Dave's List Files, beta 0.8 is a simple
directory lister showing files and sizes
grouped by extension and sorted by name. It
supports several output formats controlled by
command line switches and/or environment
variable. Compatible w/4DOS descriptions.
Freeware.

DLF -- Dave's List Files (c) 1991-2 Bit Bucket Software

* * Beta Version 0.8 -- This file is preliminary documentation * *

DLF is a simple directory lister, showing the files in a directory grouped
by extension, and sorted by file name. It supports several output formats,
controlled by command line switches. I wrote it to overcome the limitations
of a called LF.COM that didn't accept path names and got confused on
directories with a large number of files. I've also given DLF some options
and more of a 4DOS-style command line flavor.

The syntax for DLF is

DLF [/switches] [pathname] [/switches] [pathname] ...

Pathnames are processed to append *.* or \*.*; future versions of the program
may support use of file wildcards. The pathname can be any valid drive or
directory; no validity checking is performed to invalid pathnames will produce
no output. There are three output modes, showing files only (6 per line),
files with abbreviated sizes (4 per line), or files with abbreviated sizes and
the associated 4DOS file descriptions (1 per line). The default mode is the 4
per line mode, and appears as follows:


DLF (0.8) listing of d:\powerc2\dlf\*.*
.BAT files: check 10b
.BTM files: make 173b
.C files: ansisys 12K cdir 739b comma2 4K dlf_getf 11K
dlf_main 7K dlf_out 6K dlf_use 2K qfn 4K
.DOC files: dlf 5K
.EXE files: comma2 23K dlf 21K
.H files: dlf 724b
.HXT files: dlf 3K
.MAP files: dlf_main 19K
.MIX files: dlf_getf 5K dlf_main 3K dlf_out 4K dlf_use 4K
qfn 2K
.PRJ files: dlf 333b
.SYM files: comma2 4K
.TRC files: comma2 4K dlf_getf 11K dlf_main 6K dlf_out 53b
dlf_use 110b qfn 2K
Total of 30 file(s), 156737 bytes


Valid switches are:

? -- print a usage message (also h); cancels all other processing.

| 4 -- show files and abbreviated sizes, 4 per line (default)
| 6 -- show files only, no sizes, 6 per line
| 1 -- show files, abbreviated sizes, 4DOS descriptions, 1 per line

n -- Normal mode, turn Break and Emphasized off (default)
b -- Break mode, print a blank line between file types
e -- Emphasized mode, print a horizontal line between file types

a -- Show all files (default)
x -- Show only executable files (COM, EXE, BAT, BTM)

| The switches 1, 4, and 6 are changed from version 0.7. The corresponding
| switches in 0.7 were 4, D, and L, respectively. I changed the switches to
| be more indicative of the output format, and to free up the letters for
| mnemonic uses later.

Switches are case insensitive, and affect the display of the pathnames
specified after the switch (that is, parameters are processed in order).
Note that the switches 1, 4 and 6 are mutually exclusive, as are the
switches B, E, and N, and the switches A and X. An environment variable
named DLF_OPT can be used to alter the defaults. For example, adding

SET DLF_OPT=1e

would cause DLF to default to the 1-file-per-line output format, with
horizontal lines between different file types (extensions). The environment
variable is processed after the internal defaults are set but before the
command line is processed, so command line switches still take precedence.
Since none of the switches are toggles the meaning of any particular switch
value one the command line is always unambiguous.

Abbreviated files sizes are reported in (b)ypes, (K)ilobytes, or (M)egabytes
Sizes are adjusted up to the nearest whole K or M, if appropriate. K's and
M's are binary, not decimal (1K = 1024 bytes). The summary total of file
sizes is total bytes of data, not total bytes of disk space used.

DLF writes to the standard output, so its output can be redirected, piped,
filtered, etc.

DLF is written in C and was compiled with the Mix PowerC compiler, v2.0.0.
It should work fine if processed with PKLITE, DIET, or similar programs.

The code used to fully qualify the target directory name is copyright 1988 by
Ray Duncan and Ziff-Davis Publications, and was originally published in Ray
Duncan's column in PC Magazine.

Planned features for DLF include:

- add report of disk space consumed and free disk space, like a
conventional directory program.

- add support for file specs, including 4DOS-style "include lists"
on the command line.

- add the ability to display the contents of archive files such as
ZIP files in a format consistent with the rest of DLF (I'll do at
least ZIP files, I may do other formats as well).

Comments, bug reports, and features suggestions on this program are welcome.
Please send them to me in the "C Programming" message area of The
Programmer's Corner BBS of Columbia, MD. Phone numbers for TPC are (301)
596-1180 and (301) 995-3744. The Programmer's Corner is a great BBS, well
worth trying if you've not been there before!


Dave Lemire
Bit Bucket Software
Columbia, MD
12/25/92