Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcupt1!swh
From: swh@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Steve Harrold)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2
Subject: Re: COM files under OS2?
Message-ID: <-283389997@hpcupt1.HP.COM>
Date: 11 Dec 89 18:12:25 GMT
References: <4419@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 10

Re: COM files

I suspect the following statement is true for OS/2.  It is definitely
the case for DOS...

The DOS loader uses the .COM and .EXE extensions merely as *indicators*
that the file is loadable as a program.  Once the file is loaded, DOS
looks at the first two bytes to see if has a COM or an EXE format.  The
magic signature for an EXE file are the characters "MZ".  If "MZ" is found,
an EXE file is processed, if anything else, DOS treats the file as a COM.