This program will fix the DOS 6.0 EDIT program so that when it is invoked 
without a command line file name of a file to edit, *.* will appear instead of 
*.TXT.  This will allow one to select the file to edit directly from the list.  
This proved to be a very handy thing when implemented in DOS 5.0 using PATCH5ED 
written by Frank Fischer.  This was so handy that I really felt bad about 
upgrading to DOS 6.0.  Since the DOS 5 patch wouldn't work on DOS 6, I looked 
at the Pascal program for PATCH5ED and could see that it wasn't too complex 
even though it was certainly elegant.  I thought I might be able to patch the 
prigram using Basic.  I found the *.TXT in QBASIC.EXE using the PCTools View 
program.  The *.TXT starts at 2DC70h which, using a line length of 16 bytes, 
makes it at the beginning of line number 2DC7h or 11719 decimal.  The 
hexadecimal numbers start at zero, but the line count starts at one, so the 
line number in ED6PATCH for the location of *.TXT is 11720.  This enabled me to 
write the program.

PATCH5ED also saved a copy of the original program QBASIC.EXE when it patched 
it, but that is too hard for me to do in BASIC.  If you want a copy, make it 
before you start.  I'm writing all this stuff to tell you how easy it is and 
next time you can modify the program yourself and run it with the DOS Qbasic.

The patch can be made by executing the program ED6PATCH.EXE while it is in the 
same sub directory with QBASIC.EXE.

A safer way, one that is used by chickens like I, is to copy programs EDIT.COM 
and QBASIC.EXE into a separate sub directory or disk.  Then copy ED6PATCH.EXE 
to the sub directory or disk and execute it there.  You can then test it to be 
sure it works OK before replacing it in DOS.

ED6PATCH.EXE was programed to do nothing to the QBASIC.EXE program if it didn't 
find the *.TXT where it is supposed to be.  The Basic program is included for 
those who would like to see it and possibly modify it.  It was written using 
Quick Basic 4.5 but PATCH6ED.BAS can be run using Qbasic from DOS.



Charles E. (Ed) Washington
521 Canyon Dr.
Solana Beach, CA  92075-1303
(619) 481-9548