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Types of ms-dos commands – Epson 386SX User Manual

Page 101

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Specifying the drive designator

If you want to access a program or file on another drive without

first changing the current drive, type the drive designator along
with the filename. For example, if you are logged onto drive A

and want to use a file named PROGRAM on drive B, type

B : PROGRAM

and press

Enter.

MS-DOS loads and executes

the file named PROGRAM from drive B but stays logged onto

drive A.

Types of MS-DOS Commands

Each MS-DOS command is either internal or external. Internal

commands are built into MS-DOS; so you can use them any

time after MS-DOS has been loaded into memory. External
commands are separate files which MS-DOS must be able to

find before it can execute the command. If it cannot find the
file, MS-DOS displays an error message.

If you installed MS-DOS according to the instructions in your

MS-DOS Installation Guide, most external commands are
stored in a subdirectory named DOS on the hard disk (unless
you specified a different name when you installed MS-DOS).

The external commands CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT,

and COMMAND.COM are stored in the root directory. (For

information on directories, see “Using Directories,” later in this

chapter.) MS-DOS automatically finds any external commands

you use in the DOS subdirectory or the root directory because

the installation process has set a path to them. (For information

on setting paths, see “Using Pathnames,” later in this chapter.)

Using MS-DOS with Your Equity 386SX

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