Can someone tell me why when you use copy to combine files (copy text1.txt+text2.txt newtext.txt)the new file is not the same size as the sum of the original files?

If you use the /b switch, the new file will be the same length as the sum of the two files. According to DOS help, when combining files, the ASCII file type is the default, wheras binary is the default for copying a single file to a new name. And, when an ascii file is created, a CTRL-Z character is added to the end. If you dump the file contents, you'll see the 1A (26) (=CTRL/Z) character tacked on to the end.

Three handy COPY commands: To "touch" a file: COPY/B filespec+,, To add an EOF char: COPY/A filespec/B+,, To remove an EOF char: COPY/B filespec/A+,, Add/remove work only at the last char position. Embedded EOF chars have to be dealt with by other means. Otherwise, debug can be used to your advantage. I'm not up to snuff on the details, but you can ask in news:alt.msdos.batch .

Laurence, Thanks for the info! Your post allowed me to install an application on a laptop using only the copy command! (Very handy when it doesn't have a floppy and the only program on the machine is COMMAND.COM). Basically, I chopped the file up at the -Z places, sent each piece over, appended a -Z, and used copy to recombine them. Success! Thanks!

what the copy command used to copy directories