0003 *KEY 1 NEW | | M AUTO | | M RETURN

ESCAPE

A similar command is *APPEND, which allows you to add new text onto the

end of an existing file. It is used in precisely the same way as *BUILD, but the

named file must already exist, otherwise a 'Not found' error is generated.

Miscellaneous commands

The MOS provides several further commands which are best described as

'utilities'; they are *DUMP, *CREATE, *CLOSE and *HELP.

*DUMP is followed by a filename and produces a listing of the bytes in the file

displayed in hexadecimal and ASCII. If the file is of any length this information

will roll off the top of the screen unless restrained by pressing SHIFT+ CTRL.

You can use ESCAPE to stop the listing altogether, e.g.:

*DUMP Rubbish RETURN

*CREATE will create an empty file of specified length. Its uses are rather

limited, but it is employed thus:

*CREATE Mess 1000 RETURN

creating a file called 'Mess', &1000 bytes in length.

*CLOSE causes the MOS to close all files which have been opened under the

current filing system. The command is usually only used at the end of a

program or programming session, or when the 'Already open' error message is

generated.

Finally, *HELP produces information about the commands implemented by

various pieces of software in your computer. For example:

*HELP ADFS RETURN

will generate a list of the commands the ADFS understands and their syntax,

whilst:

*HELP RETURN

will generate a similar list for all of the ROM software in the computer. So you

won't need to have this manual in front of you forever.

F 23