UTILITIES
Ashok P. Nadkarni
Vol. 9, No. 16
CMDEDIT

Purpose: A TSR utility that supplies full editing features to the DOS
interface; stacks commands and drive/directory pairs for
recall; supports definable symbols and variables, and
programmable function-key definitions and macros; provides
optional autocompletion of commands and filenames; and enables
changing drives and directories simultaneously.

Format: CMDEDIT [/r] [/i] [/g] [/p X] [/d N1] [/m N2] [/b N3]
[/s N4] [/f filename]

Remarks: CMDEDIT can be entered at the DOS prompt, but is normally installed
through the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Its optional parameters at
installation are:
/r Auto recall mode (default off)
/i Use insert mode (default overtype)
/g Use silent mode (default beeps on error)
/p Set the ignore macro character (default X is 😉
/d DOS command stack buffer (default N1 is 512 bytes)
/m Macro buffer size (default N2 is 512 bytes)
/b Symbol buffer size (default N3 is 512 bytes)
/s Directory Stack size (default N4 is 256 bytes)
/f Initialization file to read at startup (default none)

The CMDEDIT Ctrl-key editing actions are:

^F or Right-Arrow Cursor forward (character).
^B or Left-Arrow Cursor backward (character)
^Right-Arrow Cursor forward (word)
^LeftArrow Cursor backward (word)
^E or End Cursor to end of line.
^A or Home Cursor to start of line.
^D or Del Delete character at the cursor.
^H or Backspace Delete previous character
^W Delete word at right of cursor.
^L Deletes word at left of cursor.
^[ or ESC Erase entire command line.
^K Delete from cursor to end of line
^X Delete from cursor to start of line
^O Delete from cursor to EOL and
execute line.
^G Erase entire line but keep in stack.
^^ (Ctrl-6) Execute line, but do not store or
display (for passwords).
INS Toggle insert/overtype modes.
^I or TAB Expand partial filename or
directory name (adds\) if possible.
^J Replace variables with values.
^Q Place succeeding Ctrl-key on
line as literal instead of command
^Z Put end-of-file marker on line.

Commands given at the DOS prompt can be recalled from their buffer
using the Up-Arrow (^U) or Dn-Arrow (^N) keys. Commands beginning with one
or more user-typed letters can be recalled with ^R or ^V. In auto-recall
mode, activated either with the /r switch or toggled by ^Y, a command stack
search is made as each letter is typed in.

The PUSHD d:\path command changes to and stacks a drive/directory pair.
If at least one pair has been pushed into this buffer, entering PUSHD without
parameters toggles between the current and stored pairs. POPD changes to and
removes a stacked drive/directory pair, and the CHD d:\path command allows
changing to a drive and directory simultaneously without affecting the stack.

The DEFS symbol string command allows abbreviating a long command (the
string) with one or more characters (the symbol). By using F1...F0 (for F10)
and SF1...SF0 as the symbol values, the function and shifted function keys can
be programmed to output strings on the command line. If these strings end in
the @ character they will be executed, as well. To be expanded into its
defined string, a symbol must be the first word on the command line. Before
being passed to DOS or to an application the command line is scanned
recursively, so one symbol can define another.

Multi-line command macros are created by issuing the DEFM macroname
command. Each line is terminated by hitting Enter, and the macro is terminated
with the ENDM command. Macro command lines may contain parameters, which are
designated by %n (n is a numeral from 1-9). Parameters are processed much as
in DOS batch files (see article text). Macros support DOS batch file commands
such as ECHO, PAUSE, IF, and FOR; see text for restrictions. Embedded spaces
and tabs in macro command line arguments must be enclosed in pairs of quotes
("). Macros cannot be nested, and one macro can call another only from the
last line before ENDM.

Macros and symbols also support the use of string variables, which
must be enclosed within % signs. See the article text for how these are
processed. Macros and symbols may be deleted by name with the DELM and DELS
commands, respectively, and the respective CMDEDIT buffers can be cleared and
reset with the RSTHIST, RSTSYM, RSTDIR, and RSTMAC commands.

Instructions for preparing an initialization file to load
regularly-used macros and symbols via the /f parameter option are presented in
a sidebar to the main article.