#Strange File
9 messages in this thread
Could anyone help with this one? It's been driving me nuts!
Wordperfect generates several files which are apparently necessary for its
internal workings. These files all start with the characters "{sys}". Several
are generated by the program and stay resident on the WP disk. Other than take
note of them when doing a "Dir" command, one would probably never try to delete
them or copy them individually. One, in particular though is generated on the
"Print" disk during the printer selection process and subsequently must be
copied to the WP disk. It is "{sys}.prt."
WP refers to this file as one of the printer "short files." The other short
files are "sFont.prt, sFeed.prt, and sPrinter.prt." These three short files can
be copied, deleted, listed, etc. The "{sys}.prt" file cannot be copied, listed,
or renamed but it CAN be deleted. Trying to LIST it results in an error
message, "Directory not found." (!?) If however a LISTing is done of the disk
(LIST DF0:, LIST Print:, etc) then "{sys}.prt" (and other {sys}… files) shows
up properly displayed along with all the normal files. Trying to COPY
"{sys}.prt" to ANY device (physical drive, RAM:, etc) results in disk activity
on the source drive and apparent completion of the COPY process as evident by
the screen prompt display, but no activity on the destination drive and no copy
of the file on the destination disk.
"{sys}.prt" CAN be copied using WordPerfect's copy option in the "List Files"
requester. As a matter of fact, this is the ONLY way to get "{sys}.prt" from
the Print disk to the WP disk.
I have never seen this anomaly mentioned before. Have I just missed something
that everyone else knows? WP in their on-disk Readme file DOES instruct the
user to use the List Files Copy option to copy these files, but they do NOT
warn that the copy operation can ONLY be done in this way.
What gives?
Thanks,
Rich
Rich,
I don't have WP so don't know for sure, but it's possible that they've
got a hidden character in the filename (such as a backspace) because using the
straight COPY command, I created and moved around just fine a file I called
{sys}.test
Don
Don,
Henry has suggested that ARP may be interfering with this filename. I AM using
ARP…More checking…
Rich
Are you using ARP? If so, { is used by ARP for something. Oh well, I wish I
could help, but if you are using ARP you may want to go back to Commodore's
commands to try this.
Henry,
Yes I am using ARP!. Thanks, I'll check that out. Wow. Talk about
incompatibility!
Rich
Richard,
Yes – you have stumbled onto one of the "anomalies" of ARP – the curly braces
are treated by the file-name parser as (partially implemented) wild-card
characters, and consequently not treated as part of the file name itself. I
don't remember a work-around for the problem either, other than to either toss
ARP or use a DU-type utility to access/copy these files (and to avoid using
curly-braces in file names where you have control of the file name).
Hope this at least solves the mystery, if not providing a totally acceptible
solution.
..Bob
Bob,
Thanks. See the other replies. Using Copy *.prt will get around the problem
somewhat. Although it will copy other .prt files also. The best solution has
been the Wordperfect "List Files" requester which allows highlighting of the
specific files to copy including a mix of 'normal' files as well as one or more
files with the "{" character. What a mess until these replies!
Rich
Richard,
The "{" symbol is giving you the problem. Even with ARP you could copy it
with 'COPY *.prt dfx:'. Same with LIST.
Or, from within WordPerfect, you can copy files from the F5 (List Files)
menu. Highlight the files you want to copy, click on COPY (#8). Then just click
on YES to the 'copy files' prompt and then type in WHERE you want the files to
go.
Lloyd
Lloyd,
Yes. I now realize that "{" is the problem. I had completely forgotten about
ARP, but even so, did not realize the significance of "{."
Rich