Commodore PC - Page 54

40 MS-DOS User's Guide
U
D Default disk drive The drive where ms-dos searches for any
filenames that you may type, ms-dos looks for files in the default
drive unless you specify a different drive. The standard ms-dos \^J
prompt contains the default drive letter. For example, if the
prompt is A>, then "A" is the default drive.
Del An ms-dos command that tells ms-dos to delete one or more ^-^
files. A synonym for del is erase.
Device errors Errors that ms-dos displays while reading or writ- I)
ing to devices on your computer. A device can be, for example,
a printer, a disk drive, or a monitor.
Dir An ms-dos command that means "directory." When you type K^J
the dir command, ms-dos displays the contents of the disk in the
default drive. The command dir b: displays the contents of the
disk in drive B. (J
Directory A table of contents for a disk. The directory contains
the names of your files, the sizes of the files, and the dates they
were created or last modified. ^J
Disk See Floppy disk; Hard disk.
Disk drive A piece of hardware attached to your computer. A \^J
disk drive can be either a floppy or a hard disk drive. You insert
floppy disks into floppy disk drives. Usually, hard disks are built
into the computer. M
Floppy disk drives are commonly referred to as the A drive and
the B drive. Hard disks are usually the C drive. Your computer
manual should tell you how your drives are labeled. ^^
Disk operating system A group of programs that act as a trans
lator between you and your computer, ms-dos is a disk operating , ,
system. ^—s
Diskcopy An ms-dos command that copies disks, diskcopy for
mats a disk before copying files onto it. i j
Drive name Consists of a drive letter and a colon. A drive name
tells ms-dos which drive to search for the file. For example, the
command type aprogress.rpt contains a drive name (a.) that tells \^J
ms-dos to look on the disk in drive A for the file called
progress.rpt.
E Editor A program that allows you to manipulate text and data on V-^
the computer. Editors allow you to move, add, and delete charac
ters and lines, and to save files. The ms-dos editor is called edlin.
Edlin A line-oriented editor that comes with ms-dos. See also ^""^
Editor.