FROMJOHN.TXT

                       Sun  05-01-1994  23:12:29

     ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
     ³LHA_ZIP.BAT³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
     The major program in this file set is a batch file called
     LHA_ZIP.BAT. Run it from the Command line as:

     LHA_ZIP /?

     to read the help file.

     If you run it as:

     LHA_ZIP

     it will sniff =every= *.EXE file in the directory it is in and
     place any files it finds into two text files (see below) depending
     on whether it thinks they are LHA.EXE or PKZIP.EXE made Self
     Extracting *.EXE files.

     If you type:

     LHA_ZIP A*

     it will check every *.EXE file that begins with "A" and log the
     information into the two text files.

     Before you chuckle and smirk saying, "It's only a batch file" you'd
     better run it once. It's very fast and useful. Watch how it sorts
     and stores all the information on your hundreds of Self Extracting
     Files made with LHA.EXE and/or PKZIP.EXE.

     I made LHA_ZIP.BAT out of my own desperate need to find out what is
     the hundreds of *.EXE files that I have downloaded and stored on my
     hard drive. Files with weird names that I haven't the foggiest idea
     what is in them!

     You can use LHA_ZIP.BAT to either check one letter of the alphabet
     for *.EXE files or =ALL= files.

     LHA_ZIP.BAT makes two (2) text files and puts a header, the date
     and time in them:

     1.   LHA_LIST.TXT
     2.   ZIP_LIST.TXT

     Caveat lector (reader beware)

     You must have three (3) other files in the =same directory= to run
     LHA_ZIP.BAT! They are:

     1.   ENTER.DAT       <--- In this file set
     2.   PKUNZIP.EXE     <--- Download this if necessary
     3.   LHA.EXE         <--- Download this if necessary

     ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
     ³ISLHA.BAT³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
     The batch file ISLHA.BAT is very interesting as it uses the LHA.EXE
     Errorlevels (Exit Code) to determine if a *.EXE file is a LHA.EXE
     made Self Extracting File. Stores that information in ISLHA.TXT.
     You must have LHA.EXE in the same directory to use ISLHA.BAT.

     ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
     ³STEP.BAT³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
     The greatest batch file testing advance in many moons came with a
     command included in DOS 6.2. STEP.BAT will not run without DOS 6.2
     or higher. STEP.BAT allows you to "step" a batch file command by
     command to see exactly how it works. If you want to explore the
     nitty-gritty guts of a batch file, use STEP.BAT. Use it with
     LHA_ZIP.BAT. Even if you are a Power User, you can learn much by
     using STEP.BAT...

     John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571