CONCAT
                                Version 1.8
                               Release Note
                                 10/31/93

Version 1.8 is a maintenance release with no new features or usage changes. 
Listed below are significant changes introduced in the most recent 
releases.  For a more complete history, see CONCAT18.HIS.

Although CONCAT has a large number of command line and configurable 
options, it may be easily used to concatenate text files with no more 
instructions than typing "CONCAT" at the system prompt to check the command 
line syntax.

However, to take full advantage of CONCAT's many options and features, 
especially the O, A, and I options, and redirected input and output, you 
are encouraged to read through the CONCAT.HLP documentation file.

                                Version 1.7
                                  9/8/93

This is the first new release in almost two years.  CONCAT now allows 
embedded slashes and spaces in the option list following the initial slash, 
so option lists like the following are possible:
     /a/o
     /a d f /s
This more relaxed syntax will allow flexible use of 
aliases.  For example, the APPEND alias:
     APPEND    concat $* /a
allows a command line call such as
     append newdoc = chap1 chap2 chap3 /ds
expanding to
     CONCAT NEWDOC = CHAP1 CHAP2 CHAP3 /DS /A
and working as expected.

The Japanese date format with the year first (1993 September 8) is now a 
configuration option for command line option D.

                                Version 1.5
                                  11/7/91

THE SYNTAX FOR THE "I" OPTION HAS CHANGED.  If the I option is used to insert 
a divider string, the first character following the I in the option list is 
taken to be a delimiter character.  CONCAT will consider all characters 
following the delimiter as a string until it finds either another delimiter 
character or it reaches the end of the command line.  The delimiter cannot 
be alphabetic or numeric; that is, it cannot be a letter or a number.  It 
can be anything else:  punctuation, or even a control character.

To use the default divider string stored within CONCAT, use either two 
delimiter characters in succession (a null string), or make the I option 
the last character on the command line.

Redirected input and output is now available for the console, the printer, 
and the auxiliary device.  Other new features include the H option to 
filter control characters and high bits and the P option for screen and 
printer paging.

Configuration has been improved and expanded, but now requires ZCNFG 2.1 or 
later.