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Too Lazy To Type Those LFNs? Long
file names (LFNs) are great. They allow you to give your files
useful descriptive names, instead of cryptic abbreviations with
the old 8.3 name format. However, LFNs make navigating via the
command prompt a real hassle. Even if you are real fast with the
keyboard, LFNs really make command prompt navigation a lot tedious
than it was during the old 8.3 format days.
Because Windows 2000 also labels the files with 8.3 names (for
backward compatibility), you can set the command prompt to display
the files in that format. That should reduce the amount of typing
you need to do while navigating. However, folder and file names
like BOSEQU~1 or ASUS_~11.htm are nothing short of
cryptic and navigation now becomes really frustrating.
But fret not. Now, there's a way to both read the folder and
file names in the LFN format and yet navigate with ease. The
secret is name completion. What it does is allow you to complete a
partially typed path by just hitting the TAB key. If there
are more than one match, you can cycle through all of them by
hitting the TAB key repeatedly.
Here's how you can enable such a feature in Windows 2000 :-
- Open up Registery Editor (Start -> Run -> regedit.exe)
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command
Processor
- In that branch, look for a DWORD value called CompletionChar.
By default, it should have a value of hex 40 (decimal 64).
- Double-click it and the following pop-up should appear.
- Change the Hexadecimal value from 40 to 9 (which
denotes the TAB key in the ACII character set).
- Click OK and the Registry Editor should reflect the
change.
- Close the Registry Editor and try out the feature!
- To check it out, I started up the Command Prompt and typed cd
my.
- Upon pressing the TAB key, the Command Prompt immediately
displayed :-
- Another press of the TAB key and...
- As you can see, hitting the TAB key repeatedly cycles
through all the folders and files that start with my.
- To see if this really works, I hit the ENTER key and
viola! I'm now in the C:\My Music folder!
Tip by Grarl!
Comments?
If you have a comment or question about this tip, please post
them here.
Thanks for your time and I hope this tip has helped you some! :)
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
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