Is there a way to make MS-DOS 6.22 prefer .bat to .exe? \ VOGONS

Is there a way to make MS-DOS 6.22 prefer .bat to .exe?

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First post, by tomexplodes

Posted on 2020-10-24, 17:55

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Just as an example, I made a doom.bat file so I could install and uninstall novert.com before and after running doom.exe, but simply typing doom runs the executable, not the batch file. This is no big deal, I renamed doom.exe to doom1.exe and did it that way, so it's not something that's necessary, but I was just curious. Thank you!

1.) MS-DOS 6.22, Pentium-S 90mhz, 32mb RAM, S3 Trio64, Vibra 16
2.) Windows 98 SE, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.1ghz, 512mb RAM, Geforce 4 TI 4200 128mb, Sound Blaster Live! Value

Reply 1 of 9, by Jo22

Posted on 2020-10-24, 18:08

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It's a matter of the command line interpreter (CLI) .
By default, DOS uses command.com, which uses this order:
.com
.exe
.bat

On Windows, there's PATHEXT= variable, also.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/605101/or … -a-bat-vs-a-cmd

You may want to try an alternate CLI, such as 4DOS.
Maybe it can be configured in a way that suits your needs. 😀

Edit: Alternatively, there are also batch file converters.
They "compile" batch files and create COM or EXE files.
They can be find in shareware archives (simtel, night owl etc) online or on old CDs.

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Reply 2 of 9, by tomexplodes

Posted on 2020-10-24, 18:18

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Okay, good to know. Like I say, not difficult to work around, just wanted to know. Thanks for the info! I'll take a look at 4DOS.

1.) MS-DOS 6.22, Pentium-S 90mhz, 32mb RAM, S3 Trio64, Vibra 16
2.) Windows 98 SE, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.1ghz, 512mb RAM, Geforce 4 TI 4200 128mb, Sound Blaster Live! Value

Reply 3 of 9, by Errius

Posted on 2020-10-24, 18:50

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I've always put program launching batch files in C:\DOS.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 4 of 9, by kixs

Posted on 2020-10-24, 19:20

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Call it with full name doom.bat or shorten to d.bat.

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Reply 5 of 9, by dr_st

Posted on 2020-10-24, 21:07

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Errius wrote on 2020-10-24, 18:50:

I've always put program launching batch files in C:\DOS.

I always put them in C:\BATCH and put C:\BATCH first in PATH.

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Reply 6 of 9, by jakethompson1

Posted on 2020-10-24, 21:14

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Do you use doskey? Could set up a macro.

Reply 7 of 9, by Errius

Posted on 2020-10-25, 02:39

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Jo22 wrote on 2020-10-24, 18:08:
It's a matter of the command line interpreter (CLI) . By default, DOS uses command.com, which uses this order: .com .exe .bat […]
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It's a matter of the command line interpreter (CLI) .
By default, DOS uses command.com, which uses this order:
.com
.exe
.bat

What does DOSBox do if there's also an internal DOSBox command with the same name as an external file?

I seem to remember problems from having LOADFIX.COM on my system. It had different syntax to the DOSBox command and was launched first. This caused much confusion until I realized what was happening.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 8 of 9, by jmarsh

Posted on 2020-10-25, 03:14

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Internal DOSBox "commands" are actually executables on Z: drive, so they get chosen based on $path like regular programs.

Reply 9 of 9, by Errius

Posted on 2020-10-25, 03:15

Errius Offline

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Aha, that explains it. I have Z:\ at the very end of the path.

Is this too much voodoo?

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