Chapter 3
REDIRECTING COMMANDS
MS-DOS
assumes
that
command input comes from
the
keyboard
and
output goes to
the
screen. However, you
can
redirect
input
so
it
comes from a file
and
output
so
it
goes to a file or a line
printer.
In addition, you
can
create
pipes
that
let one command's
output
become another's
input.
Input
and
Output
To
redirect
input
so
it
comes from a file, use a less-than
sign
«)
in
your command. For example:
s 0 r t <n a me s
(ENTER
I
sorts
the
information
in
the
file Names
and
displays
the
sorted
output.
To
redirect
the
output
of
the
DIR
command so
it
goes to a file,
use a
greater-than
sign
(»
in
your command. For example:
dir
>myfiles
[ENTERI
sends a
directory
listing
to
the
file Myfiles
in
the
current
direc-
tory.
If
Myfiles does not already exist, MS-DOS
creates
it
and
stores
the
listing
in
it.
If
Myfiles does exist, MS-DOS overwrites
the
old
information
with
the
new information.
Append.
To
add your
output
to
the
end of
an
existing file, use
two
greater-than
signs. For example:
di
r
»myf
lies
I
ENTER
I
appends your
directory
listing
to
the
file Myfiles
in
the
current
directory.
If
Myfiles does not exist, MS-DOS
creates
it. Here is
an
example
in
which both
the
input
and
output
are
redirected:
sort
<names
>list1
(ENTER)
This
command
sorts
the
information
in
the
file Names
and
sends
the
sorted
output
to
the
file
Listl
in
the
current
directory.
19
To Next Page
Loading...
Need help?
General
