READY.TXT                            1                         Mar 10, 2001

WinXX NOTICE:  As with  most  DOS-based  utilities,  this  program  doesn't
understand the weird subdirectories,  long  filenames,  invalid  characters
that are possible under Windows.  This is not a bug.  It's just the way DOS
applications work.  For compatibility reasons,  most  versions  of  Windows
maintain a short filename for each file (in WinNT,  you  can  probably  say
"DIR /X" in DOS to find them).  The short filenames are the ones  with  "~"
characters in them (like "MYFILE~1.TXT").  The  short  filenames  are  what
these utilities will process.

The READY.EXE program is  a  text  file  viewer  and  offers  most  of  the
functions of the similar READ.EXE program.  It is, however, a stripped-down
version of READ and it processes files in a totally different way so it has
some different features.


Features of the READY program:
  * Handles files of an unlimited number of lines.
  * Handles DOS text files (lines end with CR/LF), Mac  text  files  (lines
    end with CR), or Unix text files (lines end with LF).
  * Allows text to be blocked and copied or printed.
  * Allows a user-specified string after partial or full text is printed.
  * Supports 43/50-line mode under EGA and VGA.
  * Allows jumping to DOS as well as allowing you to turn off this  feature
    (useful for public-use terminals).
  * Allows case-insensitive text searching within the file.
  * Shows a ruler line if desired.
  * Shows the file before it has finished loading so you can start  reading
    sooner.
  * Provides the ability to show line numbers on the screen.
  * Expands tabs for display.
  * Makes a quick determination of the maximum line length and sets  it  to
    either 80, 132, or 255 for processing purposes.   This  doesn't  affect
    the actual input file, just the temporary file that  the  program  runs
    off of.
  * Allows lines over the maximum  line  length  to  be  either  truncated,
    wrapped, or split.  The continuation lines (if  any)  can  be  preceded
    with a user- specified string or x-number of spaces.
  * Allows specified words to be highlighted throughout the  text  so  they
    can be identified more easily.  (This is  different  from  the  typical
    "Find" feature.)
  * Can Ctrl-PgUp/Ctrl-PgDn among up to 100 files.
  * Allows the user to adjust terminal colors.
  * To a limited extent and with a fair amount of  manual  effort,  can  be
    used to write out word processing files as ASCII text.
  * The date format shown is based on your country setting.
  * Can reroute the output to a disk file or printer and get the  automatic
    wrapping and such if desired.
  * Pressing escape stops the program early.


READY.TXT                            2                         Mar 10, 2001

READY's advantages over READ:
  * It can handle files of unlimited line counts.
  * It can be very quick processing files the second time they are viewed.
  * It requires less memory than READ requires.
  * It provides the ability to show line numbers on the screen.
  * Expands tabs for display (READ displays them as little circles).
  * Wraps or splits up long lines for display.
  * Allows word highlighting throughout a document.
  * Allows the user to specify a range of lines to read.
  * Allows you to filter out characters  as  well  as  providing  your  own
    character translation table.


READY's disadvantages over READ:
  * It handles files by rewriting them out to (by default)  your  C  drive.
    So a large file will take up considerable disk space.
  * Any lines that are wider than the determined maximum line  length  (80,
    132, or 255) are truncated, wrapped, or split up instead of being  able
    to view their entire length.
  * It does not support some of the special functions  that  READ  handles.
    Specifically, forget all of the following (although they could be added
    if people really demanded them):
       Ctrl-P  Printer formfeed
       /       Case-sensitive search (only non-sensitive searches work)
       #line   Skip to a specified line number
       -line   Move backward x-number of lines
       +line   Move forward x-number of lines
  * It does not provide any mouse support.
  * It does not provide any printer setup options (although it does provide
    wide and regular printer settings).

However, in many cases, this is a very useful command.



READY.TXT                            3                         Mar 10, 2001

Temporary file:

The program writes out a random-access file as (by  default)  C:\READY.TMP.
This file contains one 80-character record for every line in your  original
file.  (If your line length is specified as 132  or  255  characters,  then
each record will be that length instead.) In general,  this  file  will  be
much larger than your original file.  When the program finishes, by default
it deletes the temporary file.

The process of reading and writing the file can take awhile for large files
although it's fairly quick for small files.

You can retain the temporary file if you'd like and the file can be written
to a networked drive if desired.  This makes secondary reads quicker.

If the temporary file is retained, the program is smart enough  to  compare
the file date and time of the original file with the  file  stored  in  the
temporary file.  If the original file has been updated or is different from
the file stored in the temporary  file,  the  program  will  reprocess  the
source file.  Otherwise, it will just read the temporary file.

For example, if you run the program with this command:

        READY J:\EBBNEW\DATA\BULL12.TXT /TJ:\EBBNEW\BULL12.TMP /KEEP

the first time the program is  run,  it  will  create  the  temporary  file
(BULL12.TMP) based on BULL12.TXT and then will keep the temporary file. The
next time you (or someone) issues the same command, it will notice that the
BULL12.TXT file hasn't been updated so it will immediately  work  with  the
temporary file.  If the source file (BULL12.TXT) gets updated, the  program
will notice it's been updated and reprocess the file.


Binary files:

READY provides some features that allow you to read binary  files.   Binary
files include the standard EXE and COM files but  it  also  includes  files
which are stored in a native word processing format, like a WordPerfect  or
Microsoft Word file.  Once the file is read, you can  write  it  out  again
using READY and it will be  a  *very*  roughly  formatted  version  of  the
original file.

Parameters which are primarily of use when viewing binary files:

          /BINARY    sets binary processing on
          /FILTER    replaces non-printable codes with spaces
          /INDENT=-n indents just the first line  of  block  (vs  /INDENT=n
                     which indents just the continued lines)
          /EOL=str   tells program what the end-of-line character is

Keep in mind that most native format files start with all sorts  of  binary
codes to indicate things like fonts  and  margins.   Within  the  document,
you'll typically see all sorts of binary codes for margin changes  as  well
as weird characters which indicate "soft hyphens" and  "hard  page  breaks"
and such.


READY.TXT                            4                         Mar 10, 2001

Needless to say, none of this stuff shows up very well unless  you  have  a
program  that  can  specifically  read  and  convert  those  files.    They
definitely don't work very well under normal text viewers.

READY provides the ability to read a binary  file  in  as  blocks  of  6000
characters instead of as individual lines.  It will then process the blocks
as virtual lines, wrapping them at word boundaries.

Let's do an example.  You've got a Microsoft  Word  for  Windows  6.0  file
called RAID.MSW and have no way at all to handle it.   It's  about  400,000
bytes long.

If you run into a binary file without preparing READY for  it,  READY  will
give you are error about "(Warning...  Is this really a text file?  Program
may abort...)" and then probably blow up if the file is any more than about
30,000 bytes.

So try READY with "READY RAID.MSW /BINARY".  The program should bring it up
on the screen.  Scroll to the right and left  since  /BINARY  automatically
puts you into 255-character mode.

You'll see a lot of junk in the front of the  file  and  then  some  actual
lines of text.  The program default is to wrap long lines (/WRAP).  It also
adds indenting before the continuation lines which  is  kind  of  confusing
(the default is /INDENT=3 when /WRAP takes effect).  Ideally,  the  program
would wrap the lines not  based  just  on  the  words  but  on  the  actual
paragraph break characters.  Notice that the Microsoft Word  seems  to  use
little musical note symbols at the ends of paragraphs.  This should be your
end-of-line indicator.  What's the code?  Use "READY /?HEX"  and  look  for
it. It's a decimal 13 which can be entered into READY as "\013".

Since you know what code Word uses for ends of paragraphs, you  don't  need
to see the binary codes any more.   Pass  in  the  "/FILTER"  parameter  to
replace them with spaces.

You also want to see the whole text on the screen so force the program into
80-column mode by specifying "/WIDTH=80".

You want to switch the program so it indents the first line  of  each  line
(paragraph) instead of  the  continuation  lines.   This  is  done  with  a
negative indent parameter.  Pass in "/INDENT=-3" for this.

Now, try READY with "READY RAID.MSW  /BINARY  /EOL=\013  /FILTER  /WIDTH=80
/INDENT=-3".

This changes things considerably.   There  will  probably  be  a  different
number of lines now because the program replaced the binary characters with
spaces and can now wrap in different places.  Move around the file and  try
to find the actual block that contains real text.  Write it out  using  the
line-marking features (documented later) combined with file copying (Alt-D)
or printing (Alt-P).

One thing to watch out for is that the program may split up words that fall
on the 6000-byte boundaries.  As long as you've  allowed  indentation,  you
can quickly scan through the file and watch out for these.

Things like hyphenation, tables, and sometimes quotation marks will all  be
stripped by this process.  Still, it might be handy.

READY.TXT                            5                         Mar 10, 2001

Defining Character-Translations (The Filter Table):

READY allows you to translate specified characters as  the  text  is  read.
This is especially useful when you're reading something  like  a  Microsoft
Word file and you know that some weird character is *really* supposed to be
some other character.

There is a default character-translation table built into the program which
you can request by passing in the parameter "/FILTER".  In this  case,  all
characters between decimal 32 and 126 as well as decimal 9 (the  tab)  keep
their original values and everything else get translated as a space.   This
leaves you with the following characters:

        (tab) (space)                   !"#$%&'()*+,-./
        0123456789                      :;<=>?@
        ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ      [\]^_`
        abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz      {|}~

Alternatively, you can create  your  own  filter  file  and  invoke  it  by
specifying the "/FILTER=filename" parameter.  The filters can  be  in  your
standard *.INI file (for example, READ.INI)  if  desired.   If  it  becomes
large, however, you might want to move it to its own  filename.   A  sample
READFILT.INI file is provided.  You can modify this  file  or  create  your
own.

The filter table is an ASCII text file which consists of a series of  lines
in the following format:

        inchar = outchar

where "inchar" is the character to change from  and  "outstr"  is  what  to
change the character to.  Both portions can consist  of  regular  non-space
ASCII text characters (like "A" or "z") as well as hexadecimal  values  (in
the form &Hxx) or decimal values  (in  the  form  \nnn).   Both  sides  can
reference a single character (exactly one character  is  always  translated
into exactly one character).  You cannot use  a  space  or  equal  sign  in
either  "inchar"   or   "outchar";   use   the   hexadecimal   or   decimal
representations instead.  The table does not have to be  in  any  specified
order.  Lines can end with "/*" followed by a comment if you want.

Hexadecimal and decimal equivalents are explained in BRUCEHEX.TXT.

Examples:

        a    = A       /* Translate lowercase "a" into capital "A"
        \032 = _       /* Translate space (decimal 032, &H20 too) into
                          underscore
        \027 = \032    /* Translate escape character to a space

Some leading characters in INI files are  treated  specially  within  Wayne
Software programs.   INI  lines  that  begin  with  any  of  the  following
characters may lead to odd results:  "[", "/", "&", "\", ";", ":", "<", and
",".  To avoid problems, use hexadecimal  or  decimal  representations  for
these characters.  For example, use \047 or &H2F if you  want  to  override
the definition of "/".


READY.TXT                            6                         Mar 10, 2001

Specifying parameters:

Parameters for this program can be set in the  following  ways.   The  last
setting encountered always wins:
  - Read from an *.INI file (see BRUCEINI.TXT file),
  - Through the use of an environmental variable (SET READ=whatever), or
  - From the command line (see "Syntax" below)

Note that the READY program allows  you  to  provide  the  same  parameters
accepted by the READ program.  READY just ignores any  parameters  that  it
does not in fact support.  It even reads the READ.INI file by default.


Syntax:

    READY [ filespec | /Tfilename ] [ /KEEP | /-KEEP ] [ /WIDTH=n ]
      [ /TRUNCATE | /SPLIT | /WRAP ]
      [ /INDENT=n | /INDENT=-n | /INDENT=str ]
      [ /H word [ word ]... ] [ /n | /n1-n2 | /n1+n2 | -n ] [ /LOAD ]
      [ /FILTER | /FILTER=filename ] [ /BINARY | /EOL=str | /TEXT ]
      [ /DATE | /-DATE ] [ /TIME | /-TIME ] [ /-DOS ] [ /PORT=port ]
      [ /AFTERP=string ] [ /AFTERF=string ] [ /EGA | /VGA ]
      [ /COLOR=nnn nnn nnn nnn nnn | /MONO ]
      [ /Iinitfile | /-I ] [ /-ENV ] [ /? ] [ /?HEX ] [ >filename ]

where:

"filespec" is the input file  specification  to  be  viewed.   Can  include
wildcards and full path information if desired.  Note that either an  input
filespec or a temporary file has to be provided; if  neither  is  provided,
you'll be prompted for the file name to view.   You  can  specify  both  if
you'd like.

"/Tfilename" specifies the name of  the  temporary  file.   The  file  will
contain one 80-character record for each line in the source file  plus  one
line which is used to identify the input file.  (If the line length is  132
or 255 characters, the records will be that long  instead.)  The  temporary
file is stored by  default  as  C:\READY.TMP  so  "/TC:\READY.TMP"  is  the
default value for this  parameter.   Wildcards  are  not  allowed  for  the
temporary file name.

"/KEEP" says to keep the temporary file around after you leave the command.
By default, the temporary file is saved if a temporary file  is  explicitly
provided.

"/-KEEP" says to delete the temporary file no matter what.

"/WIDTH=n" specifies that the input file  is  presumed  to  have  lines  of
length n or less.  Lines longer than n characters will be either truncated,
wrapped, or split (see settings below).  READY will try to guess  the  line
length for you although it's quicker and more  reliable  if  you  enter  it
yourself.  Normal values are /WIDTH=80, /WIDTH=132,  and  /WIDTH=255.   You
cannot exceed a width of 255.


READY.TXT                            7                         Mar 10, 2001

"/TRUNCATE" says to truncate any line over the specified line  length  (for
example, any text after the 80th, 132nd, or 255th character  are  deleted).
If you print or copy the file from within READY, READY will write  out  the
lines as truncated, not in their original format.

"/SPLIT" says, for display purposes, to split any line over  the  specified
line length (for example, any line over 80, 132, or 255  characters).   The
continuation lines are indicated by the  /INDENT  parameter.   Line  counts
shown will be the number of wrapped  lines,  not  the  original  number  of
lines.  See the "/TRUNCATE" parameter above for additional caveats.

"/WRAP" says, for display purposes, to split any lines over  the  specified
line length (for example, any line over 80, 132, or 255 characters) on word
boundaries.  READY will look for the last full word  before  the  specified
length and wrap the line at that point.  The continuation lines are trimmed
of leading spaces and are then indicated by the /INDENT parameter.  "/WRAP"
is initially the  default  for  this  routine.   See  the  "/TRUNCATE"  and
"/SPLIT" parameters above for additional caveats.

"/INDENT=n" specifies that n-spaces are to be added to the  start  of  each
continued  line.   Defaults  to  "/INDENT=3".   If  you  don't   want   any
indentation at all, specify "/INDENT=0" or "/-INDENT".

"/INDENT=-n" specifies that n-spaces are to be added to the  start  of  the
first (non-continued) line and nothing is to be added before the  continued
line.  This is primarily of use when "/BINARY" is specified.

"/INDENT=str" specifies that each continued line is to be started with  the
specified string.  The string cannot contain spaces (use /INDENT=n  if  you
just want spaces); however, you can embed decimal and  hexadecimal  strings
(including space representations) if desired (see BRUCEHEX.TXT file).

"/H word..." highlights up to 10 words throughout the  text.   Highlighting
is done on a word-by-word basis; not by phrase.  So the words to  highlight
do not have to appear together in the text to be found.  You can  also  ask
for or change the words to be highlighted by using "H" within the program.

"/n" says to process lines beginning with line  n.   For  example,  "/1000"
says to read the file beginning with line 1000.

"/n1-n2" says to process lines n1 through n2.  For example, "/500-700" will
process lines 500 to 700.

"/n1+n2" says to process n2 lines beginning with  line  n1.   For  example,
"/500+500" will process lines 500 to 999.

"/-n" (or "/+n") says to stop after processing  the  first  n  lines.   For
example, "/+100" says to process only the first 100 lines of the file.


READY.TXT                            8                         Mar 10, 2001

"/LOAD" pre-loads the file into a temporary file (required) and then aborts
to DOS.  This is so you can create the temporary files for  something  like
network access as part of a batch program so users won't have to spend time
reloading the file  themselves.   This  option  automatically  invokes  the
"/KEEP" option.

"/FILTER" specifies  that  the  program  is  to  replace  with  spaces  all
non-printable characters from the input file(s).  This is primarily used in
conjunction with the "/BINARY"  parameter.   See  the  "Binary  files"  and
"Defining Character-Translations" discussions above.  Initially defaults to
"/-FILTER".

"/-FILTER" says to not bother removing the nonprintable characters from the
output.  This is initially the default.

"/FILTER=filename" specifies that  a  filter  is  to  be  applied  and  all
character  replacements  are  in  the  file  "filename".    See   "Defining
Character-Translations" discussion above.

"/BINARY" says the input file is a binary file, like an  EXE  or  a  native
word processing document.  This can be used as a way  of  seeing  what  the
document looks like and allowing you to rewrite it  as  a  text  file  with
reasonable margins.  See "Binary files" discussion above.

"/EOL=str" allows you to specify the end-of-line characters in  your  file.
You  can  embed  decimal   and   hexadecimal   strings   (including   space
representations) if  desired  (see  BRUCEHEX.TXT  file).   This  option  is
primarily of use when processing binary files because,  for  standard  text
files, READY will correctly determine the end-of-line characters  (CR,  LF,
or CR/LF) for you.  See "Binary files" discussion above.

"/TEXT" confines any search to text files only.  The program  examines  the
first thousand bytes of the file and skips any file  that  contains  binary
bytes instead of exclusively text ones.

"/DATE" displays the file date and time on the status  line;  this  is  the
default.

"/-DATE" skips displaying the file date and time on the  status  line.   If
you want to display the file time but not the date, specify  /-DATE  before
/TIME.

"/TIME" displays the file time on the status line;  this  is  the  default.
Specifying "/-DATE" will turn off the time display by default.

"/-TIME" skips displaying the file time on  the  status  line.   Specifying
"/DATE will turn on the time display by default.

"/DOS" allows the user to say Alt-J to jump to DOS.  This is initially  the
default.

"/-DOS" prohibits jumping to DOS.  Initially defaults to "/DOS".


READY.TXT                            9                         Mar 10, 2001

"/PORT=port"  specifies  the  printer  port  to  use  for  printing.   This
typically defaults to /PORT=LPT1:.

"/AFTERP=string" specifies the string to print after a partial document  is
printed.  This string can include a page eject character  ("\012")  or  any
printer reset codes  ("\012\027E")  you  want.   (See  BRUCEHEX.TXT  file.)
Initially defaults to "/AFTERP=\012".

"/AFTERF=string" specifies the string to print after  a  full  document  is
printed.  See "/AFTERP=string" description.  Defaults to "/AFTERF=\012".

"/EGA" or "/VGA" will put you in 43/50-line mode if your  monitor  supports
this.  The two options are actually synonymous (you'll get  the  best  your
monitor supports).  You can also switch to and from 25-line and  43/50-line
mode within the program by using Alt-E.

"/COLOR=nnn nnn nnn nnn nnn" specifies the color settings to  use  for  (in
order) (1) regular text, (2) the status line, (3) marked  text,  (4)  found
text, and (5) highlighted  words.   Each  setting  must  consist  of  three
digits, the first two being the foreground color and  the  last  being  the
background color.  The foreground color should be padded on the left with a
0 if it is only one digit in length.  Defaults to "/COLOR=150 151  157  143
127".  You can stop providing numbers at  any  point  after  the  first  if
you're willing to accept the default colors.

Foreground colors:

        Low intensity           High intensity

        0 = black                8 = dark grey
        1 = blue                 9 = light blue
        2 = green               10 = light green
        3 = cyan                11 = light cyan
        4 = red                 12 = light red
        5 = magenta             13 = light magenta
        6 = brown (or yellow)   14 = light yellow
        7 = white               15 = bright white

Adding 16 to any foreground color will make  the  text  blink.   Note  that
blinking text under Windows only works if your DOS window is  full  screen.
This can be set in the DOS properties or else just say Alt-Enter to make it
full screen.

Background colors can consist of 0 to 7 above.  Bright white on  blue,  for
example, would be "151".

"/MONO" (or "/-COLOR") forces the system into monochrome mode.

"/COLOR" (or  "/-MONO")  forces  the  system  into  color  mode.   This  is
typically the default.


READY.TXT                            10                        Mar 10, 2001

"/Iinitfile" says to  read  an  initialization  file  with  the  file  name
"initfile".  The file specification *must* contain a period.  Initfiles are
described in the BRUCEINI.TXT file.  Initially defaults to "/IREAD.INI".

"/-I" (or "/INULL") says to skip loading the initialization file.

"/ENV" says to look for %var% occurrences in the command line  and  try  to
resolve any apparent environmental variable references.   See  BRUCEINI.TXT
for more information.  This is initially the default.

"/-ENV" says to skip resolving apparent %var% occurrences  in  the  command
line.  Initially defaults to "/ENV".

"/?" or "/HELP" shows you the syntax for the command.

"/?HEX" gives you a hexadecimal and decimal conversion table.

">filename" redirects the  output  to  a  disk  file.   This  automatically
invokes the /LOAD option, removes a lot of messages, does all that wrapping
and such for you, and displays the results to the screen as a long  listing
of text.  This is then rerouted to the text file so you  have  all  of  the
effects without suffering through an interactive routine.  For example:

        READY myfile /WIDTH=75 /WRAP /INDENT=0 > WRAPPED.X

This  will  process  the  file  "myfile",  wrapping  long  lines  based  on
/WIDTH=75, not indent the continuation lines, and save everything in a file
named WRAPPED.X.



READY.TXT                            11                        Mar 10, 2001

Viewing options:

While you're viewing a document with the READY command,  you  can  use  the
following keys.  These are a  subset  of  the  commands  available  in  the
regular READ command:

Cursor movement keys (up/down):

     Up                moves up one line
     Down              moves down one line
     Home              moves to the top line of the document
     End               moves to the bottom line of the document
     PgUp              moves up one screen's worth
     PgDn              moves down one screen's worth

Cursor movement keys (right/left):

     Right             moves one column to the right
     Left              moves one column to the left
     Tab               moves 8 columns to the right
     Shift-Tab         moves 8 columns to the left
     Ctrl-Right        moves to the far right of the document
     Ctrl-Left         moves to the far left of the document

Search for text:

     \ or F or f or /  search for text within the document
                       (the search is case-insensitive; "/COMMERCE" will
                       find "Commerce", "commerce", and "COMMERCE")
     F3                search for the next occurrence of that text
     F9                search for the previous occurrence of that text
     H or h            highlights up to 10 words throughout your text;
                       highlighting is done on a word-by-word basis, not by
                       phrase, so the words do not have appear near each
                       other to be highlighted (the search for text option,
                       above, on the other hand, looks for phrases, not
                       words)

Marking lines:

     Alt-M             mark top line for copy or print
     Alt-B             mark bottom line for copy or print
     Alt-U             unmark all lines

Copying and printing lines (if lines are marked, the program  copies/prints
the marked lines; if no lines are marked,  the  program  copies/prints  the
entire file):

     Alt-C or Alt-D    copy (duplicate) lines to a file
     Alt-P             print lines

Next/previous documents:

     Ctrl-PgUp         go to the previous file viewed
     Ctrl-PgDn         go to the next file specified on the input line


READY.TXT                            12                        Mar 10, 2001

Miscellaneous:

     Alt-E             toggles between 25-line and 43-/50-line mode (if
                       your system supports EGA and VGA respectively)
     Alt-J or Alt-G    jumps (goes) to DOS; say EXIT to get back to
                       program; this feature can be turned off using the
                       /-DOS switch
     Alt-R             shows ruler at the top of the listing
     Alt-N             shows line numbers on the left side of the screen
     F1                show key help screen
     Esc               leave READY program


Marking and copying/printing text:

If you need to copy/print a portion of your file, you will  typically  want
to mark sections of the text first.  This is done using the mark functions:
Alt-M marks the top line on the screen and Alt-B marks the bottom  line  on
the screen.

For example, you might decide that you have a 2,000-line document  and  you
want to print 50 lines of it.  Go to the first line you want to print  (you
can use the search options if you want to).  Get that line  at  either  the
top of the screen or the bottom of the screen.  If it's  the  bottom  line,
press Alt-B; if it's the top line, press Alt-M.

Now go to the last line you want to print.  Again, get that line at  either
the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen and press Alt-B or  Alt-M
appropriately.  Having marked two lines, the program tags those  lines  and
all those lines between them.

Now press Alt-P to print them.  All marked lines will be printed.

Copying works similarly.  Use Alt-C (or Alt-D) to copy the lines to a file.

Note that the program truncates or wraps any lines over the specified  line
maximum (80, 132, or 255) and printing and copying with reflect this.



READY.TXT                            13                        Mar 10, 2001

Return codes:

READY returns the following ERRORLEVEL codes:

        0 = no problems
        2 = /LOAD operation carried out
      249 = the last file read was not a text file
      250 = escape pressed
      254 = input file(s) not found
      255 = syntax problems, or /? requested


Author:

                        Bruce Guthrie
                        Room H-4885
                        U.S. Dept of Commerce/ESA/STAT-USA
                        Washington, DC 20230

                        voice: (202) 482-3234
                        e-mail: bruce.guthrie@mail.doc.gov

You may freely copy and  re-distribute  this  program;  however,  the  U.S.
Department of Commerce neither guarantees nor assures compatibility of  the
program with all computer software or hardware.

Additional information about this and other Bruce Guthrie programs  can  be
found in the file BRUCE.TXT which should be included in  the  original  ZIP
file.  The recent change  history  for  this  and  the  other  programs  is
provided in the HISTORY.ymm file which should be in the same ZIP file where
"y" is replaced by the last digit of the year and "mm"  is  the  two  digit
month of the release; HISTORY.611 came out in November 1996.

The ZIP file that contained this program and its  associated  documentation
files is named with a two-digit year followed by  a  two-digit  month.   So
READ0001.ZIP came out in January 2000.

Comments and suggestions can be sent to the  following.   Realistically,  I
will not be revising this DOS-based program  much  in  the  future  but  it
doesn't hurt to suggest things anyway.

Please provide an Internet e-mail address on all correspondence.


