Neil,

By having a \BAT directory (or a \BATCH directory) in the path, you can 
access any .BAT (or .COM or.EXE) file in that directory just by typing the 
name of the file (even without extension) no matter where you are on your 
computer.  Normally, to execute a program, you either have to state (type) 
the complete path or be in the directory in which that file is located.

I have my hard drive partitioned into "drives" C: thru K: and organized 
logically (in my mind, anyway) as such:

C:    DOS
D:    AutoCad (drafting)
E:    WordPerfect (word processing)
F:    Database (FoxPro)
G:    Graphics
H:    Utilities
I:    Communications (Arachne, Tapcis, etc.)
J:    Personal
K:    Engineering & Programming

So, for instance, if I am anywhere in this structure, and I want to use my 
word processing program, I type, "wp" and the BATch file does everything  
that is needed to start WordPerfect, thusly:

REM  PROGRAM WP.BAT
@echo off
e:
cd e:\sx
ssxwp.exe
if !%1!==!5! cd e:\wp51
if !%1!==!6! cd e:\wp61
if !%1!==!! cd e:\wp51
wp.exe %2 %3 %4 %5
e:\sx\ssxwp.exe /unload
c:
cd\
c:\mspeed\keymap.com dos
cls

Some are simpler, others are more complicated.

Similarly for Arachne:

@echo off
REM c:\qemm\xpanboss.com l: /D2048 /e10 /w >nul
REM md l:\temp
REM md l:\cache
REM set xSwap=swap_xms
I:
if !@%1@!==!@@! cd \ara160b2
if not !@%1@!==!@@! cd \ara%1
c:\razdaz\dazetune off
REM vvesa
call arachne.bat %2
set myip=
set remip=
set netmask=
set peermru=
set xSwap=
REM vvesa off
REM c:\qemm\xpanboss.com l: /m /w >nul
REM md l:\temp
c:\razdaz\dazetune on
keymap dos
cls

(The lines REMed out are because I do not have QEMM or a RAM drive set up on 
this machine, but I do have them set up on another machine.  RAZDAZ is a 
screensaver that gives a kaleidescope type display.)

Hope this helps.

Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona  USA

Neil T. wrote:

. > Hey Roger and Glenn-

. > Thanks for the tips and I am happy to say...got it working!  On my main
. > pc, I use a boot disk to take me directly to Dosstart.  From there I
. > usually go to Arachne (sometimes Nettamer).  When I left either one of
. > those, I end up at Dosstart.  Now when I exit Dosstart, I end up at the
. > a:\> prompt and I can shut the machine down!  So it worked fine, and now
. > I know what to do for my laptop which is what this topic has been about.
. > Roger, you mentioned including \batch in the path and Glen, I saw you
. > had that in your Autoexec.bat....and my library book mentions it, but I
. > am not sure why?  I don't have it in mine so I am not sure what is NOT
. > happening.  If I created a dir. \batch which contained all my .bat
. > files, and added it to the path in the autoexec.bat, what would I be
. > able to do?

. > Thanks and Cheers!
. > Neil T.

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