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Article #5291Re: Undocumented MS-DOS call for getting the switch char
From: Ed Nather
Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1986 17:49
Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1986 17:49
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1544 bytes
> There is an undocumented call to DOS which uses interrrupt 21h with (AH) =
> 37h. Upon return from this call (DL) will contain the ASCII value of the
> current switch character in it.
>
> NOTE: I have heard that changing the switch character does not work under
> MS-DOS 3.0+, so for many of you this may be less than useful.
>
> Nicholas Jacobs
The call to function 37h can also be used to SET the switch character,
and it works the same in DOS 2.x and 3.x. I have a huge assembly language
program (8 bytes long) that sets the switch character to "\" because
setting it to "-" means you can't have filenames like "pc-write," since
DOS then tries to find a file called "pc" and give it the switch "-w".
One can then use "/" to separate pathnames, as in Unix.
--
Ed Nather
Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin
{allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather
nather@astro.UTEXAS.EDU
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Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site utastro.UUCP Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!gatech!ut-sally!utastro!nather From: nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) Newsgroups: net.micro.pc Subject: Re: Undocumented MS-DOS call for getting the switch char Message-ID: <231@utastro.UUCP> Date: Sat, 4-Jan-86 12:49:47 EST Article-I.D.: utastro.231 Posted: Sat Jan 4 12:49:47 1986 Date-Received: Mon, 6-Jan-86 03:07:09 EST References: <3340005@csd2.UUCP> Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 21