F,S and B   by Philema Perspectives


Many DOS users like to have several layers of subdirectories - sometimes using
ornate ways of distinguishing similar data files between different months, for
example.  Certainly DIR and several other utilities 'work' better in a
system where subdirectories are used extensively.

One problem arising, though, is that you may not know the names (or even care
about the names) of intervening layers of subdirectories.  These three tiny
programs were created just for that circumstance: each is very much like a
CD (or CHDIR) command to DOS, but with a crucial difference: you do not
specify the name of the directory to which you want to change.

When you need them, I find you need them repetitively, so I have given them
one-character names: rename them as you wish.

        F stands for FATHER:  keying F [ENTER] will change to the directory
               which is 'father' to this one (i.e. one level 'up'); this is
               very similar to keying CD.. - but not the same in one
               particular: if you execute F from the root directory, nothing
               happens; if you key CD.. in the same circumstance, you will
               see an error message.
        S stands for SON: keying S [ENTER] will change to the directory of the
               current directory's foremost (first-created) 'son' - whatever
               its name.  If there is no son directory, nothing will happen.
        B stands for BROTHER: keying B [ENTER] will change to the next, or
               'brother' directory.  If the current directory is the second
               of several subdirectories, executing B will switch to the
               third, for example.  If there is no further brother directory,
               the father is made active again.

For best results, you should place F.COM, S.COM and B.COM into a directory
that is part of your PATH, so that these programs are accessible from
anywhere.