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From: posert@bonnie.ics.uci.edu (Bob Posert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DOS query
Message-ID: <13918@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Date: 10 May 89 14:48:56 GMT
References: <21864@santra.UUCP>
Sender: news@paris.ics.uci.edu
Reply-To: Bob Posert <posert@ics.uci.edu>
Organization: University of California, Irvine - Dept of ICS
Lines: 29

In article <21864@santra.UUCP> s32935k@taltta.hut.fi (Carl Torsten Stenholm) writes:

>   1. How do I enter a parameter containing a space (' ') into a program or
>      batchfile.

Enclose the parameter in quotes, "like this."  This works for C programs,
but not batch files (at least in PC-DOS 3.1.)

>   3. How do I  specify to the MS-D*S where it should put it's temporary file
>      when I'm using redirection or pipes, The MS-D*S 2.11 I'm using utterly
>      fails if the CURRENT drive is full when piping. I have a One-floppy
>      PC with an extra RAM_DISK usually empty.

Right - the temporary file is placed in the root of the current disk.  If you
upgrade to DOS 3.x, you might be able to join all your disks to subdirs of
a ramdisk; then the temp file would be placed on the ramdisk.  I haven't
tried this.

>   4. Am I  doing something wrong ?   Whenever I try to sort something big 
>      enough (>64K), MS-D*S enters the Twilight Zone, never to be seen again.

According to the _MS-DOS User's Guide_ (Que Books,) the maximum file size
that sort can handle is 63k.  (Yes, 63, not 64 :-).  There is a shareware
utility called 'sortf' that gets around this limit.

--Bob
--
Bob Posert
I'm: posert@bonnie.ics.uci.edu or {sdcsvax|ucbvax}!ucivax!bonnie!posert