In Search of DOS Guide

[Antoniohawk]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a complete guide to working in ms-dos? If possible, could someone also tell me how to navigate to the following directory in ms-dos.

C:\Net-OSCAR-1.11\Build.pl

[Spookster]

Ummm google for it maybe?

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ms%2Ddos+guide

[Antoniohawk]

Tried that but not to much avail. The thing that is really bugging me is the fact that I cannot figure out how to navigate to that particular file.

[liorean]

DOS uses 8.3 format. It cuts long filenames at six characters and inserts a running number in it, like this:C:\NET-OS~1\BUILD.PL

[swmr]

Batch File Links (http://users.accesscomm.ca/gbraun/batch/batlinks.htm) >> DOS Command Index (http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html)

[Roy Sinclair]

Navigating there is simple:

C:
cd "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"

(I left "build.pl" off since that has the look of a file name, not a directory name).

The "C:" makes sure your "working" drive is the C: drive and the "cd" command is then used to switch to the actual directory. The double quote marks help make sure the name of the directory to switch to is handled as a single string. In this case it probably wasn't necessary but if there had been an embedded space character you definitely need the quotes.

You can also try using the "short" name as suggested above but that could leave you in the wrong directory, if you had several directories named "Net-OSCAR-0.11", "NetOSCAR-1.11" and "Net-OSCAR-2.11" any one of those three names could use the suggested short name of "Net-OS~1".

[oracleguy]

You shouldn't have to use the short command unless you are actually working in dos, like you booted into DOS. XP and 2000's command console are obviously newer and don't require that you use them.

[liorean]

If you're in pure DOS, you don't have a long filenames support. That means you must use the short form I wrote above. It you're in Win9x (inc. ME) or WinNT (2k, XP etc.) you can use the full name.

[Roy Sinclair]

If you're in pure DOS, you don't have a long filenames support. That means you must use the short form I wrote above. It you're in Win9x (inc. ME) or WinNT (2k, XP etc.) you can use the full name.

If you're running a version of DOS without long file name support (ie: prior to the DOS in Windows 95) then you shouldn't be touching a disk that has long file names on it or disk corruption will be the inevitable result.

[liorean]

Well, the thing is, even the DOS that comes with Win9x (all of them) lacks native long filenames support. Try using long filenames in a DOS-only bootup and you'll see. The long filenames support is added on top of DOS by the Win32 layer.

[Antoniohawk]

Thanks everyone for the help, but no ones suggestion worked. I'm not really sure what the problem is.

[sad69]

Neither do we..

So what version of DOS are you running? Or how are you getting to the DOS prompt (what version of windows are you running?)

When in c:\ (you can get here anytime by typing 'c:' [enter] and then 'cd \' [enter]) if you do a 'dir', what do you see? Is your directory there? Type in 'cd ' and the exact name of your directory as you see it.

If it doesn't let you, what error do you get? If you don't see the directory there, then that could be another problem also..

Let us know what happens.

Good luck,
Sadiq.

[Tails]

For any internal or external DOS command, you can put a /? at the end and it will list all possible parameters and a description for them. My DOS pc still lives. I learned from a program called doshelp (came with DOS 5.0 and above?). It explained things step by step and quizzes you interactively by making you do the tasks it says through a simulated prompt. And here's a must-see list of batch tricks with various examples of everything: http://www.macalester.edu/~fines/batch_tricks.htm.

[Antoniohawk]

path goal: C:\Perl\site\lib\Net\Net-OSCAR-1.11

Start > Run > command > enter

Test 1
cd c:\perl\site\lib\net
C:\PERL\SITE\LIB\NET>
cd "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"
Parameter format not correct - "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"

Test 2
cd c:\perl\site\lib\net
C:\PERL\SITE\LIB\NET>
cd NET-OS~1
Invalid directory

entered text and resulting output

[Tails]

Try the dir command to get a listing of all files and directories. In XP, you can use the /X switch to display files in the 8.3 format. Usually it's the first 6 letters (skipping spaces) and then a "~", followed by a number (1 if it's the first, etc). If you're not on XP, try dir /? to see your options if dir isn't enough.

[Unit]

What operating system is it? I find it hard to believe that its old DOS that you are using to run a perl script? that too with a network?

if you are using windows xp, you can just type cd NET* and it would go to the first folder that matches the pattern. you can also just type NET and tab key a few times to select the folder you want.

If you are using 9x, then try cd NET-OS~1.11

most people here ignored the fact that directories can have extensions in the 8.3 format.

[sad69]

Start > Run > cmd > enter

Test 1
cd c:\perl\site\lib\net
C:\PERL\SITE\LIB\NET>
cd "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"
Parameter format not correct - "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"

Try that one. I think command is an old screwed up one, cmd is better. Let us know how that works out for you.

Sadiq.

[Unit]

This is wrong...

cd "\Net-OSCAR-1.11\"

a \ in beginning of the path means start from root directory. the folder you want is not in the root directory!

just try my post earlier to get it working in command or Sad's post to type in the full name as is in cmd.

[sad69]

Lol, duh!! Unit's right, I didn't see that slash at all!

So what you want is something like this:

Start > Run > cmd > enter

Test 1
cd c:\perl\site\lib\net
C:\PERL\SITE\LIB\NET>
cd "Net-OSCAR-1.11"

Try that and let us know!

Sadiq.