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From: bill@hp-pcd.UUCP (bill)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: switchar
Message-ID: <15200040@hpcvlo.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 27-Oct-86 11:59:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpcvlo.15200040
Posted: Mon Oct 27 11:59:00 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Oct-86 22:37:05 EST
References: <1402@uw-june.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
Lines: 20
Nf-ID: #R:uw-june:-140200:hpcvlo:15200040:000:955
Nf-From: hpcvlo!bill    Oct 27 08:59:00 1986


I've never used it, and Microsoft doesn't support it, but I can
tell you what it's for.  By changing the switch character from "/" to "-",
DOS will allow Unix-style forward slashes in path names; you then have
to use the hyphen (dash) character, like Unix, to indicate command line
switches.

Changing the switch character may make things "friendlier" and more "Unix-
like" for you, but watch out.  Any batch files you create probably won't
work on other people's machines; any that you acquire from elsewhere will
probably have to be modified to run on your machine.  Also, you may run
into problems with applications that programmatically EXEC another file
(possibly passing command line switches) or with programs that parse
path names.  Microsoft didn't document SWITCHAR because they didn't want
people to use it, since it can potentially add a lot of confusion.

bill frolik
hp-pcd!bill
Hewlett-Packard Portable Computer Division
Corvallis, Oregon