Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!src
From: src@cup.portal.com (Steve R Calwas)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: undocumented DOS call for switch character
Message-ID: <22454@cup.portal.com>
Date: 23 Sep 89 17:07:15 GMT
References: <933@sl10c.concurrent.co.uk>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 49


asc@concurrent.co.uk (Andy Chittenden) writes:

>Does anybody know what the undocmented DOS calls are to set and get
>the switch character?

---------------------------------------
Int 21h (33)
Function 37h (55)
Get or Set COMMAND.COM Switch Character
---------------------------------------
Get the current COMMAND.COM switch character or set the switch
character to something new (COMMAND.COM uses the slash(/) as the
default switch character).  This function only affects internal
COMMAND.COM commands, such as DIR and COPY.  It has no effect on
external programs like XCOPY or LINK.

Call with:      AH = 37h

                AL = 0          to get the current switch character

                AL = 1          to set the switch character
                DL = ASCII value of new switch character

Returns:        DL = ASCII value of current switch character

Notes:  This function is not available in DOS 4.0+ or the OS/2 DOS
        compatibility box.

        The COMMAND.COM program in MS/PC-DOS 2.xx contains an
        undocumented internal command, SWITCHAR, that will get
        or set the switch character.  MS/PC-DOS 3.xx removed the
        SWITCHAR command, but still includes the operating system
        function calls.

        As noted above, this function only affects the COMMAND.COM
        internal commands and it is being phased out of the newer
        versions of DOS, thus it is of limited use.  The new version
        of ANARKEY 3.00, a DOS command-line editor which I wrote,
        contains support for use of the UNIX switchar conventions for
        ALL programs, internal and external.  I uploaded ANARKEY 3.00
        to comp.binaries.pc and it should appear ???.  If you are a
        registered ANARKEY user, the new version was mailed to you last
        Wednesday.  If you are not registered and send me your
        registration now, I will send you the new version immediately.


Steve Calwas                    src@cup.portal.com
Santa Clara, CA                 ...!sun!cup.portal.com!src