I used to use great programs from JPsoft.com called 4dos and 4nt in 90s. And then I changed company and the new place i could not get hold of one of these. So was painfully living with native console that came with the OS. Recently I came to know that they have a free console alternative called TCC Le. I just downloaded it and now I need to convert all my scripts to this. The power and fastness of their software used to spoil me. Anyone else has done this? Migrating their dos scripts to TCC? If so, are there any tips advises, caveats? thanks, -- Holla.

Never used it, but just had a look at JPSoft's TCC/LE web page. Most of the capabilities they advertise for their product, cmd is already quite capable of. Cmd is much more powerful than the old DOS prompt but many people don't realise it. What is it that you like about TCC that cmd doesn't already do? I'm not saying TCC is unnecessary, but I'm just curious to see what people think is missing from cmd.

klint: I'm just curious to see what people think is missing from cmd. Date logic. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Yes, I agree, cmd.exe is powerfull too now, can do a lot of things, but with much more twisted lines of batch scripting than what is needed. But TCC makes these much faster to code and easier to execute. They have cmd.exe compatibility and many more commands, variables and functions. It is almost like powershell, with much less learning curve if you know batch scripting. For Example, i can do these things in TCC LE: 11:49+ c:\holla>which fe fe is an alias : for %i in (%PATH%) do @if exist %i\$1 dir /s/b %i\$1 11:49+ c:\holla\bat>except (*.bat) dir * (lists everything else in the directory other than batch files) 11:49+ c:\holla\bat>global echo %@filesize[*] GLOBAL: C:\holla\bat 4823294 GLOBAL: C:\holla\bat\log 10192 11:51+ c:\holla\bat>for %a in (*tut*) ren "%a" %@replace[Tutorial,Lesson,"%a"] 11:51+ c:\holla\bat>set dir=%@getdir[c:\holla,"Where to Install?"] (pops up the windows directory browse dialog - holla) Not only this, you have hell lot of functions: @ASSOC File association for the extension @CLIP Specified line from clipboard @CLIPW Write string to the clipboard @CONSOLE Identify console sessions @ERRTEXT Windows error description @FTYPE Open command string for the file type @ISPROC Returns 1 if a process is active; otherwise 0 @READSCR Read characters from the screen @REGCREATE Create registry subkey @REGDELKEY Delete a registry key and its subkeys @REGEXIST Test if a registry key exists @REGQUERY Read value from registry @REGSET Write value to registry @REGSETENV Write value to registry and broadcast change. @REGTYPE Type of registry variable @WINCLASS Title of first window with classname @WINEXENAME Executable name for window @WININFO Current system information @WINMEMORY Windows memory information @WINMETRICS Windows system metrics @WINPOS Window position @WINSTATE Current state of window @WINSYSTEM Set/get windows system parameters Directories, drives and devices @CDROM CD-ROM drive: 1, otherwise 0 @CWD Current Working Directory of specified drive @CWDS Current Working Directory of specified drive, with trailing backslash @DEVICE Character device: 1, otherwise 0 @DISKFREE Free disk space @DISKTOTAL Total disk space @DISKUSED Used disk space @DRIVETYPE Type of drive (hard drive, CD-ROM, etc.) @DRIVETYPEEX Type of drive (hard drive, CD-ROM, etc.) @FSTYPE File system type (FAT, NTFS, CDFS, etc.) @JUNCTION Directory referenced by the junction @LABEL Volume label @READY Drive ready: 1, otherwise 0 @REMOTE Remote (network) drive: 1, otherwise 0 @REMOVABLE Removable drive: 1, otherwise 0 @SERIAL Serial number of a disk @SHFOLDER Windows folder locations @SYMLINK Target of a symbolic link File content @COMPARE Compare two files @CRC32 File CRC @FILECLOSE Close a file handle @FILEOPEN Open a file handle @FILEREAD Read next line from a file @FILEREADB Read bytes from a file @FILESEEK Move a file handle pointer @FILESEEKL Move a file handle pointer to a specified line @FILEWRITE Write next line to a file @FILEWRITEB Write data to a file handle @INIREAD Return an entry from an .INI file @INIWRITE Write an entry in an .INI file @INODE Inode value for a file @LINE Specified line from a file @LINES Count lines in a file @LINKS Number of NTFS hard links for a file @MD5 MD5 hash of a string or file @SHA1 SHA1 checksum for a file @SHA256 SHA2-256 checksum for a file @SHA384 SHA2-384 checksum for a file @SHA512 SHA2-512 checksum for a file @SUMMARY NTFS SummaryInformation stream for a file @TRUNCATE Truncate file at current position @VERINFO Executable file version information File names @ALTNAME Short name for the file. @EXPAND All names that match filename @EXT File extension @FILENAME File name and extension @FULL Full file name with path @LFN Long name for a short filename @NAME File name without path or extension @PATH File path without name @QUOTE Double quote a filename @SFN Short name for a long filename @SEARCH Path search @TRUENAME True name of a file @UNC UNC name of a file @UNIQUE Create file with unique name @UNQUOTE Remove double quotes from a filename @UNQUOTES Remove leading and trailing double quotes File properties @ATTRIB Test or return file attributes @DESCRIPT File description @EXETYPE Application type @FILEAGE File age (date and time) @FILEDATE File date @FILES Number of files matching a wildcard @FILESIZE Total size of files matching a wildcard @FILETIME File time @FINDCLOSE Closes the search handle. @FINDFIRST Find first matching file @FINDNEXT Find next matching file @INODE Inode value for a file @LINKS Number of NTFS hard links for a file @OWNER File owner @SEARCH Path search @SUMMARY NTFS SummaryInformation stream for a file @TRUENAME True name for a file @UNIQUE Create file with unique name @VERINFO Executable file version information @WATTRIB Test or return file attributes Strings and characters @ASCII List of ASCII-s for characters in string @CAPS Capitalize first character of each word @CHAR Character string, given a set of ASCII-s @COUNT Counts occurrences of a character in a string @EXECSTR Execute a command and return its first output line @FIELD Extract a field from a string @FIELDS Count fields in a string @FORMAT Formats data string according to format string @INDEX Offset of string2 within string1 @INSERT Insert string1 into string2 @INSTR Extract a substring @ISALNUM Test for alphanumeric characters @ISALPHA Test for alphabetic characters @ISASCII Test for ASCII characters @ISCNTRL Test for control characters @ISDIGIT Test for decimal digits @ISPRINT Test for printable characters @ISPUNCT Test for punctuation characters @ISSPACE Test for white space characters @ISXDIGIT Test for hexadecimal digits @LCS Longest common sequence in two strings @LEFT Left end of string @LEN Length of a string @LOWER Convert string to lower case @LTRIM Trims specified leading characters. @MD5 MD5 hash of a string or file @REGEX Return a Regular Expression test @REGEXINDEX Return the offset of a regular expression match @REGEXSUB Return the nth matching group of a regular expression test @REPEAT Repeat a character @REPLACE Replace string1 with string2 in text @REVERSE Reverse a string @RIGHT Right end of string @RTRIM Trims specified trailing characters. @SIMILAR Test similarity between two strings @STRIP Strips all characters in char from string @SUBST Substitute a string within another string @SUBSTR Older version of @INSTR to extract a substring @TRIM Remove blanks from a string @UNICODE List of UNICODEs for characters in string @UNQUOTE Remove double quotes from a string @UNQUOTES Remove leading and trailing double quotes @UPPER Convert string to upper case @WILD Compares strings using wildcards @WORD Extract a word from a string @WORDS Count words in a string Numbers and arithmetic @ABS Absolute value of n @AVERAGE Average of a list @CEILING Smallest integer not less than n @COMMA Insert commas (thousands separators) into a numeric string @CONVERT Convert value from input base to output base @DEC Decrement a numeric value by 1 @DECIMAL Decimal fraction portion of a number @DIGITS Tests if string is all digits @EVAL Arithmetic calculations @FORMATN Format a numeric value @FORMATNC Format a numeric value and insert thousands separators @FLOOR Largest integer not larger than n @INC Increment a numeric value by 1 @INT Integer part of a number @MAX Largest integer in the list @MIN Smallest integer in the list @NUMERIC Test if a string is numeric @RANDOM Generate a random integer Dates and times @AGEDATE Converts an age into date and time @DAY Day of month for date @DATE Convert date to number of days @DOW Short name of day of week for date @DOWF Full name of day of week @DOWI Day of week as integer @DOY Day of year for date @IDOW Short localized name of day of week for date @IDOWF Full localized name of day of week for date @MAKEAGE Convert date and time to age @MAKEDATE Convert number of days to date @MAKETIME Convert number of seconds to time @MONTH Month in specified date @TIME Convert time to number of seconds @YEAR Year for date Input dialog boxes @GETDIR Prompt for a directory name. @GETFILE Prompt for a path and file name. @GETFOLDER Folder name from tree view. @SELECT Menu selection Network properties @AFSCELL OpenAFS cell name for a path @AFSMOUNT OpenAFS mount point for a path @AFSPATH Path is in OpenAFS: 1, otherwise 0 @AFSSYMLINK OpenAFS symbolic link for a path @AFSVOLID OpenAFS volume ID for a path @AFSVOLNAME OpenAFS volume name for a path @DOMAIN Domain name of a computer @ENUMSERVERS Identify server names on a network @ENUMSHARES Identify sharenames on a server @GROUP User is member of group: 1, otherwise 0 @IPADDRESS The numeric IP for a host name @IPNAME The host name for a numeric IP @PING Response time from a host @WORKGROUP Workgroup name of a computer Utility @ALIAS Value of an alias @CAPI Call a _cdecl function in a DLL @CLIP Specified line from clipboard @CLIPW Write string to the clipboard @COLOR RGB value of a color @DEBUG Write a string to the debugger @DIRSTACK Display directory stack entry @ERRTEXT Windows error description @EXEC Execute a command, returns its exit code @EXECSTR Execute a command, returns its first output line @FUNCTION Definition of a function @HISTORY A line or word from the command history @IF Value dependent on a conditional expression @OPTION Current configuration option value @PERL Evaluate a Perl expression @READSCR Read characters from the screen @REXX Evaluate a REXX expression @RUBY Evaluate a Ruby expression @SCRIPT Evaluate expression in active scripting engine @SELECT Menu selection @SNAPSHOT Save a window or the desktop to a BMP @TIMER Get split time from timer. @WINAPI Call a Windows API function @WMI Query WMI @XMLCLOSE Close an XML file previously opened by @XMLOPEN @XMLNODES Return the number of nodes (children) for the specified path in an XML file @XMLOPEN Open an XML file for use by @XMLXPATH and/or @XMLNODES @XMLXPATH Return text of XML element -- Holla.

That's interesting. As Razor said, date manipulation is one of the most useful features missing from CMD and your list of TCC functions shows that TCC is more than capable in that respect. I guess almost everything in TCC can still be done using CMD+Powershell+VBScript, but TCC makes it easier.

klint, I have to admit many functions among above are not available in the free version. I took the functions list from the common help file(meant for both free and paid version) that came with the product. However, necessary functions are available. Some fancy functions are not available. 75% of the commands listed are available in the free version. -- Holla.