Thelion's Toolshop

Greetings! Glad you could drop by. As you can see, I have quite a selection of tools on my shelves. They are written for DOS, and you are welcome to help yourself to anything you like.

Can I interest you in:

97-04-13 TR - Replace characters in a binary file
97-02-09 DUMP - Dump a binary file in hex/ASCII
97-01-12 DELAY - DOS PAUSE, with a timeout
96-12-01 UNIX2DOS - Convert between UNIX and DOS files (Mac too)
96-11-10 HEAD - Show the beginning of a text file
96-10-14 AUTOGEN - Create automatic timestamps
HERE - Mark this directory for later return
LC - Count the lines in some file(s)
WRITE - Write to a text file (from batch)

AUTOGEN - (DOS) Creates automatic timestamp in makefiles

AUTOGEN is intended for use in your make files. It allows you to automatically date and time stamp your programs every time they are compiled. This can make it easier to be sure that you and your client are talking about exactly the same version of the software. AUTOGEN comes complete with a one-page manual.

DELAY - (DOS) DOS PAUSE with a timeout

 DELAY will display a message until a key is pressed or for a specified time (default 10 seconds). It is intended as a replacement for the DOS PAUSE command. It allows you to specify the maximum time to wait, and a message to display. DELAY comes complete with a one-page manual.

DUMP - (DOS) Dumps binary files in hex and ASCII

 DUMP displays the contents of a binary file as hex bytes (16 bytes per line) and as ASCII characters. You can specify what section of the file to display. On special request, there is a version with several additional formatting features, which has been used to convert a Motorola-format binary file into the Intel source required to generate the file. DUMP comes complete with a one-page manual.

DUMP also has a more powerful version available, though it is harder to use. If you are interested, write to the toolsmith.

HEAD - (DOS) Shows the beginning of a text file

HEAD shows the first few lines of a text file. It is based on the Unix program of the same name. It also lets you skip a number of lines at the beginning of the file, so you can use it to look at the middle (or the end) of a file. HEAD comes complete with a one-page manual.

HERE - (DOS) Remembers the path to a directory

 HERE allows you to mark a directory so that you can easily return to it later. It saves you having to type or remember long pathnames. HERE works across drives.

For example, in your directory D:\PROJECTS\HTML\WEB, you simply type HERE WEB. After that, typing WEB anywhere on any drive automatically takes you to D:\PROJECTS\HTML\WEB.

HERE comes complete with a two-page manual.

LC - (DOS) Counts the number of lines in one or more text files

LC is a free linecounter for DOS. It counts the number of lines in a file or list of files. It also keeps track of the longest line, and can also count pages if you give it the page length. If you give it a list of files (or pipe it a list), it will give you the information for each file and a summary for the whole list. Quick, take one today and I'll throw in a one-page manual.

TR - (DOS) Replace characters in a binary file

 TR is a DOS utility to convert characters in a file. It can be configured to convert any one character into any other, and can do several conversions at once. It allows you to create and use your own conversion tables, or specify the conversions on the command line. It can be used to capitalize all the letters in a file, convert between ASCII and EBCDIC, or convert periods to linefeeds (useful for breaking long lines in some log files). It comes with a short manual and some sample conversion tables to get you started.

UNIX2DOS - (DOS) Convert files between DOS and UNIX formats (Mac too)

 UNIX2DOS allows you to convert text files from UNIX format (LF) to DOS format (CR/LF), or from DOS to UNIX. It can also convert Mac format (CR) to DOS format. With this program, you should be able to read any text files you download. UNIX2DOS is so easy to use that it can be completely described in the one-page manual.

If you need a different text conversion, feel free to write to the toolsmith.

WRITE - (DOS) Write lines to a text file

WRITE lets you write text files from a batch file. Since DOS translates environment variables before calling Write, you can use it to write files based on the batch parameters and other environment variables. (Manual added 2005-12-11.)

If you need to write lines longer than 80 characters, there's a script for that. (It's written in Perl.)

- Head back to my main shop.
- Visit my friend Rob the programmer.
- Stroll over to gamers' aisle.
- Return to the front gate.
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