.TH doscat "" "" Command
.PC "Concatenate a file on an \*(MD file system"
\fBdoscat \fIdevice\fB:[/\fIdirectory\fB/]\fIfile\fR
.PP
.II "MS-DOS^concatenate a file"
.B doscat
concatenates
.I file
that is in
.I directory
on an \*(MD file system.
.I device
names the floppy-disk or hard-disk device that holds the file system to be
modified, e.g.,
.BR /dev/fha0 .
You can also build a file of aliases so that
you can access the drives as
.BR a: ,
.BR b: ,
etc.
For details, see the Lexicon entry for
.BR doscp ,
which explains how to set up defaults for the \fBdos\fR family of commands.
.PP
.I file
can name either a single file, or can contain a wildcard character to name
more than one file.
For example, the command
.DM
	doscat a:foo.c
.DE
.PP
concatenates file
.B foo.c
which is on the file system contained in device whose alias is \fBa:\fR
(as defined in file
.BR /etc/default/msdos ).
Likewise, the command
.DM
	doscat 'c:/dirname/*.txt'
.DE
.PP
concatenates all files with the suffix \fB.txt\fR in directory
.BR dirname ,
which, in turn, is on the file system contained in device whose alias
is \fBc:\fR (as defined in file
.BR /etc/default/msdos ).
In this form of the command,
.B doscat
concatenates the files in the alphabetical order of their names.
Note that the tail of the command must be enclosed within apostrophes, or
the shell will expand the `*' before it is read by
.BR doscat .
.SH Files
\fB/etc/default/msdos\fR \(em Setup file
.SH "See Also"
.Xr "cat," cat
.Xr "commands, " commands
.Xr "dos" dos
.SH Notes
.B doscat
does not understand compressed \*(MD file systems created by programs such as
.B Stacker
or \*(MD 6.0
.BR dblspace .
If you are running \*(MD with file compression,
you must copy files to an uncompressed file system
(for example, to an uncompressed floppy disk or to the uncompressed
host for a compressed file system) to make them accessible to the
.BR doscat .
