TO.COM TO.COM Version 4.1(beta)
A fast, flexible directory change program.

Author Copyright (c)1990 Jeffrey S. Morley
All rights reserved.


Preface There is a program out in the public domain world called
GO.COM, that I had been using for some time. It allows
you to change directories by merely typing GO DIRNAME and
hitting enter. Besides eliminating the "\" character,
it allows you to abbreviate the name of the directory.

This is a very nice little program, and speeds moving
around the hard drive up quite a bit. It has several
problems/shortcomings that I am aware of, and that is
why I wrote TO.COM.

1) It will not allow you to change drives to a "logical"
drive. I.E. it won't change to my Bernoulli Box.

2) It doesn't properly allow you to march UP the path,
and generaly has some problems jumping around in
complicated directory trees. Also, errors put you in
the ROOT directory, which is fine unless you weren't
paying close attention and planned on a DEL *.* in the
target directory. It should make a noise upon failure!

3) It will only allow you to go 2 levels down with one
command. This is not a problem for most, but as a
PCBoard Sysop, I have many directories 3 levels down.

4) I wanted to have the program capable of executing the
best directory lister around, HDIR.COM, when it got to
the desired directory. Since I almost always end up
running HDIR when I change directories anyway, why
not have your CD program do it for you?


It is understandably hard to decide which directory is meant
in a system like this when there is any ambiguity. I guess
that is why a program like Norton's NCD was created. The
big drawback to NCD is that adding or deleting a directory
requires you to erase the file created in the root directory,
and rescan your hard drive. This is a pain, even if you DO
remember to do it.

Both GO and my TO.COM have no need for any external files.
they look at the actual directory structure each time they
are used. The payback here is that the FIRST directory that
matches is selected. You then need to be careful to make
TO commands as specific as required, keeping this in mind.

A drive with a directory of C:\QB4 and one of C:\PROG\QBASIC
is a good example. Even if you are IN the C:\PROG directory,
typing "TO QB" will jump you to C:\QB4. This is because
matches in the ROOT directory will always have priority.
"TO PROG QB" or "TO QBA" will work in this case.


Using TO TO.COM will do the following:

1) Allow you to change to a directory by typing the word
TO, followed by as much of the directory name(s) as is
required to make it different from other directories.
No "\" characters are required, but can be used if you
are so inclined. For UNIX types, the "/" char will
also be allowed.

C:>TO dir1

2) Allow you to specify up to THREE sub-directory levels
on one command line.

C:>TO dir1 dir2 dir3 (or abbreviations)

3) Allow you to use one of the three levels to change
drives.

C:>TO D: dir1 dir2

NEW! 4.0 NOTE! The ":" character is not required. If you
. issue the above as:
.
. C:>TO d dir1 dir2
.
. To.Com, seeing the single character first parameter,
. will assume that you mean a drive, will check the
. validity of that drive letter, and will begin checking
. on that drive. If the single character is not a
. valid drive letter, To.Com will search normally on the
. current drive, assuming the character to be an
. abbreviation for a directory. Don't use single character
. requests for directory-only searches unless the character
. is not a valid drive letter.

NEW! 4.0 4) TO.COM will now search all valid drives for a match on
. your request. If it doesn't find a match on the current
. drive, it will search all your HARD drives, and will
. change both the drive and the directory if a match is
. found.

NEW! 4.1 This searching of all drives can be disabled, with the
. use of the SET TO=N environment setting command. In
. your Autoexec.Bat, insert the SET TO=N command, and
. TO.COM will only search the current drive for matches.

5) Allow you to automatically run HDIR.COM when you get
to the desired directory. This is done by placing a
any one of the following characters at the end of the
command line.

. (period)
' (apostrophe)
; (semi-colon)

This range of characters is offered to allow you to
use whatever is most comfortable for your fingers.

C:>TO dir1.

The above example will change to the dir1 directory,
and execute HDIR.

ADVANCED! NOTE! I have left room in the code to change HDIR to
Backup the just H, and/or to add parameters to the HDIR command
TO program line. I won't go into this in detail, but you may use
first! Norton's NU or another HEX editor to change or add to
the HDIR command. Just be sure to only use the space
provided. Just search for "HDIR" to find the proper
location.


FreeWare TO.COM is NOT Public Domain software. I reserve all
rights to the program with the following exception:

You may USE and DISTRIBUTE the TO.COM program and
its documentation as long as no charge is made for
the program. Please distribute the program and the
documentation in original condition.

TO.COM is written in QuickBasic 4.5, with help from
Hammerly Computer Services' ProBas 4.1.

Jeffrey S. Morley - November 5, 1990
The Interconnect BBS (703)425-2505