CP

This  is my absolute favorite of all the programs in my  library,
and  also  one	of the most frequently used.  It is a  file  copy
program, replacing PIP.

Unfortunately, I can't provide the program in this file, since CP
is a proprietary program. CP.C is a program provided with the BDS
C  compiler,  and  is proprietary to  BD  Software,  Inc.

So why provide the DOC file?  Partly because CP is so important a
part of my library,  and partly because, while proprietary, CP is
not  that hard to get ahold of.  Many users of CP/M systems  have
BDS C (if you don't, waste no more time getting a copy), and Leor
Zolman	of BDS has never been a stickler for Copyright laws.  His
TELEDIT modem program, for example, which is also included in the
compiler  package,  is  widely  available  on BBS's.CP has a very
flexible command format. The most straightforward usage is simply

     CP <from> <to>

where  <from> and <to> are unambiguous filenames.  The filenames,
can,  of course,  include drive ID's. BDS also allows user areas,
with a rather unusual notation:

     area/drive:

Example:

     CP 0/A:FOO.BAR 15/B:XYZZY.COM

If  the file is to be copied with the same name,  the destination
name can be omitted, leaving just the destination user/drive:

     CP FOO.BAR B:

This is probably the most often-used form of the command.

With  this  second  form,  you	can  also  have  multiple  source
filenames, possibly including wildcards:

     CP A.COM B.COM *.C B:

CP is smart enough to figure out that the last argument should be
a user/drive designation, for this form of the command.

Finally, there is one last neat feature: the character '.' stands
for the current user area/drive. So the command

     CP B:*.COM .

says to copy all COM files on B: to the current area/drive.

Like  most  good  programs,  if you make a syntax  error  on  the
command  line,	CP  will give you an error message  with  correct
usage.

I have found one small bug in CP. It can copy specific files from
any  user  area/drive  to any other.  It can also copy	lists  of
files,	including files with wildcard names,  to any  area/drive.
But  it  gets confused if you ask it to copy wildcard names  from
a user area other than the default one. That is, it can handle

     CP *.COM 4/B:

but not

     CP 4/B:*.COM .

In this situation,  CP doesn't crash or do anything nasty ...  it
just tells you that it can't find the file. The solution is easy.
Just change user areas to area 4 (in the example), so you can use
the first form.

I frankly don't know how hard a time you will have getting a copy
of  CP without getting it from BDS.  I hope you will not find  it
too  difficult.   It is entirely possible that it would be OK  to
distribute  the  object  of  CP.COM,   as  long  as  one  doesn't
distribute  source.  I don't know enough about the legalities  of
such,  and would rather err on the side of caution. If anyone can
establish that it's OK to distribute CP.COM, I will do so.

If you cannot find a copy of CP,  don't despair!  A public-domain
version,  written in assembler language, is in the works by yours
truly.

Jack W. Crenshaw
P.O. Box 15888
Tampa, Fla. 33684
CIS 72325,1327