Path: utzoo!censor!geac!lethe!torsqnt!hybrid!scifi!bywater!uunet!microsoft!steveha From: steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve HASTINGS) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: Reversing the backslash ( \ to / ) Message-ID: <71799@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 10 Apr 91 19:33:55 GMT References: <1991Apr3.151951.371@csc.canterbury.ac.nz> Reply-To: steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings) Organization: Microsoft International Products Group Lines: 40 In article , undrground!seanp@amix.commodore.com (Sean Petty) writes: > is there a DOS patch, or a TSR, or any type of program or fix which > will allow me to seperate filenames with the (/) slash on my MS-DOS PC? You can use programs that reset the MS-DOS internal switch character, but that can lead to incompatibility problems with some programs. Years ago, I used a public domain program called SWITCHAR.COM to set the internal switch character to '/', and certain programs that used overlays stopped working. My theory was that DOS now wanted forward slashes, and these programs were still using the backward slashes, so that's why it didn't work. Also, some programs parse the command line themselves, and don't check the MS-DOS internal switch char. The solution I have been using for years is the Thompson Toolkit (formerly known as PolyShell). Thompson Toolkit is a UNIX-compatible shell that attempts to blend the best of the DOS and the UNIX environments. IMHO, it succeeds. It comes with the utilities you would expect: mv, cp, rm, ls, find, more, and so on. All Thompson Toolkit utilities accept either '/' or '\', or any combination thereof, and the shell itself has a translation mode where it will map '/' to '\' for you. So you type the '/' you are comfortable with, but the program being run sees it as the '\'. It can also translate '-' to '/' if you wish. Note that using Thompson Toolkit instead of changing the internal switch character won't help you *inside* applications: any paths you type inside and application will have to use the normal '\' character. But I find that almost all the paths I type are in the shell. Thompson Toolkit is available from Thompson Automation, (503) 224-1639. It costs $149 for DOS alone, $179 for both OS/2 and DOS, and you can get Thompson AWK bundled with it for an extra charge. Thompson AWK is very useful and well worth having. I have no connection with Thompson Automation except that I am a very satisfied customer. -- Steve "I don't speak for Microsoft" Hastings ===^=== ::::: uunet!microsoft!steveha steveha@microsoft.uucp ` \\==|