MaxZ80 - Chapter 15

A key feature (double meaning completely unintentional I swear!) of the Log
Shell that was not mentioned in the previous Chapter is its "command line
completion" feature. I use it all the time. Let's say you're not sure
what version of a program called RDUMP is on the disc. Just type

7:54 A0:MOUSE>>rd

and then hit Esc I. What you'll see next is the "auto-completed" command

7:54 A0:MOUSE>>rdump

If you hit Esc I again, you'll hear a beep, meaning RDUMP.COM is the
only .COM on the search path. If there were other RDUMPs, you would see, say,

7:54 A0:MOUSE>>rdump12j 

Had you started with

7:54 A0:MOUSE>r

instead (ie. no d) you'd see many more auto-completions. Similarly, say you
know that there's a "library file" that starts with L in the current drive /
user area and you want to extract members from it. Just type

8:13 C7:WHATEVER>>lb

hit Esc I and you'll get

8:13 C7:WHATEVER>>lbrext 

Then type l*.lbr

8:13 C7:WHATEVER>>lbrext l*.lbr

and hit Esc I again to get

8:13 C7:WHATEVER>>lbrext lsh12b.lbr

If you add a colon to this (meaning, extract to the current drive / user) and
hit Enter, the library extract program will proceed to do its thing. Library
files are collections of related files that are often compressed before
getting added to the library; LBREXT will uncompress them as it extracts
them.

So, command completion is the lazy man's favorite feature. Even when you know
the exact command you want to run, it's a lot easier to type a couple of Esc
I's than to type it all out!

Speaking of RDUMP, which we'll spend a Chapter on shortly, if you use the
very handy Find File (FF) utility, which itself has a builtin "auto
wild-carding" feature, you'll learn

9:50 A0:MOUSE>>ff rd

Find File (FF) v. 2.4  (compatible with Z3PLUS & DosDisk)  [ZSIG]
   A1:COMS>      RDUMP   .COM         A4:BASIC>     RDUMP   .HLP

   C0:SIL>       RDK     .LNK         C0:SIL>       RDUMP   .HLP
   C0:SIL>       RDUMP12K.LBR         C0:SIL>       RDUMP12K.SIL

9:50 A0:MOUSE>>

FF takes rd to mean rd*.* and looks for matches on all drives.

A couple of things before we leave LSH. To quit the shell, type Esc Q. To get
help on LSH commands, type Esc J. The screen will fill up with a somewhat
overwhelming amount of information. Rob Friefeld, the author, wrote a
masterpiece.