4DOS

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4DOS
Image:4DOS_icon.png

A colored directory listing in 4DOS.
Developer: JP Software
Latest release: 7.50.130 / August 25, 2004
OS: DOS,Windows
Use: Command shell
License: modified MIT Licence
Website: http://jpsoft.com/

4DOS is a command line interpreter by JP Software, designed to replace the default command interpreter COMMAND.COM in DOS and Windows 95/98/Me. Related products that substitute for Windows NT's command interpreter (4NT) and IBM's OS/2 command interpreter (4OS2) are also available. The Take Command product was designed as a compatible interpreter but requiring and enjoying a GUI environment (Windows or PM). 4DOS was written by Rex Conn and Tom Rawson; it was first released in 1989.

[edit] Features

4DOS features a number of enhancements when compared to COMMAND.COM:

  • Additional commands
  • Extended functionality of existing commands
  • Extended batch file processing facilities
  • Improved command line editing, including filename completion and command history
  • Support for command aliases
  • Enhanced wildcards and the ability to filter by file sizes, date and time stamps, etcetera
  • Extended syntax for redirection and piping
  • Context-specific online help
  • Colored directory listings
  • Internal variables and variable functions
  • A more sophisticated swapping mechanism, yielding more free conventional memory on most systems
  • An interactive debugger for batch files
  • A mechanism for creating, maintaining and displaying file descriptions
  • Configuration stored in an .INI file
  • Support for the Windows clipboard

[edit] History and current status

Originally distributed as shareware, the now obsolete 4DOS has been later released as unsupported freeware. Currently, it is open sourced, under a modified MIT Licence (announcement: [1]) The last update was version 7.50.130, released in August 2004. During its 15-year history, 4DOS underwent numerous updates; here are a few of the most significant.

Version Released New features
2.00 February 15, 1989 Original release. Improved command-line editing, filename completion, command history, aliases, improved wildcards, online help, internal variables, swapping to disk or EMS, file descriptions, command separator, key stacker
2.20 July 5, 1989 Executable extensions
3.00 March 7, 1990 BTM batch files (cached to memory for speed), XMS swapping, variable functions, bracket variable-name syntax
4.00 November 1, 1991 Colored directory listings, 4DOS.INI configuration file, include lists, command groups, implied CDD, DOS 5 UMB support
5.00 November 23, 1993 Date, time, and size ranges; compressed batch files
5.51 August 22, 1995 Long filename support, REXX in .BAT and .BTM files
6.00 July 24, 1997 Extended directory searches, interactive configuration (OPTION command), exclusion ranges, interactive batch file debugger
7.00 June 18, 2001 @file lists (as in DR-DOS)
7.50 February 24, 2003 User-defined functions

Some versions of the Norton Utilities for DOS included modified copies of 4DOS called NDOS. The last version of NDOS was bundled with Norton Utilities 8, and corresponded to 4DOS 4.03.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../4/d/o/4DOS_d53a.html"
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