Where can I find a manual for DOS? The Help screens provided with XP give you all the details on every keyword, but what I need is information on the operators like =, :=, |, <, >, %. I'd like to be able to set a variable to the result of a command, for example set myvar = dir myfile/b but of course as written above it does not work.

dir myfile/b > %myvar% I think this will work. I dont know, its late, i'm out. oh and for web sites i would suggest www.computerhope.com or www.ericphelps.com but for xp things are a little different. i learned most of what i know just from reading xp responses on this forum. feel free to ask some more questions. btw: what is the ":=" operator?

There is no M$-DOS in XP it is emulated, XP like all the NT family have COMMAND PROMPT http://www.ss64.com/nt/ http://senac.com/forums/4356/bin/1988.html

To do what you posted you need to use (in a batch) the following compound statement joining the For command with the Dir and Set one. For /F "tokens=*" %%A in ('Dir MyFile /B') Do Set MyVar=%%A As you can see it is no matter of operators or redirection symbols; batch scripts have evolved in a non coherent mode from early plain DOS to the actual extended Windows command language. As stated by x86 there is no Dos at all in NT based systems, that does not mean you don't need a strong knowledge of the basic DOS batch language, but that does not suffice. I can't suggest you a straight way to grasp the knowledge you like to get, follow the tips of Nathan and, while cumbersome, walk through the /? help at command prompt for commands; it is a powerfull way to get some ligth in the nigthmare.