DL

DL  is a replacement for the CP/M utility ERA.	It supports  wild
cards and lists of arguments. The syntax is:

	DL <filename>
or	DL <filename>, <filename>, .... , <filename>

DL is written in assembler,  and replaces a BDS C version that	I
have used for quite some time.	It was actually written more as a
showcase example of how to use my subroutine library,  JLIB, than
anything  else.  The source code is provided in this package,  to
give  you an idea how the library works.  The library  itself  is
available from the CMPSIG of CompuServe.

DL was written to be super-small and fast,  as befits an oft-used
utility.  The  main  program  is  165 bytes (most  of  those  are
messages),  and  with  all subroutines linked in it comes  in  at
under  700.  In spite of this,	it has most of the  features  one
would expect. As I said, it supports lists of multiple filenames,
each   with  optional  wildcard  characters.   Arguments  may  be
separated by one or more blanks,  and an optional comma. Such are
the advantages of a nice subroutine library.  DL also echoes  the
names  of the files being deleted,  and will tell you if it can't
find or can't delete any of the files.	Like most good	programs,
if you type a bad command line,  or just DL with no arguments, it
will print a "usage" error message,  showing the right way to use
it.

On  the  other hand,  DL was deliberately written to not  try  to
"protect  you  from yourself." There is no query mode a la  ERAQ,
and if you type

     DL *.*

DL will cheerfully delete all visible files. A word of _WARNING_:
since DL supports multiple arguments, the command

     DL FOO*.*

tells  DL  to delete all files beginning with the  three  letters
"FOO", and having any extension at all. But the command

     DL FOO *.*  <note the space>

tells  it  to delete the file FOO,  and then  delete  ALL  files.
Someone  has  already been bitten by this one.	So  _WATCH_  your
space bar!

Because  of the emphasis on speed,  DL does not expand	wildcards
for the display. That is, if you type

     DL FOO.*

DL  will  echo "Deleting FOO.*",  rather than expanding the  name
into a list.  Several people have requested the expansion,  and I
will probably add it in a later version.  But be aware that to do
so would slow DL down a fair amount.  SO I will probably continue
to use this version, and you may prefer it also.

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