FILES
by Editor, MCKUG, August 1987

(Tips on copying, printing, combining files for CP/M & DOS)

Direct Keyboard Manipulation of Files and Printer:  Possibilities
here are much greater than just TYPE FILENAME.EXT.  I keep
confusing how to do some of these things so I have gathered them
together here for reference:

File Creation:  To type directly from the command line to a new
file: 

In CP/M:    type PIP FILENAME.EST=CRT:<cr> (or CON:<cr>).  Then
type the text, entering CR and Line Feed at the end of each line. 
End with Ctrl-Z, and there is your new file.

In MS-DOS:  type COPY CON FILENAME<cr>.  Press enter at the end
of each line, end with Ctrl-Z.  These shortcuts are very
practical for very short files, such as batch files.


FILE CONCATENATION:  To combine 2 or more files into one file:

In CP/M:    PIP NEWNAME=OLDNAME1,OLDNAME2  (and  ,OLDNAME3 etc.
if desired).

In MS-DOS:  COPY OLDNAME1+OLDNAME2 NEWNAME


WILDCARD CONCATENATION:  In MS-DOS only, wild cards are allowed
in the above formulation.  COPY *.LST + *.REF *.LR combines each
file having a .LST extension with the corresponding .REF file to
produce the corresponding .LR file - so if you have 3 pairs of
.LST and .REF files, for instance, you will end up with 3 .LR
files.   COPY *.LST + *.REF *.COMBIN.LR, on the other hand,
combines each file having a *.LST and all files matching *.REF
into a single file named COMBIN.LR.


TYPEWRITER: To type directly from the command line to the
printer:

In CP/M:   type PIP LST: = CON:<cr>.  Then type the test,
pressing Return and Line Feed at the end of each line.  It types
each letter immediately as you enter it.  End with ctrl-Z.

In MS-DOS: type COPY CON PRN<cr> [or LPT1 or COM1 or COM2<cr> ]. 
End with Ctrl Z - at which time the text will print.

You'll have to regress to typing without word-wrap or prior-line
corrections (in CP/M, even without current line corrections) but,
again, this is good for short jobs.


FILE PRINT:  To print a file without going through a print
program:

In CP/M:   type PIP LST:=FILENAME.EXT[P]<cr>.  Add [z] for files
with non-ASCII characters such as Wordstar files.  Or just type
TYPE FILENAM Ctrl-P and toggle off Ctrl-P again when the file
finishes printing.  The files need to have carriage returns at
the end of every line and with the PIP strategy (not with TYPE) ,
if the word processor uses blank-packing, it gives my printer
fits.  I don't know about yours.

In MS-DOS: type COPY FILENAME PRN or TYPE FILENAME > PRN . 
Again, this won't handle blank-packed files for me (will someone
please tell me how to get around this?) and it needs carriage
returns on every line. 
