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Switch problems in version 2.11 have been
fixed; all command switches should now work properly.
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Pipe problems in version 2.11 have been fixed.
It is no longer necessary to set the TMP environment variable to specify a
location for pipe files (though TMP can be used for this purpose if
desired). Also, using multiple pipes within a single command will now work
properly.
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Executable extensions added. If a command is
not found as an internal command or EXE, COM, or BAT file 4DOS will search
for other files of that name, and then look for an environment variable
which contains the file extension. The content of the environment variable
is assumed to be the name of a command to execute on the file that was
found. This allows enhanced batch file processors like Personal Rexx to
find their files, and can be used to invoke the appropriate processor for
any file.
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4DOS now correctly traps (and ignores) the
hardware divide by zero interrupt if an application does not handle the
divide by zero condition itself. Previously there could be problems if an
application caused a divide by zero error but did not do its own divide by
zero error handling.
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Redirection with noclobber now works properly
with devices. Before it was claiming the device "already existed" when
redirecting output to a device with noclobber on.
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Leading spaces on the command line are now
removed before the history match tests.
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A batch file which is deleted, renamed, or
otherwise disappears while it is active will now generate a "Batch file
missing" error and abort if the file was located on drive C: or above.
Missing batch files on drive A: or B: will continue to generate the
"Insert disk ..." error.
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You can specify portions of the command line
in an alias or batch file by specifying %n& where "n" is a numeric
argument. For example %3& selects the remainder of the command line from
the third argument on.
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Minimum environment size is now really 512. It
was stated as 512 before, but in fact would not go below 1024 in most
circumstances.
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Environment information is no longer lost when
a secondary shell is loaded at an address above 512K.
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ALIAS /R [filename] option added. This
retrieves the aliases from the specified file. The format of the file is
the same as the format of the ALIAS command, just without the word "alias",e.g.
"d dir" etc.
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BEEP now supports optional frequency (Hz) and
duration (clock ticks) arguments. This allows you to play simple music
etc. in batch files. For example: beep 440 9 will play middle A for 1/2
second (1 tick = 1/18 second, 9 ticks = 1/2 second). If no arguments are
specified the beep will be at 440 Hz for 2 ticks (= about 110 ms). If the
frequency is below 20 Hz no beep is generated; this allows you to use
"BEEP 0 nnn" to delay for nnn clock ticks in a batch file.
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COPY now has a /M option which copies only
modified files. This option will not reset the archive bit on the source
file(s).
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DEL now forces a /P anywhere on the line to
apply to the whole line.
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DEL now says "Deleting [filename]" instead of
just listing the name.
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DEL switches can now follow arguments without
intervening white space.
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DIR displays the volume label before the first
directory listing in upper case.
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DIR /D now displays headers and summaries only
for those directories which contain matching filenames. This makes DIR
much less verbose when using it to find files across a whole disk or a
group of subdirectories.
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DIR /V will display multi-column directories
sorted vertically rather than horizontally. The sort is over all
filenames, not per display page.
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FOR will now stop on a ^C when running batch
files and internal commands.
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FREE now displays the total disk space, total
bytes used, and total bytes free.
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GLOBAL SELECT will now continue if you press
ESC when viewing the SELECT list, but not if you press ^C.
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IF ERRORLEVEL now supports comparisons (==, GT,
etc.). The original syntax (IF ERRORLEVEL n) will still work, and is
equivalent to IF ERRORLEVEL GE n.
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LIST now prints a formfeed following a file
print with F4.
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LIST saves the search string between commands
so that F2 can be used in subsequent commands to repeat a search. This is
particularly useful with SELECT LIST.
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PAUSE now flushes the keyboard buffer before
waiting for a keystroke.
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The default prompt is now $n$g on drives A:
and B:, and $p$g on all other drives. This cuts down floppy disk activity,
and avoids critical errors when the current drive is switched to an empty
floppy drive. The default is only $n$g on drives A: and B: if no explicit
PROMPT command has been issued. If the prompt has been set explicitly to
any string -- including the default $p$g -- it will remain that way on all
drives.
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PUSHD with no arguments now saves the current
directory. This should help those who want to combine 4DOS PUSHD / POPD
with Norton NCD or other similar path utilities.
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RENAME changed to work like COMMAND.COM: if no
path is specified for the target file name, the source file is left in its
original directory, rather than moving it to the current directory.
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RENAME switches can now follow arguments
without intervening white space.
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SCREEN now checks for valid row and column
numbers and gives an "invalid parameter" error if either value is out of
range.
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SELECT now displays the number of files &
Kbytes marked on the second line of the display.
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SELECT will put all selected filenames on the
same command line if square brackets [] instead of parentheses () are used
to delimit the file specification. If too many files are selected to fit
on a line then a "command line too long" error will occur.
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SETDOS /C with no argument will now be
ignored, rather than confusing 4DOS.
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SETDOS /Rnn will set the number of screen rows
explicitly. This should help with non-standard displays.
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SETDOS /Ss:e will set the cursor for the
default line editing mode to start on scan line "s" and end on scan line
"e".
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TIMER /S ("split") shows the elapsed time
while the timer isrunning, without turning it off. If the timer is not
running it will be started regardless of whether /S is specified.
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TYPE will work properly with lines over 255
characters, and for lines over 80 characters when using /P.
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TYPE switches can now follow arguments without
intervening white space.
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VOL has been fixed to handle periods in volume
labels correctly, including VDISK labels.