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QBASIC

MS DOS Command: QBASIC.EXE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Starts MS-DOS QBasic, a program that reads instructions written in the Basic computer language and interprets them into executable computer code.

The QBasic program provides a complete environment for programming in the Basic language. QBasic includes extensive online Help. For more information about using QBasic, press ENTER immediately after starting QBasic or press F1 any time while running QBasic.

Syntax

QBASIC [/B] [/EDITOR] [/G] [/H] [/MBF] [/NOHI] [[/RUN][drive:][path]filename]

Parameters

[drive:][path]filename

Specifies the location and name of the file to load when QBasic starts.

Switches

[drive:][path]filename	Specifies the location and name of the file to load when QBasic starts.
/B	Displays QBasic in black and white if you have a color monitor.
/EDITOR	Invokes MS-DOS Editor, a full-screen text editor.
/G	Provides the fastest update of a CGA monitor.
/H	Displays the maximum number of display lines possible on your screen.
/MBF	Converts the built-in functions MKS$, MKD$, CVS, and CVD to MKSMBF$, MKDMBF$, CVSMBF, and CVDMBF, respectively.
/NOHI	Allows the use of a monitor that does not support high-intensity video. Do not use this switch with Compaq laptop computers.
/RUN	Runs the specified Basic program before displaying it. You must specify a filename.

Remarks

Cannot use MS-DOS Editor if MS-DOS QBasic is not present

To use MS-DOS Editor, you must have the QBASIC.EXE file in the current directory, or in the same directory as the EDIT.COM file in your search path. If you delete QBASIC.EXE to save space on your hard disk, you cannot use MS-DOS Editor.

Running consecutive Basic programs

You can run consecutive Basic programs from a batch file by using the Basic SYSTEM statement and the QBASIC command with the /RUN switch. A SYSTEM statement quits QBASIC and returns control to MS-DOS after a Basic program has run, instead of returning to QBasic. This allows you to run more than one Basic program from a batch file without having to intervene.

Display of shortcut keys

Some monitors may not support the display of shortcut keys by default. If your monitor does not display shortcut keys, use the /B switch (for CGA monitors) and the /NOHI switch (for systems that do not support bold characters).

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PROMPT

MS DOS Command: PROMPT

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Changes the appearance of the command prompt.

You can customize the command prompt to display any text you want, including such information as the name of the current directory, the time and date, and the MS-DOS version number.

Syntax

PROMPT [text]

Parameters

text

Specifies any text and information you want included in your system prompt.

The following list shows the character combinations you can include instead of, or in addition to, any character string(s) in the text parameter. The list includes a brief description of the text or information that each character combination adds to your command prompt.

$Q	= (equal sign)
$$	$ (dollar sign)
$T	Current time
$D	Current date
$P	Current drive and path
$V	MS-DOS version number
$N	Current drive
$G	> (greater-than sign)
$L	< (less-than sign)
$B	\| (pipe)
$_	ENTER-LINEFEED
$E	ASCII escape code (code 27)
$H	Backspace (to delete a character that has been written to the prompt command line)

Related Commands

For information about setting the current date and time, see the DATE and TIME commands.

For information about ANSI escape sequences, see the ANSI.SYS topic.

Remarks

Using the PROMPT command without the text parameter

When you use the PROMPT command without specifying a value for text, PROMPT resets the command prompt to the default setting--the current drive letter followed by a greater-than sign (>).

Using the $P value for text

If you include the $P character in the text parameter, MS-DOS reads your disk after you enter each command to determine the current drive and path. This can take extra time, especially for floppy disk drives.

Defining the MS-DOS command prompt in Windows

If you use Microsoft Windows 3.1, you can change the command prompt with the WINPMT environment variable.

For example, suppose you want the following message to precede the MS-DOS command prompt:

Type "exit" when you're ready to return to Windows.

To display this message, include the following command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

set winpmt=Type "exit" when you're ready to return to Windows.$_$p$g

Examples

The following example sets the command prompt to display the current drive and path followed by the greater-than sign (>):

prompt $p$g

The following command displays a two-line prompt in which the current time appears on the first line and the current date appears on the second line:

prompt time is: $t$_date is: $d

If your CONFIG.SYS file loads ANSI.SYS, you can use ANSI escape sequences in your prompts. The following command, for example, displays your prompt in reverse video mode and returns to usual video mode for other text:

prompt $e[7m$n:$e[m

The characters following the escape code ($E) are ANSI escape sequences.

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MS DOS Command: PRINT.EXE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Prints a text file while you are using other MS-DOS commands.

This command can print in the background if you have an output device connected to one of your system's serial or parallel ports.

Syntax

PRINT [/D:device] [/B:size] [/U:ticks1] [/M:ticks2] [/S:ticks3] [/Q:qsize] [/T] [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]] [/C] [/P]

To install PRINT with the default parameters or to display the contents of the print queue on your screen without affecting the queue, use the following syntax:

Parameters

[drive:][path]filename

Specifies the location and name of a file or set of files you want to print. You can include multiple files (usually as many as 10) on one command line.

Switches

/D:device	Specifies the name of the print device. Valid values for parallel ports are LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3. Valid values for serial ports are COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4. The default value is LPT1, which is also called PRN. The /D switch must precede any filename used on the command line.
/B:size	Sets the size (in bytes) of the internal buffer, which is used to store data before it is sent to the printer. The minimum and default value for size is 512; the maximum value is 16384. Increasing this value decreases the amount of memory available for other purposes but may speed up the PRINT command.
/U:ticks1	Specifies the maximum number of clock ticks PRINT is to wait for a printer to be available (clock ticks occur about 18 times per second). If the printer is not available within the time specified, the job does not print. Values for ticks1 must be in the range 1 through 255. The default value is 1.
/M:ticks2	Specifies the maximum number of clock ticks PRINT can take to print a character on the printer. Values for ticks2 must be in the range 1 through 255. The default value is 2. If a character is printed too slowly, MS-DOS displays an error message.
/S:ticks3	Specifies the number of clock ticks the MS-DOS scheduler allocates for background printing. Values for ticks3 must be in the range 1 through 255. The default value is 8. Increasing this value can speed up printing while slowing down other programs.
/Q:qsize	Specifies the maximum number of files allowed in the print queue. Values for qsize must be in the range 4 through 32. The default value is 10.
/T	Removes all files from the print queue.
/C	Removes files from the print queue. You can use the /C and /P switches on the same command line. When the /C switch precedes the list of filenames on the command line, it applies to all files whose names follow the /C switch, until PRINT encounters a /P switch, in which case the /P switch applies to the file whose name precedes the /P switch. When the /C switch follows a filename, it applies to the file whose name precedes the /C switch and all files whose names follow the /C switch, until PRINT encounters a /P switch, in which case the /P switch applies to the file whose name precedes the /P switch.
/P	Adds files to the print queue. You can use the /C and /P switches on the same command line. When the /P switch precedes the list of filenames on the command line, it applies to all files whose names follow the /P switch, until PRINT encounters a /C switch, in which case the /C switch applies to the file whose name precedes the /C switch. When the /P switch follows a filename, it applies to the file whose name precedes the /P switch and all files whose names follow the /P switch, until PRINT encounters a /C switch, in which case the /C switch applies to the file whose name precedes the /C switch.

Related Commands

For information about configuring a printer connected to a parallel port, see the MODE (configure printer) command.

For information about displaying the status of a printer, see the MODE (display device status) command.

For information about configuring a printer connected to a serial port, see the MODE (redirect printing) command.

For information about preparing printers for character-set switching, see the MODE (set device code pages) command.

Remarks

Length of a PRINT queue entry

Each print queue entry can contain a maximum of 64 characters. Each queue entry includes the drive letter, directory, and any subdirectories.

Limitations on switches

You can only use the /D, /B, /U, /M, /S, and /Q switches the first time you use the PRINT command after starting MS-DOS. To use one of these switches after using PRINT, you need to restart MS-DOS.

Use an application's print command when possible

Many applications have their own print commands. You should use an application's print command to print files that you create with the application.

Examples

To view the status of the print queue, type the following at the command prompt:

MS-DOS displays the name of the file being printed (if any), the names of files in the queue, and an error message, if an error condition exists.

The following command removes the PENCIL.TST file from the print queue:

print a:pencil.tst /c

The next command shows how to remove the file PENCIL.TST from the queue and add the file PEN.TST to the queue:

print pencil.tst /c pen.tst /p

The remaining examples use switches that work only with the first PRINT command you use after starting MS-DOS.

The following command sets up the print queue for printing on LPT1:

print /d:lpt1

To specify that the PRINT command is to wait 60 clock ticks for a printer to be available and that the MS-DOS scheduler is to allocate 25 clock ticks to the PRINT command for background printing rather than the default value of 8 clock ticks, type the following command:

print /u:60 /s:25

The following example specifies that PRINT has 4 clock ticks available to print each character rather than the default value of 2 clock ticks:

print /m:4

To change the default maximum number of files for the print queue, use the PRINT command with the /Q switch, as the following example shows:

print /q:32

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Sideway BICK Blog

29/07