Talk:MS-DOS Editor

Please do not post MS-DOS editor questions on this talk page or any other talk page.

Should we merge this with MS-DOS? SamBrown98121 (talk) 18:10, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Is converting Unix newlines to DOS newlines good or bad. It's on both features and limitaions.76.193.33.193 21:43, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


 * It is good only when you need it. Otherwise, when it is done automatically, it will break some of your text files! It would have been good to offer the newline conversion as an option. I remember having lots of conversion problems because I used to transfer text files back and forth, betweem my UNIX account at the university and my home computer. The MS-DOS newline characters were considered as syntax errors by many compilers and interpreters in UNIX. 207.134.187.165 00:04, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Cmd/run
edit works for running editor in both cmd and run Atomic1fire (talk) 02:32, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * it really does ECat200 (talk) 16:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

Windows NT
Does Windows NT use the same version of Edit as 95? The Vista version works without qbasic. Josh 04:30, 17 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Windows NT to early 5.0 betas, and early chicago betas had Edit 1.0 (ie DOS 5 editor). Windows 9x distributed versions of Edit 1.1 (DOS 6 Editor), although this was via qbasic /EDCOM, or by using edit.com + edit.hlp from DOS 6. (edit.hlp has a different set of links to DOS 5).  Windows 9x, and Windows 2000 and later, have Edit 2.00.26, although Windows ME and some later NT versions are compressed.  All of these work quite happily under DOS.


 * Early chicago versions were labeled "Emergency Chicago Editor" in help/about.


 * --Wendy.krieger (talk) 11:12, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:MSDOS Edit.png
Image:MSDOS Edit.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 13:40, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It's okay, delete it. It looks nothing like DOS Edit anyway. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.139.86.154 (talk) 09:12, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

File Size & QBasic etc
I think the article should have more info on the different variations, such as QBasic, QB, plain edit, and so on. I'd forgotten about those! I used them all. I think they all had a "binary editor" mode, right? That info is disappearing. I came here looking for plain edit's file size.  --2602:306:CFCE:1EE0:E807:88D1:D9B2:D8C8 (talk) 05:43, 25 January 2020 (UTC)Just Not Asking

QBASIC (english version) 1.0	254799	msdos 5.00 1.0	252317	pcdos 5.00 (tied to rom-basic) 1.0	252283	os/2 and DOS5EIU 1.0	252235	pcdos 5.00.1 and 5.02 1.0	252219  csd  37387 1.1	194309	msdos 6.xx & later (compressed) expands to 257824 EDIT.COM, HELP.COM all         413  QBASIC loader EDIT.HLP 1.0      17898   | vers 1.0, ibm use different qbasic call signs to vers 1.1, IBM      17627   | so if you use 1.0 help with 1.1 qbasic or vv, you may get 1.1      17898   | incorrect pages displayed.

IBM released a number of fixes to QB, but the different departments released different versions of it. Different departments released different stages of it, but going through the PCC versions, we see that '219' is the final version of 1.0. DOS5EIU is DOS5 enhanced install utility, is essentially a DISK0 for the OEM disks 1-3, was needed because IBM was moving away from ROMBASIC with the PS/1 and PS/ValuePoint systems.

The SDU? (software division), releases boxed versions of DOS, used a later version in 5.00.1 and repeated this in 5.02.

The final release is a CSD final for DOS 5, but QBASIC was updated finally for PCC division, (personal computer coy).

The OS/2 crowd stopped at the first revision, as it seems to work in OS/2, They all do.

1.1 is compressed, it expands to 257824 by unp. It was not further updated after 6.00

This information came as part of my construction of an alternate help system to replace the Win95/98 oldmsdos help system, which is just 6.22. Wendy.krieger (talk) 14:16, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Binary Mode ?
I'd like to make a Binary Mode section from memory, but I need help with the terminology and lingo, I used it often for QB programs etc, but was never a techie. (Better yet, somebody better will do it!) I don't recall it looking like modern screenshots of freeware "binary editors"/"hex editors." But I could be wrong? Can it be called a binary editor? Hex editor? How about calling it a "text oriented binary editor?" It was called "Binary Mode," right? I don't even remember how it was turned on.

Does anybody know where there's a binary mode in action screenshot? I'd need that to even try writing a skeleton article. ...that and some proper lingo.

From: Newline: "For DOS/Windows systems, the newline is actually two characters: Carriage Return (ASCII 13, AKA r), followed by Line Feed (ASCII 10). On Unix systems (including Mac OSX) it's just Line Feed. On older Macs it was a single Carriage Return.  "When displaying (or printing) a text file, this control character causes the text editor to show the following characters in a new line."

In binary mode the special characters such as newlines were displayed only, with zero line feeds. So one could easily do a search & replace to convert between different newline formats, What were those "non-standard" displayed characters called (in general)? (I recall it looked like the paragraph symbol?) Were these special displayed characters unique to DOS, or more widespread?

What was the font type that could make DOS boxes, etc? Did that include the displayed Carriage Return ASCII 13 character, etc?

Thanks! --2602:306:CFCE:1EE0:C0D1:5C88:8253:D748 (talk) 19:48, 18 March 2020 (UTC)Just Saying


 * Cool I found some of that. plus EDIT binary instructions at:

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/MS-Edit  last edited in March 2017.  Ms_edit_Screen.png in binary mode, editing an .EXE file.  the DOS Characters in MS-Edit .gif


 * It's as I remember it, unlike modern binary editors I see online, it seemingly has no clumsy binary nor Hex (all numbers) split-screen, —it's all "text" displaying the special characters in "DOS font," with when needed, a character-by-character ASCII etc conversion hooked to the mouse curser. The screen width is user-settable to match some various file formats.


 * Seemingly the owner still uses EDIT to repair old game .EXEs. If somebody donates, does Wikipedia allow us to post screenshots of EDIT? — --2602:306:CFCE:1EE0:C0D1:5C88:8253:D748 (talk) 01:57, 19 March 2020 (UTC)Just Saying


 * Binary mode only works in vers 2.00, as Edit /64 wraps to 64 columns. It does not display the hex code as an editable input, but you can see the current character on the info line, and you can type Alt-### at the numeric keyboard.  Passable as editors go, but proper hex editors were free long before this. Wendy.krieger (talk) 14:40, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

File Edit  Search  View  Options  Help +- L:\nlayout\dos\_vers\qbasic\20\EDITME.COM --+ ¦£?£?ENU? Á?NSED ?? ? ? ??  ý??? °??° ???  ?? $?? G?? v?? û?? +             ?     ¦?• Õ?? ??? @?? e?? ï?? ¡?? Í?? ??¤ ??? :?? \?? ü?? »?¶ +?§ ð?? +             ¦     ¦?? Ù?? ¤•? +•? E•? M•? S•? ^•? d• Ø•! ñ•" Ñ•# ¤•$ ­•% <?& Y?' W              ¦

Ascii of Edit.com editing edit.com from winme. Copied through console copy. Wendy.krieger (talk) 14:40, 13 October 2020 (UTC)