APPENDIX
E
Global Characters
(continued)
3.
If
you entered the DOS command
COPY
8"s."
c:
Files (e) and
(f)
would be copied.
Now you know what you were doing
in
Chapter
1
when you made
backup copies of your DOS diskette. You entered the following DOS
command:
COPY/V
*.*
c:
This caused every file on the DOS diskette to be copied. Every base
name and every extension was covered (globally defined) by this
single command.
Global characters can be time savers, but consider what could happen
if you used them with the
ERASE
command.
If
you were not careful,
you
could accidentally erase files you never intended to. DOS is
forgiving, and
it
will prompt you to make sure you really wish to
go
ahead with global commands such as erase
*.*.
If
you are not sure,
you have a chance to bail out. Nonetheless, you should be cautious
when using global characters, Detailed information on the use of
global characters can be found
in
your Disk Operating System manual.
E-3
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