Small quirk with NUL pseudo-file \ VOGONS

Small quirk with NUL pseudo-file

Topic actions

First post, by fxm

Posted on 2011-09-13, 21:36

fxm Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 17
Joined: 2011-09-11, 16:49

A "dir" in an empty directory shows no files, as it should.

A "dir NUL" in the same directory, however, shows the pseudo-file NUL [which DOS "pretends" exists in every directory] as an actual zero-byte file.

I must admit that it has been almost 20 years since I worked intensively with actual DOS, but I don't recall that it displayed NUL like a real file.

Reply 1 of 2, by wd

Posted on 2011-09-13, 21:46

wd Offline

Rank DOSBox Author

Rank: DOSBox Author
Posts: 10813
Joined: 2003-12-03, 21:23

Where is the problem?

Reply 2 of 2, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2011-09-14, 00:47

ripsaw8080 Offline

Rank DOSBox Author

Rank: DOSBox Author
Posts: 5094
Joined: 2006-04-25, 23:24

It's the same for all/most DOS devices that DOSBox emulates (CON, PRN, etc.)

In both real DOS and DOSBox the DIR command internally uses the FindFirst function, which does find devices, but DIR in DOS nonetheless reports "File not found" for a filespec of a device name. This difference seems unlikely to cause problems, but it's trivial to implement.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to DOSBox Development