Clay's Utilities
for DOS Batch Processes

Last updated 17 January 2005

Now Available:
NEW! Clay's Utilities for Win32, Version 1.0 Beta 6 dated January 17, 2005 (a 505K ZIP file download)
See the included ReadMe32.txt file for descriptions of these utilities. Many are 32-bit, long-name-compatible versions of my previously released MS-DOS batch utilities, whereas others are unique to the Win32 environment, such as timed message pop-ups and simple dialog boxes that you control from your batch script! A new Delayed Startup utility allows you to delay the launch of selected Startup programs; see ReadMe32.txt for details.

NOTE: Beta 6 upgrades Yank32, Xchang32, and Seek32 to eliminate a compiler bug that affected command line parsing when the path to the utility contains a blank space; also, these three utilities no longer attempt to read directories as files. Previous Beta levels have added several new utilities, as detailed in ReadMe32.txt.

Clay's Utilities for MS-DOS, Version 1.3 dated January 14, 2000 (a 400K ZIP file download)

UPDATES: The patch files listed below are NOT cumulative. To obtain all of the utilities in their latest versions, you need the baseline Version 1.3 package plus each of the patches. I'll release a full package update whenever the quantity of patches becomes sufficient to justify it.

Patch 1.3b dated April 2, 2001 (a 24K ZIP file download)
This patch includes INIMOD 2.3, which has been modified to handle lengthy existing settings without leaving behind line fragments (maximum existing line length increased from 253 to 8189 characters), and INIREAD 3.2, which also has had its setting handling limits increased, from 127 characters to 3711 characters.

Patch 1.3a dated November 11, 2000 (a 25K ZIP file download)
This patch includes FILEDATA 2.3, in which a bug affecting the use of a target file list has been fixed, and XCHANGE 3.1, which now accepts an optional "/s" switch directing it to use simple strings (i.e., not to interpret the carat and comma characters as special).

Summary of Changes Included in the Version 1.3 Package:
RENDATE 1.0 - New utility to rename files with names that reflect dates (per their time stamps, current date, or any specified date).
FTIMECMP 1.0 - New utility to compare two files' time stamps, returning an errorlevel code to indicate how much newer is one file compared to the other in your specified units.
REDATE 1.0 - New utility to redate files intuitively (no silly switches!) Assumes U.S. date format.
FILEINFO 2.2 and FILEDATA 2.2 - Improved the EXE header interpretation logic to avoid searching in vain for resources in those rare WinEXE files that have no resources at all. Added recognition of VxD files (.VXD, .386). Major performance improvement due to new search strategy that uses data in the Windows EXE header to rapidly and reliably locate the version info instead of doing a blind search. No false hits! The module's 16-bit or 32-bit status is always reported regardless of whether additional info is available. Fixed bug that affected primarily WinNT and OS/2 command prompt environments, in which some files that can be seen in the directory are not accessible to the user. The inaccessible file data was causing the next file's record to be appended to the inaccessible file's record instead of starting a new record. This now works correctly.
INTOR 1.0 and INTAND 1.0 - New utilities, comparable to INTADD, except they perform a bitwise OR and bitwise AND, respectively, of the two arguments.
SYSSAVE 1.0 - New utility to back up the FAT16 C: drive's critical system areas (boot record, FATs and root directory) as an aid to disaster recovery. Companion SYSBACK batch script uses SYSSAVE in combination with FILEAGE to perform periodic backups at any desired interval and with 1 to 35 levels of redundancy. FOR USE ON FAT16 C: DRIVE ONLY!
EXCL_OR 1.0 - New utility to encode/decode files with a simple Exclusive-OR algorithm. This is for protection from casual snoopers only; it is not very secure.
LONGADD 1.0 - New utility to add long integers (+ or - 2 gig).

Download the current version (400K ZIP file) of this unique package for FREE! Many users have told me I should be charging money for stuff that's this useful, but I'm still giving it away. This is a ZIP file containing numerous .COM and .EXE files (described briefly below), plus a couple of .TXT files for documentation and a couple of other files whose purpose is explained in the text files. You'll need PKZip, WinZip or compatible utility to extract the contents from the ZIP file.

Upon initiating the download of this package you agree to the following:

The utilities included herewith are Copyright (C)1992-1999 by Clay Ruth, who reserves all rights of ownership. You are granted a license to use this software, free of charge, in a private or corporate environment, only for the purposes described in its documentation. You are also permitted to distribute this package, IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING THIS NOTICE, WITHOUT CHARGE TO THE RECIPIENT other than reimbursement for any media on which it is distributed and associated shipping costs.

YOU MAY NOT distribute this package or any component thereof for profit, nor may you disassemble, reverse-engineer, or extract code from this software.

All software in this package has been thoroughly tested and is believed to perform as described. It is certified to have been free of viruses, trojans and other malicious code when originally distributed by the author. You, the user, are solely responsible for its usage, including, but not limited to, scanning for viruses and trojans it may have acquired in the distribution channels, determining its suitability for the intended use, backing up all critical files before modifying them with it, and accepting any and all consequences of its use. NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR THE DISTRIBUTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHERWISE, RESULTING FROM YOUR DECISION TO USE THIS SOFTWARE. YOU ACCEPT AND ASSUME ALL RISKS OF USE.

All trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners. Their mention herein shall not be construed to infer any association with, endorsement by, or critique by this package or its author.

To contact the author: see my e-mail page

Below is a brief summary, in no particular order, of each utility. For more detailed information, download the package and view the README.TXT, README1.TXT, and README2.TXT files. Additional utilities, newly added, are briefly described in the Summary of Changes at the top of this page.

TSR.COM - This is a dummy TSR that does nothing but consume DOS memory (conventional or upper). Use it to test the minimum memory requirement for running any DOS program of interest. Command line parameters allow you to specifiy the exact amount of memory to consume, from 192 bytes to just under 64K. To consume more than 64K, load multiple instances of this TSR. The last loaded instance can be adjusted in size after loading to fine-tune the remaining free memory.

ISRUN.COM - This utility reports whether a specified program is loaded in DOS memory and, when found, displays the addresses of its code (PSP) and environment data segments. It reports both TSRs and device drivers. An errorlevel code returns a logical flag to your batch script; this is most useful for determining whether your batch script is running under another process, such as a network LOGIN program, the RUNBAT$ utility, etc.

FILEINFO.EXE - This DOS-based utility locates and displays official Windows File Information from any program module adhering to the "StringFileInfo" resource standard. The "File Version" returned in the FILEINFO report is the best authority as to which copy of a DLL file is actually the most up-to-date, regardless of what the date/time stamps say. Software vendors often redate the files included in their packages to reflect the date of package issue, causing obsolete DLLs to appear newer than they really are. FILEINFO can help set things straight.

FILEDATA.EXE - This variant of FILEINFO produces its output in Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, suitable for importing into a database or spreadsheet. The first record contains field names. To facilitate the sorting and comparison of DLLs throughout your computer system, an empty database structure in Microsoft(TM) Access(TM) format is provided, complete with a "Comparison" query that sorts the essential information for you. The database was created in Access 2.0 and can be up-converted to a more recent format.

XCHANGE.EXE - Extended global find-and-replace for any kind of file, of any size. This is suitable for use at the command prompt or in a batch file. It can even be used to patch code within an executable file, provided that the search and replace sequences contain the same quantity of bytes. All byte values, 0 through 255 (x00 through xFF), are supported. Lengthy search/replace string specifications can be placed in a script file, and an ASCII or binary image file can be used as a replacement (4K maximum script or image size).

XCHANGE 3.0, available as of package release 1.2, recognizes the ZIP file format and can change the embedded path strings in such a manner that the PKZIPFIX utility (provided by PKWare with PKZIP 2.04g) can clean up the resulting ZIP file directory pointers. This works only if the first file name in the archive begins with the path you wish to change.

YANK.EXE - This is similar to XCHANGE.EXE with one important exception. Whereas XCHANGE removes/replaces only the sought text, YANK removes/replaces the entire line that contains the sought text. It "yanks" out the whole line, including the CR/LF at the end, substituting the replacement text string (or image file contents).

LINEMOD.EXE - Another variation on XCHANGE, LINEMOD changes only targeted lines, as identified by a unique identifier string.

SEEK.EXE - This handy alternative to the DOS FIND command is extremely useful to batch programmers who simply want to find out if something exists in a file. SEEK looks for the search string and returns an errorlevel code indicating whether or not it was found. SEEK handles binary files as well as ASCII files; the search string can contain control characters, graphics characters, CR/LF sequences, etc. - even nulls.

SCANSTR.COM - This program scans a string (not a file) to determine whether it contains a second specified string. Primarily useful for screening the content of environment variables, SCANSTR returns a message and errorlevel code indicating the relative position of the search string within the target string. If the search string is not found within the target string, the return code is zero. A return code of 1 indicates that the search string begins at the first character of the target string; 2 indicates that it begins at the second character, etc.

SPLITFIL.EXE - Splits any file into two parts at the first occurrence of a search string (other than at the very beginning of the file), or at a specified size. It works with both text and binary files. Split files can be reassembled later, if necessary, with COPY /B file1+file2 (i.e., the binary option of the DOS' built-in COPY command).

OCOPY.EXE - Overwrites a specified target file with a copy of a specified source file. This is a true overwriting file copier. Unlike COPY, which effectively deletes any existing file of the target name and re-creates the file in a new storage area, OCOPY ensures that the new file overwrites the existing file, using the same storage allocation. OCOPY copies any file, regardless of S, H, or R attributes, but does not pass along those attributes. If file2 exists, any "R" attribute must first be removed; it will be overwritten and its size and date/time stamp will be adjusted to match file1. If file2 does not exist, it will be created. OCOPY incorporates Novell Netware functions to make network errors invisible to the user, and it has the unique ability to copy a file to a directory where the user has only the Write and Create permissions. Thus, as a network administrator, you can create a server-based directory where your login-time batch scripts, running on user PCs, can deposit data that only you can retrieve; ordinary users won't even see that any files are there.

FILEAGE.EXE - Determines the age of the specified file, in the specified units, and returns an errorlevel code equal to the quantity of time units elapsed since the file's modification date/time stamp. An optional parameter can specify units of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years; the default units are days. The largest valid quantity returned by errorlevel is 250, but larger values may be displayed (returns nonfatal errorlevel 251). Errorlevels 252 through 255 are reserved for fatal errors. Use FILEAGE to schedule events, detect obsolete files, etc.

SRCHDIR.COM - Subdirectory search for specified file(s). SRCHDIR produces a list of all files matching the file specification in the base directory (i.e., current working directory, or other directory shown in the filespec) and all of its subdirectories. This list differs from that obtained by the DOS command "DIR filespec /s /b" in two ways: it includes each file's date/time stamp while omitting the usual DIR header and trailer, and it lists hidden files as well as normal files, including any that are in hidden subdirectories. An optional parameter can omit the subdirectory search.

INVORALL.EXE - File Inventory Utility with Multiple Seeks and Critical Error Trapping. INVORALL is an enhanced SRCHDIR that returns all file names that include any of the specified seek strings. In addition to the information returned by SRCHDIR, the file size (up to 2 GB) is appended to each line, and extremely long paths are handled gracefully by omitting the lowest subdirectory levels (substituting "\...\") and showing only what fits in the space. The maximum number of seek strings is limited only by the 127-character command line. This utility employs critical error trapping, so it can be used on a removable-media drive without triggering unwanted error messages.

MAKEDIR.COM and REMOVDIR.COM - These are non-complaining substitutes for the DOS "mkdir" or "md" command, and "rmdir" or "rd" command, respectively, suitable for use in batch files. MAKEDIR attempts to create the specified directory. If the directory already exists, its report of "Cannot create directory dirspec" is directed to STDOUT where it can be redirected to NUL or to a log file. Similarly, REMOVDIR attempts to remove the specified directory, and its report of being unable to do so is redirectable.

DELFILE.COM - Just as REMOVDIR gets rid of directories in a batch-friendly way, DELFILE gets rid of unwanted files. Its report, announcing whether or not the file was deleted, is redirectable.

BIN2ASC.EXE and ASC2BIN.EXE - This is a complementary pair of programs for converting binary files to ASCII files and back again. Some communication protocols, designed for use with ASCII files, cannot transfer binary files due to their interpretation of special characters within the data stream. BIN2ASC converts a binary file of size x to an ASCII file of size 2x that contains the hexadecimal ASCII representation of the binary values found in the original file. ASC2BIN converts such a file back to its original binary form. This method is not as space-efficient as UUENCODE, MIME, BinHex, etc., but it has the advantage of being eye-readable as to the ASCII codes being transmitted.

INTADD.COM - Integer Addition program suitable for use with decimal or hexadecimal values. The output is a "SET RESULT=sum" command printed to stdout, which can be redirected into a batch file and called to create the RESULT environment variable. The sum is formatted as either a four-digit hexadecimal value with leading zeros, or as a non-padded decimal value. The format of value1 determines the format of the sum. A leading "x" identifies the value as hexadecimal, but the output sum will not include an x. The input parameters are not case-sensitive. Permissible values are hexadecimal 0000 to FFFF or decimal -32768 to 32767. Hexadecimal results of 8000 through FFFF are considered to be "negative". The returned errorlevel code is 0 for positive result, 1 for negative, and 2 for syntax error.

LONGADD.COM - Long Integer Addition, similar to INTADD.COM as described above, except that the range of input and output values is hexadecimal 00000000 to FFFFFFFF or decimal -2147483648 to 2147483647, where hexadecimal values 80000000 to FFFFFFFF are considered negative.

INPUT.COM - Provides text input within a batch file, one line of up to 128 characters; user-entered text is appended to a specified file.

TPAUSE.COM - Timed Pause displays a user-specified prompt and accepts a single-keystroke response. If no key is pressed within the timeout interval, it terminates with zero errorlevel. Timeout may be from 1 second to 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds, or infinite. Default timeout = 1 minute. Returns errorlevel code = position of keystroke within character list, 0 = timed out. See (and execute) TPHELP.BAT for usage examples.

TZSET.EXE - Automatically sets the TZ environment variable to either CST6 or CST6CDT, depending on whether or not the current system date is between the first Sunday in April and the fourth Sunday in October. The central time zone is only a default; if you use it in another time zone, simply preset TZ to the base setting for your time zone (e.g., SET TZ=EST5) before invoking TZSET. It will then produce either the same setting or one with the proper "_DT" appended to it (e.g., SET TZ=EST5EDT). If the current TZ setting is undefined, or if its 2nd through 4th characters are not "ST" followed by a numeric character, the default CST zone is used. A confirmational message of the form ":: Setting TZ=CST6CDT" is issued to STDOUT.

FINDALL.EXE - An alternative to the DOS FIND command. By using wildcards in the filespec, multiple files may be searched with a single command, and the output is not dirtied up with the names of files being checked.

LMORE.COM - An alternative to the DOS MORE command. Use it in identical fashion. Although the DOS MORE command has improved in recent versions, it is still quite messy, especially when dealing with lines longer than 80 characters (i.e., lines that wrap around to display as multiple-line records). It has a bad habit of printing its "-- More --" prompt in the middle of a line and thoroughly messing up the display format of all remaining display lines of the affected record. LMORE is a line-based MORE that checks the length of each input record to ensure that it will fit on the current screenful before displaying it. If the entire record cannot fit on the screen, the "-- More --" prompt appears in the position that the first line would occupy. When a key is pressed, it backspaces over its prompt, overwrites the prompt with spaces, then backspaces over it again so that the display can continue in uninterrupted fashion. If the keystroke is Esc or Ctrl-C, the process is aborted.

INIMOD.EXE - This utility allows you to add, delete, or modify settings within specific sections of Windows-style .INI files.

INIREAD.EXE - This .INI file interpreter for batch files allows you to capture any desired setting, from any section, in the environment variable you name. If the parameter is found in multiple lines of the same section (e.g., "device=" in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI), the first occurrence will be returned in the specified variable, and the subsequent occurrences will be returned in variables having similar names with numerical suffixes 2 through n, where n is the number of occurrences found.

RUNBAT$.EXE - This is a batch file launcher for use within a user's Novell network login script. It looks up the COMSPEC environment variable and calls whatever is referenced therein (i.e., the fully qualified path to the command line processor), passing it parameters requesting a 5K space for environment variables (/E:5120) and command execution (/C) plus whatever parameters (maximum quantity of 9) are included on the RUNBAT$ command line.

RUNBAT$.COM - Used in the same manner described above for RUNBAT$.EXE, RUNBAT$.COM runs COMMAND.COM as a child process instead of letting it overlay RUNBAT$.COM in memory. This has an impact of approximately 15K on the conventional DOS memory available to the launched batch process. However, this makes it compatible with Windows 95B and later in addition to remaining compatible with MS-DOS versions 3.0 through 6.22.

ENVMASTR.EXE - When you use the SET command while shelled out from an application, it sees only the local environment of the shell. ENVMASTR lets you work in the master environment that was created when the system was booted, and/or any subordinate environments. This is especially useful when using RUNBAT$ to execute a batch whose environment manipulation is expected to stick to the command environment from which RUNBAT$ was executed. The batch can either make all environment changes through ENVMASTR, or make them locally and then use ENVMASTR to copy the modified environment into the master. A display-only option lets you view the content of any environment space, complete with a report of the environment size, bytes used and bytes free.

NRTS.EXE - This is a utility for testing a user's rights in a specified Novell server volume subdirectory. It works with Novell Netware 3.11 and MS-DOS 5.0.

HIDE.COM and UNHIDE.COM - This is the easy way to hide and unhide files and directories! Similar capability is available in DOS 5.0 and higher via the ATTRIB command, but ATTRIB is awkward to use with all of its parameters, and it complains when it can't find the file or is restricted by the status of unspecified attributes. Since HIDE and UNHIDE produce no display under any conditions, you can use them in your batch program without regard for whether or not such a file exists or has various other attributes.

SETRO.COM and SETSHR.COM - Like HIDE and UNHIDE, SETRO and SETSHR provide a quick and easy way to set the Read-Only attribute (SETRO) or the System, Hidden, and Read-Only attributes (SETSHR) in your batch files.

BIOSVER.COM and VIDVER.COM - These utilities capture the version identification strings from the system BIOS ROMs and the VGA ROM extension, respectively.

EXTMEM.COM - This utility reads the CMOS to determine how much extended memory is present on the system. It returns a string that can be redirected to a log file as part of a system inventory script.

DAYOFWK.COM - Returns an errorlevel code corresponding to the current day of week, where 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, etc., through 7=Saturday. Visual output reports the errorlevel returned and the day of week (3-character abbreviation); e.g., "3=Tue". This output may be redirected to a file, NUL, or other device. Use DAYOFWK in batch files to control processes that should be performed only on certain days of the week.

FIXTIME.COM - Resets the DOS clock to match the real-time clock. This is handy when certain notebook PCs wake up from suspended operation and still show a DOS time setting from when they were initially suspended. The real-time clock has continued running, but DOS was asleep and doesn't know that any time has passed! A simple FIXTIME command will bring DOS back to reality. This can also be used periodically on systems that run continuously on an extended basis, to correct DOS's inherent time drift. Although documented, version 1.0 of this utility was inadvertently omitted from package releases 1.0 through 1.2. Version 1.0 fixed only the time of day; if the PC had been asleep overnight its DOS date would remain incorrect. Version 2.0 fixes both the date and the time of day.

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