UTILITIES  Ross Greenberg            
Vol. 8, No. 21                      Filename:  ALIAS


ALIAS
Command

Douglas Boling and Jeff Prosise December 26, 1989 (Utilities)


Purpose: A TSR utility that enables DOS command-line editing and recall of 
         previously issued commands and that permits assignment of long 
         commands and environment strings to short synonyms ("aliases") or 
         function keys.

Format: ALIAS [?][/U][/D][/E][/L][/F [d:][path] filename ]
	[/B nn][/M nn][/S nn][alias [command]]

Remarks: When loaded without any of its optional switches, ALIAS reserves a 
         buffer size of 512 bytes for user-entered alias strings and a command
         stack that permits recalling the last 16 commands issued.  These 
         defaults (/B 512 and /S 16) can only be changed at load time.  At this
         time, too, the /F switch can be used with a filename  (plus drive and
         path)  containing regularly used aliases (see Note).

	Previously issued commands can be recalled to the command line with the
        Up and Down Arrow keys.  When many commands are stacked, typing a few 
        initial letters before hitting the recall key will speed retrieval by 
        skipping commands that do not match the typed pattern.  Use the 
        optional /M nn switch, where nn is a number, to set a minimum length of
        command strings to be stacked.  The default, /M 1, remembers all 
        commands.

	Whether recalled or newly typed, command-line entries can be edited 
        when ALIAS is loaded.  The Left and Right Arrow keys move the cursor by
        character; Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right move by word; and Home and End go 
        to the line  ends.  The Del and Backspace keys delete characters; 
        Ctrl-Backspace deletes the word at the cursor; and Ctrl-End deletes to
        the end of the line.  Pressing Esc clears the command line and returns
        to the bottom of the command stack.  The Ins key toggles between 
        overstrike (the default) and insert mode for character entry on the 
        command line. 

	The command ALIAS alias [command] is used to define an alias or command
        synonym.  The alias variable may be any one-word alphanumeric string; 
        the command variable  may contain multiple words and must end with a 
        carriage return.  Defining an alias but omitting the command variable
        removes a previous alias assignment.  Function keys and their Alt-, 
        Shift-, and Ctrl- combinations may be used in place of alias by being 
        designated thus: [Fn], [AFn], [SFn], [CFn], with 1 to 10 as the values 
        of n.  An asterisk after the close bracket (for example, [F1]*) causes
        immediate command-string execution when the function key is pressed; 
        otherwise, Enter must also be pressed.  The command variable may 
        include replaceable command-line parameters, (for example, %1), as in 
        batch files.  Environment strings, such as a PATH string, may be used 
        as the command variable by being placed between a pair of % signs, 
        provided they do nral.

	A list of active aliases can be obtained at any time by entering ALIAS
        with its /L switch.  Alias processing can be temporarily disabled with
        the /D switch and reenabled with the /E switch.  ALIAS ? brings up a 
        help screen.  The /U switch uninstalls ALIAS from memory, when 
        possible.

Note:	A plain ASCII file containing regular user-defined aliases may be 
        installed with the /F switch when ALIAS is loaded, as, for example,
        ALIAS /F C:\BIN\MYALIAS.TXT.  This file may be up to 32K and may also 
        contain ALIAS optional switches.  Note that // and /* may be used to 
        add comments on the remainder of a line and that blank lines are not 
        processed.