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- UTILITIES
- Ashok P. Nadkarni
- Vol. 9, No. 16
- CMDEDIT
-
- Purpose: A TSR utility that supplies full editing features to the DOS
- interface; stacks commands and drive/directory pairs for
- recall; supports definable symbols and variables, and
- programmable function-key definitions and macros; provides
- optional autocompletion of commands and filenames; and enables
- changing drives and directories simultaneously.
-
- Format: CMDEDIT [/r] [/i] [/g] [/p X] [/d N1] [/m N2] [/b N3]
- [/s N4] [/f filename]
-
- Remarks: CMDEDIT can be entered at the DOS prompt, but is normally installed
- through the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Its optional parameters at
- installation are:
- /r Auto recall mode (default off)
- /i Use insert mode (default overtype)
- /g Use silent mode (default beeps on error)
- /p Set the ignore macro character (default X is ;)
- /d DOS command stack buffer (default N1 is 512 bytes)
- /m Macro buffer size (default N2 is 512 bytes)
- /b Symbol buffer size (default N3 is 512 bytes)
- /s Directory Stack size (default N4 is 256 bytes)
- /f Initialization file to read at startup (default none)
-
- The CMDEDIT Ctrl-key editing actions are:
-
- ^F or Right-Arrow Cursor forward (character).
- ^B or Left-Arrow Cursor backward (character)
- ^Right-Arrow Cursor forward (word)
- ^LeftArrow Cursor backward (word)
- ^E or End Cursor to end of line.
- ^A or Home Cursor to start of line.
- ^D or Del Delete character at the cursor.
- ^H or Backspace Delete previous character
- ^W Delete word at right of cursor.
- ^L Deletes word at left of cursor.
- ^[ or ESC Erase entire command line.
- ^K Delete from cursor to end of line
- ^X Delete from cursor to start of line
- ^O Delete from cursor to EOL and
- execute line.
- ^G Erase entire line but keep in stack.
- ^^ (Ctrl-6) Execute line, but do not store or
- display (for passwords).
- INS Toggle insert/overtype modes.
- ^I or TAB Expand partial filename or
- directory name (adds\) if possible.
- ^J Replace variables with values.
- ^Q Place succeeding Ctrl-key on
- line as literal instead of command
- ^Z Put end-of-file marker on line.
-
- Commands given at the DOS prompt can be recalled from their buffer
- using the Up-Arrow (^U) or Dn-Arrow (^N) keys. Commands beginning with one
- or more user-typed letters can be recalled with ^R or ^V. In auto-recall
- mode, activated either with the /r switch or toggled by ^Y, a command stack
- search is made as each letter is typed in.
-
- The PUSHD d:\path command changes to and stacks a drive/directory pair.
- If at least one pair has been pushed into this buffer, entering PUSHD without
- parameters toggles between the current and stored pairs. POPD changes to and
- removes a stacked drive/directory pair, and the CHD d:\path command allows
- changing to a drive and directory simultaneously without affecting the stack.
-
- The DEFS symbol string command allows abbreviating a long command (the
- string) with one or more characters (the symbol). By using F1...F0 (for F10)
- and SF1...SF0 as the symbol values, the function and shifted function keys can
- be programmed to output strings on the command line. If these strings end in
- the @ character they will be executed, as well. To be expanded into its
- defined string, a symbol must be the first word on the command line. Before
- being passed to DOS or to an application the command line is scanned
- recursively, so one symbol can define another.
-
- Multi-line command macros are created by issuing the DEFM macroname
- command. Each line is terminated by hitting Enter, and the macro is terminated
- with the ENDM command. Macro command lines may contain parameters, which are
- designated by %n (n is a numeral from 1-9). Parameters are processed much as
- in DOS batch files (see article text). Macros support DOS batch file commands
- such as ECHO, PAUSE, IF, and FOR; see text for restrictions. Embedded spaces
- and tabs in macro command line arguments must be enclosed in pairs of quotes
- ("). Macros cannot be nested, and one macro can call another only from the
- last line before ENDM.
-
- Macros and symbols also support the use of string variables, which
- must be enclosed within % signs. See the article text for how these are
- processed. Macros and symbols may be deleted by name with the DELM and DELS
- commands, respectively, and the respective CMDEDIT buffers can be cleared and
- reset with the RSTHIST, RSTSYM, RSTDIR, and RSTMAC commands.
-
- Instructions for preparing an initialization file to load
- regularly-used macros and symbols via the /f parameter option are presented in
- a sidebar to the main article.