NSWP - A disk maintenance utility.
Dave Rand
10232 - 160 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T5P 3E9
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
I N D E X
Page
Introduction ........................ 3
Overview of NSWP ............... 4
Invoking NSWP .................. 5
Single file commands ................ 6
Help ........................... 7
Forward and Backward ........... 7
Exiting ........................ 8
Finding a file ................. 8
Viewing and Printing ........... 8
Deleting a file ................ 8
Copying ........................ 9
Renaming ....................... 9
The Space command .............. 11
The Log command ................ 11
Introduction to Multifile Commands .. 12
The Tag command ................ 12
Wildcard tagging ............... 13
The Untag command .............. 13
The Mass copy command .......... 13
After the mass (Again) ......... 14
Erasing files .................. 14
Squeezing and Unsqueezing files. 14
Setting file status ............ 15
Epilogue ............................ 16
Credits ............................. 16
Contributions ....................... 16
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Introduction
NSWP is a new disk utility than can replace many of the more
common utilities that are used, such as DISK7, PIP, PRINT, PROT,
SQ, STAT, SWEEP, TYPE, USQ and others. In only 12K of disk space
it replaces over 100K of utilities!
NSWP is written entirely in assembly language, and will run
on any CP/M 2.x, 3.x or MP/M based system with no changes. Since
it is coded in 8080 assembler, any 8080, 8085 or Z80 compatible
processor will work. Note that this program WILL NOT run on CP/M
1.4.
When NSWP was conceived, the dominant file utility was
SWEEP, and thus NSWP is syntax compatible with SWEEP, but with
many extensions. This allows you to directly rename NSWP to
SWEEP, if you so desire, with no retraining period.
I hope that you enjoy this program, and use it well. Any
problems, or suggestions may be directed to myself at the address
on the first page, or on one of the following RCP/Ms:
Edmonton RCP/M - (403) 454-6093 (300 or 1200 baud)
Stadium RCP/M - (403) 479-3450 (300 baud only)
or voice at:
(403) 484-4114
Disclaimer and warning
While this program has been tested on many systems, I will
have no liability or responsibilty to the user or any other
person or entity with respect to any liability, loss or damage
caused, or alledged to be caused directly or indirectly by this
program, including, but not limited to, any interruption of
service, loss of business, anticipatory profits or consequential
damages resulting from the use of this program.
Furthermore, although this program has been placed into the
public domain, I retain all copyrights to this program, both in
the U.S.A and in Canada, and pursuant to this, this program MAY
NOT BE SOLD BY ANY PARTY unless specifically authorized by the
author, Dave Rand, in writing, previous to the first copy being
sold. As well, this program MAY NOT BE INCLUDED IN ANY OTHER
PACKAGE FOR SALE, even if this program is indicated as being 'in
the public domain'. All of the above applies to both the original
as well as derived, or modified copies of the original. Any
modified copies of this program MUST NOT have the copyright
notice violated, changed or altered.
Please report any copyright violations to the author, at one
of the above telephone numbers. Thank you.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
NSWP Overview
NSWP is a directory and file manipulation program. With it,
you can copy, delete, rename, unsqueeze and squeeze files. The
documentation following is split into two major sections: A
tutorial for the inexperienced, and a reference section. The
reference normally will be used in conjunction with the program
to answer specific questions regarding NSWP. The tutorial is a
broad coverage of all of the functions, and should be read
through at least once.
The most important thing to remember when using NSWP is that
it provides a list of your files in ALPHABETICAL order. Moving
around in this list is quite easy, and will soon become second
nature.
In this documentation, all user input is underlined. As
well, when the"current" file is referenced in this
documentation, it means the file just to the left of your input.
This"current" file is often referred to as the file you are
"on".
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Invoking NSWP
To make effective use of NSWP, you must know the various
options available to you when you invoke NSWP. Here are some of
the options:
A>NSWP
This format simply loads NSWP, and scans the default drive
and user for filenames. Once inside NSWP, you may change to a
different drive and/or user, but when you exit you will be
returned to the drive/user that you called NSWP from.
A>NSWP *.COM
This format loads NSWP and scans the current drive and user
for all filenames with the extension '.COM'. Note that NSWP can
find system files as well, so no additional information need be
given.
A>NSWP B:*.COM *
The presence of the second asterisk indicates to NSWP that
you wish to scan all user areas of the indicated disk drive. In
this case, all '.COM files on all user areas on drive B.
Combinations of the above are acceptable, and you may even
log to all user areas, and find all files with the specification
'*.* *'.
Once inside NSWP you are presented with a menu, then a
report of which drive and user you are logged to, how much space
is taken by the files you have specified, how many files have
been found with the specifications given, and how much space is
left on the disk. A sample follows:
Drive A0: 596K in 36 files. 735K free.
A special format of this line shows that you are logged to
all user areas:
Drive B*: 950K in 234 files. 2956K free.
From this point, you may execute any of the menu options.
A special display occurs if no files are found with the
specification you have given, or if there are no files in the
given drive/user area(s):
No files.
This display may also occur if you delete all the files out
of a given specification. When this occurs, your menu choices are
limited to ONLY 'S', 'L' or 'X'. This allows you to see the free
Space on a drive, to Log to another drive/user, or to eXit. No
other choices are valid, nor will they be accepted.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Command Structure
There are two primary types of commands in NSWP: those that
act on one file and those that act on many files. We will go
through them both. Before doing that though, let's try moving
around in NSWP first.
To move in NSWP, you must first understand that the files on
your selected drive/user will be presented to you in a sorted
manner. The files are sorted in this order: Filename, File
extension, user area:
1. B0: -WORK .001 0K :
2. B0: ARCADD .COM 4K :
3. B0: ARCCOPY .COM 2K :
As you can see, the files are numbered for your convenience.
You may not directly use these numbers. As you can see, the file
size is also shown (rounded to the nearest block size).
Note that if you have enabled the reverse video sequence
(see Epilog), you may see some of the letters in the filename
printed in reverse video. The chart below shows how to decode
this information.
FFFFFFFF RSA
12345678 /YR
|||||||| OSC
4. B0: ARCDEL .COM 2K :
As you can see, this looks confusing. Really, though, it is
not. The tags F1-F8 normally are not used, but NSWP allows you
set F1-F4 for your own use. The R/O tag means that the file may
be read, but not written to. The SYS tag means that the file does
not appear in normal DIR listings, and in CP/M 3, MPM and CP/M 86
also means that this file is avaiable to all user areas. The ARC
tag means that, if set, the file has been backed up since it was
last accessed.
Now that you understand how files are presented, we can go
through a sample session. Remember, user input is underlined.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
A>NSWP B:
NSWEEP - Version 2.05 04/11/1984
(c) Dave Rand, 1983, 1984
Edmonton, Alberta
Drive B0: 850K in 64 files. 118K free.
1. B0: -WORK .001 0K : <SP>
2. B0: ARCADD .COM 4K : <SP>
3. B0: ARCCOPY .COM 2K : <CR>
4. B0: ARCDEL .COM 2K : <CR>
5. B0: ARCDIR .COM 2K : B
4. B0: ARCDEL .COM 2K : B
3. B0: ARCCOPY .COM 2K : B
2. B0: ARCADD .COM 4K : B
1. B0: -WORK .001 0K : X
A>
Help
At any point, you may request the main help menu by pressing '?'.
1. B0: -WORK .001 0K : ?
NSWEEP - Version 2.05 04/11/1984
(c) Dave Rand, 1983, 1984
Edmonton, Alberta
A - Retag files : Q - Squeeze/Unsqeeze tagged files
B - Back one file : R - Rename file(s)
C - Copy file : S - Check remaining space
D - Delete file : T - Tag file for transfer
E - Erase T/U files : U - Untag file
F - Find file : V - View file
L - Log new disk/user : W - Wildcard tag of files
M - Mass file copy : Y - Set file status.
P - Print file : ? - Display this help
X - Exit to CP/M : cr, sp - Forward one file
Moving forward and backward
As you can see, the two most common commands will be moving
forward and backwards through the directory. Either the SPACE bar
(<SP>), or the RETURN key (<CR>) may be used to move forward. To
move backwards simply use the 'B' key. Note that all commands in
NSWP can be either in upper or lowercase. Internally, lowercase
will be converted to uppercase. If you reach the end of the
directory with either command, you will be "wrapped around" to
the other end automatically.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Exiting
To exit, just use the 'X' command as shown above. This will
return you to the same drive and user area that you invoked NSWP
from, regardless of anything you may have done in NSWP.
Finding a file
Since you may have many hundreds of files selected, you may
wish to move rapidly to a particular file. You may do this
through the 'F', or FIND command.
1. B0: -WORK .001 0K : F Which file? BASCOM
8. B0: BASCOM .COM 32K :
The Find command always starts looking from entry number
one. You may use the standard CP/M syntax for wildcarding (eg: to
find the first .HEX file, you may use *.HEX), and also note that
the Find command will fill all blank spaces with question marks.
This makes the search strings 'B*.*', 'B', and 'B??????.' all
find the first file beginning with 'B'. As you experiment, you
will find other interesting uses for this command.
At this point, you now know how to move through your
directory, both rapidly and one step at a time. Let's move on to
some more useful commands.
Viewing and Printing a file
The View command, invoked with a 'V', will type the current
file onto the screen unsqueezing the file if required. Note that
this command will NOT prevent you from listing ANY type of file,
so you must use your own judgement on what can and cannot be
listed. At the end of each page on the screen, view will stop,
and allow you to abort the viewing with a ^C or a ^X. To get one
more line from the file, hit the space bar. To get another page,
hit the <CR> or RETURN key.
The Print command, invoked with a 'P', will send the current
file, with no modifications or paging, to the current LST:
device. You may abort the print with a ^C or ^X. All other
features of the View command apply.
Deleting a file
You can delete the current file just by hitting the 'D' key.
Before deletion occurs, you will be prompted.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : D Delete file? Y
12. B0: DEAD .DAT 100K :
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
If any reply other than 'y' or 'Y' is given, the file is not
deleted. If the file is deleted, it is removed from the list and
the next file is given the current file's number.
If the file is a Read Only file, you will be prompted again:
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : D Delete file? Y R/O. Delete? Y
12. B0: DEAD .DAT 100K :
Copying a file
While on any file, you may copy that file to:
A) Another name, on the same drive/user
B) Another name, on a different drive/user
C) The same name, on a different drive/user
NSWP will prevent you from copying a file to the same
drive/user that the source file resides on. Other than that,
there are no restrictions on where you wish the file to be. If a
file exists on the same drive/user that you wish to place the
destination file, the existing file is deleted automatically,
even if it is Read Only. When NSWP copies a file, all the
attributes of the original file are passed on to the destination
file. Thus, if a file is a SYS, R/O file, NSWP will cause the
destination file to be SYS, R/O after the file copy has taken
place.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : C Copy to (filespec)? C9:BACK.CDP
If you wish to preserve the name of the file, you may just
enter the destination drive/user part of the filespec (eg. C9: in
the preceding example would have copied the file to drive C user
9, retaining the name CDP1). Just entering the drive part of the
filespec causes NSWP to retain the user number of the source
file.
If the filename is followed by a space, then a 'V', the file
will be verify read after it is written. NSWP maintains a CRC of
the file as it is writing the file, and verifies this CRC.
Renaming files
The Rename command ('R') may be used to:
A) Change the name of one file
B) Change the names of many files
C) Change the user number of one file
D) Change the user number of many files
To just change the name of one file, the syntax is simple:
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : R New name, or *? CDP2
12. B0: CDP2 . 40K :
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
You may also change the user number of the file, as follows:
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : R New name, or *? B1:CDP2
12. B1: CDP1 . 40K :
Note that if all user areas are not specified in the logon
of NSWP, the file may not be shown on your list when renaming to
another user area.
To change a group of files from one name to another, you may
enter the following command at any file:
9. B0: BASIC .COM 24K : R New name, or *? *
Old name? *.HEX
New name? *.BAK
At this point all files with the extension .HEX will be
renamed to the same filename but with the extension .BAK. You
will see a running display on the screen as each file is renamed.
Any valid wildcard may be used to select the source files, and
the destination files will take one character from the source for
each '?' in the name. An asterisk qualifies as filling the
remainder of the field with '?'. If the destination file exists,
the rename is not made.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
You may also choose to rename a group of files to another
user area, optionally changing their names as well:
9. B0: BASIC .COM 24K : R New name, or *? *
Old name? *.HEX
New name? B1:*.BAK
This command will rename all .HEX files on drive B user 0 to
the same filename, but with the extension .BAK, and place the
resultant file in user 1. You may want to try this command a few
times to get the hang of it, but it is extremely powerful.
The Space command
The Space command ('S') simply asks you for a drive code,
then tells you the remaining space on the drive you specify.
Before doing the space check, a drive reset is performed, so feel
free to change disks.
The Log Command
The Log command ('L') allows you to change your directory to
another drive or user. Additionally, it allows you to re-specify
the wildcard mask just like entering the NSWP program from CP/M.
As well, the drive system is reset, so again you should be able
to change to a different diskette at this point or to another
part of the same diskette. When the Log command is used, the
instructions are reprinted for review.
16. B0: DD .COM 4K : L New drive/user/mask? A14:*.HEX
NSWEEP - Version 2.05 04/11/1984
(c) Dave Rand, 1983, 1984
Edmonton, Alberta
Drive A14: 44K in 2 files. 1118K free.
1. A14:NSWP .HEX 22K:
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Introduction to Multifile commands
Now that all the commands that affect single files have been
described, it is time to introduce the concept of Multifile com-
mands. These commands are ones that affect as few as one or as
many as all of the files on a single disk. To affect these files,
though, we must have some way of describing which files need to
be affected. CP/M has a way to do this, using "wildcards". This
program, on the other hand, uses the concept of a file"tag".
The Tag command
Tagging a file, in its simplest form, can be accomplished
just by depressing the 'T' key when the file to be tagged
appears. What exactly is a tag? A tagged file is a file in the
list of filenames that has an asterisk next to the colon after
the name of the file, as shown below.
9. B0: BASIC .COM 24K :*
A tagged file is different from an untagged file in that you
may now request an operation that deals with several unrelated
files (eg., Files that will not match using only one wildcard).
A sample"tag" session is shown:
9. B0: BASIC .COM 24K : T Tagged files = 24K ( 23K).
10. B0: BRUN .COM 16K : T Tagged files = 40K ( 39K).
Note that the 'T' command automatically performs a "move
forward" operation.
To the right of the 'Tagged files' message two numbers are
displayed. The numbers are the total size in K, of the files you
have tagged so far. This is useful if, for example, you are
moving files from one size of diskette to another, smaller, size
diskette. If the source disk holds 500K, and the destination
holds 256K, you can stop the tagging operation when your size is
just less than 256K. The tag function in itself does not perform
any operation, other than to mark the file for a future"mass"
operation.
By now the astute reader will notice that I have cleverly
skipped over the function of the second number display, the one
in parenthesis. This number is the combined size of the tagged
files, IN 1K BLOCKS. If you are using a computer system that
supports many different disk sizes/formats, or a system with a
hard disk attached, you may already know that CP/M can allocate
storage only in "BLOCKS", and that these "BLOCKS" may be up to
16k in length. This means that NSWP would show a file containing
say, 512 bytes in information, as being up to 16k long, depending
on your computer. The second number in the tag display shows how
much storage the cumulative files would take if they were stored
on a single-sided, single-density, 8" diskette.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Wildcard tagging
Another way to tag files is the wildcard tag function. This
function accepts a CP/M type wildcard and proceeds to tag all the
files that match the wildcard. To invoke this, just hit 'W' and
you will be prompted with the message 'Which files? ' Enter any
CP/M wildcard, right down to a unique filename, and if that file
exists it will be tagged and displayed.
Untagging files
If you can tag a file, you must be able to Untag a file as
well.
9. B0: BASIC .COM 24K :*U Tagged files = 16K ( 16K).
10. B0: BRUN .COM 16K :*
As you can see, the untag function subtracts the current
file's size from the total then displays the total of the remain-
ing files.
The mass copy command
Now that we have a number of files "tagged", what do we do
with them? Well the Mass copy function is one of those that acts
on many files. Its purpose is to copy the tagged file(s) from
one drive/user area to another drive/user area.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : M
Copy to drive/user? A14: V
Copying --> B0: BRUN .COM to A14: with verify
Verifying --> file ok.
The 'V' is optional, and it indicates that you wish to have
the file verified after it is written.
As you can see, the files have been sent to drive A, user
14. If you wish the tagged files to reside in the same user area
as the source files after the copy, do not specify a user area in
the Mass command. This will cause NSWP to put the file in the
same user area as the source file.
NSWP will not allow you to copy a file to the same drive and
user area as the source. The copy is simply not made.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
After the mass
After any mass file operation, the tags are "reset" as each
file is copied. Visually, they change from a '*' to a '#'. The
files are logically untagged, and will respond as such. But,
since NSWP remembers them, you can automatically retag these
files. This is useful if, for example, you need to copy the same
files to a number of different diskettes or user areas on a
drive. To invoke this, use the 'A' command.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : A
Retagging--> B0: BRUN .COM Tagged files = 16K ( 16K)
Erasing files
You may want to copy a group of files, then delete them from
the source disk after the copy has been made. To do this, you can
use either the 'C' command to copy, followed by the 'D' command,
which is tedious, or a combination of the 'T', 'M', 'A', and the
'E' commands. The 'E' command Erases tagged or untagged files at
your option, on a global scale.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : E
Erase Tagged or Untagged files (T/U)? T
Do you wish to be prompted (Y/N/A)? N
Deleting --> B0: BRUN .COM
If you specify Untagged files, the untagged files will be
erased. You may wish to be prompted before each file is to be
deleted, and you can do this via the second question.
Squeezing and Unsqueezing files
The 'Q' command allows you to Squeeze and Unsqueeze tagged
files. This file squeeze program is compatible with the original
squeeze/unsqueeze programs written in the 'C' language by Richard
Greenlaw. After hitting Q, you will see the prompt:
Squeeze, Unsqueeze or Reverse (S/U/R)?
After answering this skill-testing question, you will be
asked which drive/user you wish to place the destination files.
The syntax here is the same as for the Move command, except it is
permissible to 'Q' the files back to the same drive/user that
they originated.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
When 'Q' is invoked, you are asked if you wish to Squeeze,
Unsqueeze or Reverse. A carriage return here will return you to
the command line of NSWP.
If you select 'S' for Squeeze, all tagged files will be
examined to see if it is "worth" squeezing them. Files that
exibit ANY space reduction, even if it is only one sector, will
be squeezed. If the files is not "worth" squeezing the file will
simply be copied to the destination drive/user.
If you select 'U' for Unsqueeze, all tagged files will be
examined to see if they are squeezed. If they are, they will be
unsqueezed, and moved to the destination drive/user. If they are
not squeezed, then they are simply copied.
If you select 'R' for Reverse, all files that are squeezed
will be unsqueezed, and all files that are unsqueezed will be
squeezed (if it is worth it), and moved to the destination
drive/user.
The most attractive feature of the 'Q' command in general is
the ability to Squeeze files ONLY if it is "worth" it. This means
that by using NSWP, you can archive data into the absolute
minimum amount of space possible. The SQ algorithm used in NSWP
is better than the one in the original 'C' squeezer, and produces
the smallest output file possible with current technology.
The file squeezer section was done by Jim Lopushinsky, and
is copyrighted separately by him. He also has a public domain
standalone squeezer.
Setting the tagged files status
You may set the attributes of a group of tagged files just
like STAT, or PROT. To do this, tag the files and select the 'Y'
command.
12. B0: CDP1 . 40K : Y Which flags (1-4,R,S,A)? R,S
Setting ---> B0: BRUN .COM to R/O SYS
The flags you may set are the F1-F4 flags, as well as the
Read Only, System, and Archive (MP/M, CP/M 3 only) flags. Any
flags you do not specify will be reset. To reset all the flags
(i.e., Change to R/W, DIR and no "Sysop tag") just enter a single
comma or space at the "Which flags" prompt. Note that the flags
in the "Which flags" question do not have to be entered with a
comma between them, as anything (or nothing at all!) will do. As
far as the program is concerned 'RSA', 'R S A', and 'R,S A' are
all valid.
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NSWP 2 - A disk maintenance utility
Epilogue
All the functions of NSWP have now been described. The best
way to get more familiar with the program is to actually USE it.
I think it will be one of your most frequently used programs.
There are several things in this version that you will want
to alter:
103H
This byte controls the screen length used in the 'V'iew command.
It is currently set to 23D (17H).
104H-10AH - Turn reverse video on
The first byte in this sequence of seven shows the length of the
reverse video on sequence, which follows at location 105H. All
seven bytes are currently set to zero.
10BH-111H - Turn reverse video off
The first byte in this seqence of seven shows the length of the
reverse video off sequence, which follows at location 10DH. All
seven bytes are currently set to zero.
Credits
My thanks to all who made this program possible and particu-
larly to Dave Mccrady for his help in composing the documentation
and .HLP files for NSWP. Thanks also goes to Jim Lopushinsky,
also of Edmonton, since without him the SQ section of NSWP might
never have been completed! Thanks to the use of his SQ section,
NSWP can produce the smallest possible SQ'ed files.
Contributions
If you like, use and enjoy this program, feel free to send a
contribution (suggest $20). This will help me expand this
program, and add even more features. I am currently working on a
CP/M 86 version, and once that is running, I intend to port it to
MSDOS. Suggestions for enhancement are also appreciated, and you
may send them to:
Dave Rand
10232 - 160 Street
Edmonton, Alberta CANADA
T5P 3E9
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