will continue the search. When the search ends, if DIRMAGIC found a match it will give you the opportunity to load the directory in which the file was found. If you press Y, the directory will be loaded and listed and the highlight bar will automatically be placed on the filename of interest. Press either N or Esc to cancel the loading operation. Alt-F8 New path Pressing Alt-F8 lets you load a new directory without leaving DIRMAGIC. You will be prompted for a new path to list. You can enter a drive/directory and any switch character just as if you were at the DOS prompt and starting DIRMAGIC. 12 ==== Error Messages ==== Requires 128K free RAM DIRMAGIC requires 128K bytes of elbow room. The load module is a small 8K for fast loading. The balance of the 120K is used for buffering the directory listing, buffering a file for viewing, and buffering the fast file-copying operation. Invalid directory DIRMAGIC could not find the directory requested to load. If the default directory is other than the root, be sure to type a complete path. DIRMAGIC uses the default directory of the current drive rather than the currently loaded directory for all copying, moving, and PATH loading. To avoid confusion, either load DIRMAGIC from the root directory or use a complete path for DIRMAGIC function arguments. Too many files DIRMAGIC has room to buffer approximately 500 files. It's recommended that you break directories larger than this into smaller directories. Not enough disk space There was not enough room to copy or move your file. Error reading drive You probably left a drive door open. Insert a diskette, close the door, and press (R)etry to recover. Press (Q)uit to abort and return to DOS. Error writing to printer The printer is probably off or out of paper. To recover, follow the same steps as in the above drive error. ==== DINSTALL ==== DINSTALL will let you change the defaults of DIRMAGIC. You don't have to be in the same directory as DIRMAGIC to change the defaults but you do have to be on the same drive. If DIRMAGIC is not in the current directory, DINSTALL will do a diskwide search. Once it finds DIRMAGIC.COM, it will let you reconfigure the default settings of DIRMAGIC's Alt-key functions. For example, you might want DIRMAGIC to sort the directory listing by date in descending order so the most recently updated files will appear at the top of the list. Instead of loading DIRMAGIC each time with /D/R (sort by date in reverse order) or having to change the defaults later with F10 Sort by daTe and Alt-F4 Sort Descending, change the defaults permanently with DINSTALL. When you are satisfied with the changes, press Esc and DINSTALL will ask if you wish to write your changes to disk. DIRMAGIC will display and modify colors only in mode 3. If you have a color monitor or a monochrome monitor with a color 13 graphics adapter and DINSTALL will not let you change the default colors (the options will not appear in the menu), you are in a mode other than color. To change to mode 3, enter the DOS mode command MODE CO80. You cannot change the colors on a monochrome adapter. F7 - F10 will let you change the colors. Shift F7 - F10 will change the colors in reverse order. Remember that DINSTALL will modify the program file only if it's named DIRMAGIC.COM. And the DM F10 key will load DIRMAGIC only if you haven't changed its name from DIRMAGIC.COM. Don't try renaming DIRMAGIC.COM to something like D.COM to make it easier to execute. The easiest way to run it is by loading DM first and then pressing F10. But if you really do want to give it a shorter name, make a copy of it called something like D.COM each time you install or reinstall it. The program itself is so small that an additional copy of it won't take up very much room. ==== DM ==== DM makes it a snap to create, remove, rename, hide, and unhide subdirectories and jump from one to another. It can set and reset the read-only and archive bits of all files in a directory, and will report the file count and space taken up by all the files. It can also run the main DIRMAGIC.COM program to handle individual files. You may run DM directly from the DOS prompt each time you want to use it, simply by typing: DM Or you can install it in memory so it leaps instantly into action every subsequent time you enter RN while in DOS. To install it in memory and then immediately run it, type: DM /G If you want to load the map of subdirectories and the DM command into memory when you boot up, but you don't want to run it right away, add a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT that says: DM /I All of these examples assume that DM.COM is either in the root directory (which it shouldn't be) or is in a subdirectory that your PATH knows about (which it should be). If no drive (d:) is specified, the current drive is assumed. You should load DM before SideKick and any other uninstallable 14 memory-resident programs. DM cannot be deinstalled without rebooting. It requires 128K of RAM and can grab a few more K on file-packed disks. You can't summon DM from within another application by pressing a hotkey; it can be popped up only at the DOS prompt. Pressing Esc terminates DM's operations. When you first run DM.COM, you'll see an alphabetized directory tree with the current listing highlighted and a menu listing the function keys used for its various directory services. You can move the highlighted directory bar one entry at a time by the up and down arrow keys, and in larger increments with the Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn, PgUp and PgDn, and the Home and End keys. Use the highlighted bar to identify the subdirectory you want to work on. When renaming (F2) and creating (F3) directories, do not enter a backslash (\) character. However, be sure to include it when you add up the characters to see if the new path is shorter than the maximum DOS path length of 63 characters. Note: F2 (Rename Directory) requires DOS 3.x. If you select and confirm RMDIR (F4), DM will delete all files within the directory (unless they are marked read-only) before removing the directory. Hide/Unhide (F5) affects the directory name only, not the individual files inside it. F6 and F7 (mark/unmark as read-only and set/reset the archive bit) toggle these bits on all files within the directory. F8 updates the directory database if changes are made outside DM. F9 displays a file count and tells how much space is allocated to a directory's files. F10 calls DIRMAGIC.COM. ==== PRMANUAL ==== If you want to print out a copy of this manual, and your printer is set to handle pages that are 66 lines long, just turn your printer on and type: PRMANUAL This will print out a copy of the manual (which has to be named MANUAL). 15