I run a script from a floopy boot of Dos 6.22 to clean out junk files, etc. from a NT4 hard drive that uses Fat 16 format. I have a specifc problem with directories with a period in them, such as FireFox cache directories. I cannot traverse them or eliminate the data within them. I do not want to eliminate the folders, just the files in them.

Here's an example of a wipe function that does not work. It chokes whenever it attempts to access or go through a directory with a period in the name.

del16 /g4 /f /z c:\winnt\profiles\cecil\applic~1\mozilla\firefox\profiles\t4h4mr~1.def\cache~1.tra\*.*

The "t4h4mr~1.def" long file name is t4h4mr7i8s.default
The "cache~1.tra" long file name is cache.trash

The t4h4mr7i8s.default directory is the base folder for the user's FireFox account and cannot be removed, however I cannot get through this directory in DOS to work with any subdirectories it has. Are there any tricks for folders with periods in them?

Yes, I realize I could use wipe programs inside NT to remove these junk files. That is not the issue. I have reason for doing it from a floppy boot.

It may not be, strictly speaking, the dot.

I tried it with xdel from DRDOS from way back when.

It would not del files in a dir named test.1234, but gladly did test.123, so I guess that the problem is with chars in excess of 3 in the extension.

If true, that's no help, because you're stuck with the directory structure FireFox creates.

So I guess you need a 3rd party util with a little more horsepower than del16.

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

You might try a dos 7 bootdisk (DOS from Win9x) using DOSLFN long filename driver. I haven't run into problems deleting the FF cache using DOS to autodetect and delete it

- or alternatively, if it is a single box, redirect the cache to a differently named folder easier to get to... like C:\TEMP\FIREFOX.

I have IE and FF caching to C:\TEMP on my own boxes and it is deleted on each boot...

I see no option in FF's configuration settings to set up my temp dir. as it's cache directory. Is this a manual edit somewhere?

I will give the DOS 7 bootdisk and DOSLFN a try though.

Change FF Cache:
It is a user level tweak. IOW, must be changed in each profile:

In the profile's directory (same place you find bookmarks.htm), look for user.js. If there isn't one, then create it with edit, notepad or any other ASCII text editor.

add these lines:

<------------
// Path to Cache folder:
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.parent_directory","C:\\Temp\\Cache");

<------------

where C:\\TEMP\\CACHE could be anything, though I suggest DOS conventions and simple directory structure. ff will make/re-make the CACHE subdirectory if not present.

FF is highly configurable- I have also moved my profile to another drive. The same goes for thunderbird and sunbird. If you would like it to do something it doesn't do stock, I would suggest a search of the proper Moz forum- somebody else has probably needed the same thing-

Rgds, Bruce

I'm not familiar with DEL16 but as M2 suggests, the problem is probably with that command. Have you tried just using the 6.22 DEL command?

I remember using dos 3.3 way back in the dark ages. It couldn't navigate through directories with extensions. 6.22 can do that so I'd think the DEL command would work.

As suggested previously, why not just use the del command in the script (or even deltree /y if you so choose)? I am also unfamiliar with del16 and its (apparent) limitations. I frequently name directories in DOS with a period to "cheat" by getting 11 characters in my subdirectories (and to avoid any FAT overhead), so your current script would really hate me. :)

As for moving the Firefox cache location I also do this on Windows NT 4 since I do not want the cache to fill up my slightly limited C: drive. However, I should point out a slight correction to response #4: If you use the following in user.js (or prefs.js as I do)

user_pref("browser.cache.disk.parent_directory","C:\\Temp\\Cache");

you will end up with your cache in C:\Temp\Cache\Cache. Firefox automatically creates an additional Cache folder wherever you place it, hence the "parent_directory" part in Firefox. So do not end the path with Cache unless you want 2 subdirectories with that name. It's a slight limitation of Firefox, but it shouldn't pose a problem.