Rid: A File Deleter

Rid

A File Deleter

Paul W. Carlson

If you frequently find yourself deleting files to obtain more space on your disks, you'll appreciate this machine language program that takes the drudgery out of the process. "Rid" is written for the IBM PC/PCjr and compatibles with BASIC and version 2.0 or higher of PC-DOS or MS-DOS. Cartridge BASIC is required for the PCjr.

There is no way around the problem of disks becoming cluttered with unwanted files. How does this happen? Here are a few contributing causes:

Most text editors and word processors automatically make backup copies so you can recover accidental (or intentional) deletions.
Programmers often save different versions of a program as they work.
Some compilers and assemblers create intermediate files.
Files with time-sensitive information eventually become out-of-date.

With a collection of unnecessary files on your disk, you may have trouble locating the ones you really need. "Rid" is a program that allows you to quickly and safely delete all unwanted files from your floppy or hard disk.

Normally, deleting the unwanted files on a floppy disk (or in the subdirectory of a hard disk) is a dull, time-consuming chore in which typing mistakes can spell disaster. It's all too easy to type DEL BATFILE. BAT instead of DEL BATFILE. BAK or DEL VERSION4. BAS instead of DEL VERSION3. BAS. If you need to delete many files, you may use the wildcards * and? to speed up deleting files with similar names. Unfortunately, using wildcards can easily result in the unintentional deletion of files.

Rid takes a completely different approach. To make the chore as pleasant as possible, it displays the names of all your files on the screen, allowing you to easily select and delete them.

Type in the BASIC program "Rid Creator." Since it creates a machine language file that will perform disk access, be sure to use the IBM Proofreader program, found elsewhere in this issue, to enter it. Be sure to save a copy to disk, but don't use the name RID.COM—that name is reserved for the machine language program that will be created later.

To start the program, type RUN. You're asked to choose between a hard disk and floppy disk version of the program. If you enter F for floppy, the program creates a version of RID.COM that allows you to change disks in the active drive before the directory is read and displayed. If you enter H, the program creates a version of RID.COM that immediately displays the current directory. If you're going to be using Rid with both floppy and hard disks, choose F. After you enter your preference, the program will create a program file named RID.COM. Hard disk users should put a copy of RID.COM in the same directory that contains the other DOS commands that are loaded from disk (the nonresident external commands such as FORMAT, DISKCOPY, and so on), or in any other directory that is included in the DOS search path. Floppy disk users should put a copy of RID.COM on their working copy of the system disk.

A New DOS Command

RID.COM works just like any other DOS command. First, be sure to set the active drive to the drive that will hold the disk with the files you wish to delete. Then, enter RID at the DOS prompt, preceded by the drive designation of the disk containing RID.COM, if RID.COM is in a drive other than the active drive. If you created the version of RID.COM for floppy disks, you'll be told to insert a disk in the active drive. If the disk you want to use is not in the drive, place it there and press a key to continue. The active drive and current directory are displayed at the top of the screen, followed by a list of the first 100 files. RID.COM will let you delete only those files found among the first 100 in a directory, but this should seldom, if ever, be a limiting factor.

After the files are displayed, a line of instructions explaining the keyboard controls appears at the bottom of the screen. Notice that one of the files is highlighted. Use the arrow keys to move the highlight from one filename to another. When you press the D key (upper-or lowercase), the chosen file will be deleted immediately from the disk, and the name of the file will disappear from the screen. You can now move the highlight to the name of the next file to be deleted. Be very careful to delete the correct file or files. If you make a mistake and delete a file that you wanted to keep, you may be able to recover your lost files with a disk utility program.

To exit RID.COM and return to DOS, press the Escape key. Once you've become accustomed to using RID.COM, you'll wonder how you got along without it.

Rid Creator

For instructions on entering these programs, please refer to "COMPUTE!'s Guide to Typing In Programs" elsewhere in this issue.

NA	1	‘ program to create RID.COM
NA	2	‘ Copyright 1987 Compute! Publications, Inc.
IK	3	‘ All Rights Reserved.
GI	4	CLS:PRINT "COPYRIGHT 1987" : PRINT "COMPUTE! PUBLICATIONS, INC."
DC	5	PRINT "All RIGHTS RESERVED.&lrdquo;
KE	6	FOR ZZ = 1 TO 1500:NEXT:CLS
MP	10	INPUT"Create RID.COM for Hard or Floppy disk (H Or F)";D$
LM	20	IF D$ = "H" OR D$ = "h" THEN D = &H7A:GOTO 50
NE	30	IF D$ = "F" OR D$ = "f" THEN D = &H6E:GOTO 50
FF	40	GOTO 10
DN	50	OPEN "RID.COM" FOR OUTPUT AS 1
PJ	60	PRINT#1, CHR$ (&HE9); CHR$ (D); CHR$(&H8);
HL	70	FOR N = 1 TO 1927:PRINT#1,CH R$ (O); :NEXT
FP	80	T = 0:FOR J = 1 TO 910:READ A$: N = VAL ("&H" + A$)
FG	90	T = T + N:PRINT#1,CHR$ (N);: NEXT: CLOSE 1
NI	100	IF T = 84241! THEN PRINT "RID.COM SUCCESSFULLY CREATED!": END
KH	110	PRINT CHR$ (7); "****** ERROR IN DATA STATEMENTS *****": END
LN	120	DATA 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 2A, 2E, 2A, 00
JM	130	DATA 0A, 0A, 0D, 49, 6E, 73, 65, 72, 74, 20
GK	140	DATA 64, 69, 73, 6B, 20, 69, 6E, 20, 61, 63
GB	150	DATA 74, 69, 76, 65, 20, 64, 72, 69, 76, 65
PN	160	DATA 2C, 20, 74, 68, 65, 6E, 20, 0A, 0D, 20
KA	170	DATA 20, 20, 70, 72, 65, 73, 73, 20, 61, 6E
DL	180	DATA 79, 20, 6B, 65, 79, 20, 74, 6F, 20, 63
NH	190	DATA 6F, 6E, 74, 69, 6E, 75, 65, 2E, 2E, 2E
CB	200	DATA 24, 44, 45, 4C, 45, 54, 49, 4E, 47, 20
FF	210	DATA 46, 49, 4C, 45, 53, 20, 46, 52, 4F, 4D
LL	220	DATA 20, 20, 20, 3F, 3A, 5C, 24, 44, 69, 73
GG	230	DATA 6B, 20, 61, 63, 63, 65, 73, 73, 20, 65
LF	240	DATA 72, 72, 6F, 72, 20, 2D, 20, 70, 72, 65
LC	250	DATA 73, 73, 20, 61, 6E, 79, 20, 6B, 65, 79
MP	260	DATA 20, 74, 6F, 20, 63, 6F, 6E, 74, 69, 6E
BK	270	DATA 75, 65, 2E, 2E, 2E, 0A, 0A, 0D, 24, 0A
KL	280	DATA 0A, 0D, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20
AE	290	DATA 20, 55, 73, 65, 20, 61, 72, 72, 6F, 77
EK	300	DATA 20, 6B, 65, 79, 73, 20, 74, 6F, 20, 6D
KC	310	DATA 6F, 76, 65, 2C, 20, 5B, 44, 5D, 20, 74
MA	320	DATA 6F, 20, 64, 65, 6C, 65, 74, 65, 20, 66
PA	330	DATA 69, 6C, 65, 73, 2C, 20, 5B, 45, 73, 63
CF	340	DATA 5D, 20, 74, 6F, 20, 71, 75, 69, 74, 2E
KJ	350	DATA 24, 8D, 16, 94, 08, B4, 09, CD, 21, B4
JD	360	DATA 07, CD, 21, B4, 0F, CD, 10, A2, 43, 07
EC	370	DATA 88, 3E, 44, 07, B4, 03, BA, 3E, 44, 07
OH	380	DATA CD, 10, 88, 2E, 45, 07, 88, 0E, 46, 07
JK	390	DATA B4, 08, CD, 10, 88, 26, 4F, 07, BB, 00
PN	400	DATA 06, B7, 07, 33, C9, BA, 4F, 18, CD, 10
NJ	410	DATA B8, 00, 02, 33, DB, 33, D2, CD, 10, B8
JM	420	DATA 00, 00, A0, 43, 07, 3C, 07, 74, 02, B0
BI	430	DATA 02, CD, 10, C6, 06, 47, 07, 00, B4, 19
EJ	440	DATA CD, 21, 04, 41, 8D, 36, DB, 08, 83, C6
JB	450	DATA 16, 88, 04, B4, 47, 8D, 36, 50, 08, B2
ND	460	DATA 00, CD, 21, 8D, 36, 50, 08, 8A, 04, 46
BA	470	DATA 3C, 00, 75, F9, 4E, B0, 0A, 88, 04, 46
CC	480	DATA 88, 04, B0, 0D, 46, 88, 04, 46, B0, 24
EJ	490	DATA 88, 04, B4, 09, 8D, 16, DB, 08, CD, 21
AB	500	DATA 8D, 16, 50, 08, CD, 21, 8D, 16, 50, 07
LA	510	DATA B4, 1A, CD, 21, 8D, 3E, 03, 01, B4, 4E
LC	520	DATA 8D, 16, 90, 08, B9, 00, 00, CD, 21, 72
EA	530	DATA 3F, FE, 06, 47, 07, B9, 11, 00, 8D, 1E
OO	540	DATA 50, 07, 83, C3, 1E, 49, BA, 17, 80, FA
BK	550	DATA.00, 74, 0A, 88, 15, 47, B4, 02, CD, 21
OO	560	DATA 43, EB, EE, B4, 02, B2, 20, CD, 21, 47
OC	570	DATA E2, FB, 80, 3E, 47, 07, 64, 75, 03, EB
BP	580	DATA 40, 90, BD, 16, 90, 08, B4, 4F, CD, 21
GN	590	DATA 72, 35, EB, C1, 8D, 16, F5, 08, B4, 09
DE	600	DATA CD, 21, B4, 07, CD, 21, B4, 00, A0, 43
HP	610	DATA 07, CD, 10, B4, 05, A0, 44, 07, CD, 10
EC	620	DATA 8A, 2E, 45, 07, 8A, 0E, 46, 07, CD, 10
PL	630	DATA B8, 00, 06, 33, C9, BA, 4F, 18, 8A, 3E
IL	640	DATA 4F, 07, CD, 10, C3, 8D, 16, 29, 09, B4
OP	650	DATA 09, CD, 21, C6, 06, 4D, 07, 02, C6, 06
EH	660	DATA 4C, 07, 02, C6, 06, 4B, 07, 00, C6, 06
MC	670	DATA 4A, 07, 00, C6, 06, 49, 07, 00, E8, 3A
JD	680	DATA 01, B4, 07, CD, 21, 3C, 00, 74, 0D, 3C
LA	690	DATA 1B, 74, A9, 0C, 20, 3C, 64, 75, EE, E9
MJ	700	DATA B6, 00, B4, 07, CD, 21, 3C, 48, 75, 21
MG	710	DATA 80, 3E, 4D, 07, 03, 72, DC, 8A, 0E, 4D
JM	720	DATA 07, FE, C9, 88, 0E, 4C, 07, BA, 0E, 49
BN	730	DATA 07, 80, E9, 05, 88, 0E, 48, 07, E8, FE
BN	740	DATA 00, EB, C2, 3C, 4B, 75, 20, 80, 3E, 4B
JF	750	DATA 07, 00, 74, B7, 8A, 0E, 4B, 07, FE, C9
HK	760	DATA 88, 0E, 4A, 07, BA, 0E, 49, 07, FE, C9
JG	770	DATA 88, 0E, 48, 07, E8, DA, 00, EB, 9E, 3C
OG	780	DATA 50, 75, 2A, BA, 16, 47, 07, 2A, 16, 49
EP	790	DATA 07, 80, FA, 05, 77, 02, EB, 8B, BA, 0E
EA	800	DATA 4D, 07, FE, C1, 88, 0E, 4C, 07, 8A, 0E
CI	810	DATA 49, 07, 80, C1, 05, 88, 0E, 48, 07, EB
QK	820	DATA AD, 00, E9, 70, FF, 3C, 4D, 74, 03, E9
NL	830	DATA 69, FF, 80, 3E, 4B, 07, 04, 75, 03, E9
EA	840	DATA SF, FF, 8A, 16, 47, 07, 2A, 16, 49, 07
LD	850	DATA 80, FA, 01, 77, 03, E9, 4F, FF, 8A, 0E
QM	860	DATA 4B, 07, FE, C1, 88, 0E, 4A, 07, 8A, 0E
EG	870	DATA 49, 07, FE, C1, 88, 0E, 48, 07, E8, 72
FE	880	DATA 00, E9, 35, FF, E8, 1F, 00, 8A, 04, 3C
HA	890	DATA 20, 75, 03, E9, 29, FF, 8B, D6, B4, 41
BE	900	DATA CD, 21, B0, 20, B9, 0C, 00, 88, 04, 46
FC	910	DATA E2, FB, E8, 50, 00, E9, 13, FF, A0, 49
KC	920	DATA 07, B4, 00, D1, E0, D1, E0, D1, E0, D1
HI	930	DATA E0, BE, 03, 01, 03, F0, C3, 8A, 16, 4B
QO	940	DATA 07, D0, E2, D0, E2, D0, E2, D0, E2, 8A
LK	950	DATA 36, 4D, 07, B7, 00, B4, 02, CD, 10, C3
GO	960	DATA E8, D3, FF, E8, E3, FF, B7, 00, BA, 1E
LD	970	DATA 4E, 07, B9, 01, 00, B4, 09, BA, 04, 46
DH	980	DATA 3C, 00, 74, 0A, CD, 10, FE, C2, B4, 02
KI	990	DATA CD, 10, EB, ED, C3, C6, 06, 4E, 07, 07
NM	1000	DATA E8, D5, FF, C6, 06, 4E, 07, 70, A0, 4C
OK	1010	DATA 07, A2, 4D, 07, A0, 4A, 07, A2, 4B, 07
BH	1020	DATA A0, 48, 07, A2, 49, 07, E8, BB, FF, C3