Random Copy
Version 1.4
Release date: Thursday 08 November 2001

What is Random Copy?

Random Copy is a utility similar in appearance to the standard copy command, except rather than copy all of the files specified, it will choose a random file from those specified and copy it to the destination file specified.

Random Copy is useful for tasks such as copying a random bitmap to be the windows background each time windows starts, or random startup sounds etc.

Random Copy will work fine under all windows shell environments, including windows 95 and 98 (I haven't tested it under Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, windows NT, OS/2 or any DOS command interpreters except MS-DOS 5.0 and up, but it should work under most of these, please let me know if you have any problems with it)

DOWNLOAD RANDOM COPY NOW!

Download the 32-bit Windows Console version.

The files included in the original 34,940 byte zip file containing the 32-bit version are:
RC.EXE - The program (32,256 bytes Unzipped)
README.TXT - This documentation in text format (9,866 bytes Unzipped)
FILE_ID.DIZ - Quick description (468 bytes Unzipped)

Download the 16-bit DOS Version.

The files included in the original 17,360 byte zip file containing the 16-bit version are:
RC.EXE - The program (12,742 bytes Unzipped)
README.TXT - This documentation in text format (9,866 bytes Unzipped)
FILE_ID.DIZ - Quick description (468 bytes Unzipped)

The two versions are almost identical, the only differences being that the 16-bit version does not work with long filenames, in order to use long filenames with the 16-bit version, you would need to shorten them to their DOS 8.3 filenames:

EG: c:\My Documents\My Pictures\Some Image.jpg would become c:\mydocu~1\mypict~1\someim~1.jpg

It is recommended that you use the 32-bit version if you are running a 32-bit operating system (windows 95 and above). The only limitation with this is that if you boot into a 16-bit DOS mode, you will not be able to use the 32-bit version of the program while in 16-bit mode.

* This page is the HTML version of the RC.TXT file.

In order to use Random Copy, you will have to 'unzip' the files using 'pkzip' or a similar unzip program. Documentation for unzipping files will come with your unzip program.

Under a Microsoft Windows environment, I recommend Power Archiver ( http://www.powerarchiver.com ), A freeware winzip-like utility with more options.

To use Random Copy simply place the RC.EXE file somewhere and run it! None of this windows installation and registry and what have you rubbish, just run it! Since it does not write to any system files or the registry, to uninstall it, simply delete the files rc.exe, readme.txt and file_id.diz, as well as the directory you put them in, if you put them in their own directory.

COMMAND LINE SWITCHES.

Random Copy has several command line switches and arguments, some of which are required, which allow you to control how Random Copy behaves. You may use any combination of these switches, in any order (as long as you separate them with a space), simply add the switch(es) after the program name on the command line, E.G: to get help, you can type:


    RC /?

Here is a list of all the command line switches and arguments Random Copy accepts:

You can use either the '/' or the '-' characters in front of the switches, whichever you like best, they both do the same thing. You can also type the switches in either upper or lower case.

destination: You must specify a destination filename to use. You only need to specify a path if the destination file is in a different directory to the current working directory. This filename is where the copied file will end up. THIS ARGUMENT MUST BE THE LAST NON-SWITCH (I.E., not starting with '-' or '/') ON THE COMMAND LINE
Source: You can specify as many sources as you like. You can either specify individual filenames, or use wildcards. Each source can be in a different path if you wish. The last non-switch argument on the command line is treated as the destination, any other non-switch arguments are assumed to be part of the source. If you do not specify a source, the source will be set to the current directory, with a filespec of *.* - I.E. any file in the current directory will be used.
-C: Ensure source file used is different to destination file, when they are compared byte for byte. This is much slower than -D which only checks if the sizes are the same.
-D: Ensure source file used is different (size) to destination file. Much quicker than -C, but will reject a source file which though different in content to the destination, happens to have the same number of bytes.
-H or -?: Display a help screen for the program showing usage and switch options.
-N: No Clobber - If destination file already exists, prompt before overwriting it.
-S: Display just the size of the file being copied. Similar to -B, but shows size rather than filename.
-U[#]: Change the program's buffer size. When a file is copied, rather than being copied all at once, a certian number of bytes are read into a buffer, then written to the output file, and this continues until the entire file is copied. This switch allows you to set the buffer size to # bytes. If you do not provide a number (#), then the buffer will be set to the size of the file. If you do not specify this switch at all a buffer of 4096 bytes will be used.
-V: Verbose output - extra information about files being copied.

THE PATH.

I would recommend putting Random Copy somewhere in the path since then you just need to type 'rc arguments' when you want to run it, rather than 'c:\rc\rc arguments' or whatever.

The path statement should be in your autoexec.bat file, in the root directory of your startup drive (i.e.: c:\). If it's not and you'd like to add a path statement (which is pretty useful - every time you type something on the command line, the computer looks in the current directory and then in the path for a program with that name), add this line somewhere in the autoexec.bat file in the root directory of the c: drive:


    PATH=c:\dos;c:\path;c:\mydir

Where the paths above (c:\dos and c:\path and c:\mydir) can be replaced by any paths to programs you use often, this means that programs in these directories can be run from any directory on the computer, although for some programs you have to actually be in their directory for them to work properly.

REVISION HISTORY.




1.4 - The current release

	- Released Thursday 08th November 2001

	- made a 32 bit version

	- Added switches:

		- -C		- byte-compare source and dest, not just compare them by size

		- -S		- display just size of file copied

		- -U[#]		- change buffer size

	- added ability to have '.' as a filespec work as *.*

	- updated welcome message from version 1.0 :)



1.3 - Released Tuesday 27th February 2001



1.2 - Released Monday 18th December 2000



1.1 - Released Friday 15th November 2000:

    - Fixed bug which caused incorrect copying of

      some large binary files.

    - Optimised the code to make program faster

      and smaller.

    - Added Command line switches

         -D  Ensure source file used is different (size) to destination file

         -N  No Clobber - If destination file exists, prompt before overwriting it.



1.0 - The original program, 

      Released Thursday 14th November 2000:

    - Copies random file from source(s) to destination.

    - Command switches:

        -V          Verbose output

        -? or -H    Display on-screen help.

Legalese

Distribution

Random Copy is email-ware, that means that you can freely distribute the program, and all I ask is an email to let me know what you think, whether you like it or not, if not, what you don't like about it, how I can improve it etc... If you don't have access to E-Mail or the internet, don't worry (although if/when you do I'd be interested to know where you heard about the program at least). Even if you do, and for whatever reason don't want to E-Mail me, I'll live :) Just enjoy the program.

Thanks

Thanks go to Joergen Ibsen, who wrote "APACK", the utility which I packed the 16-bit exe file with, and who asked for a mention in return, so Joergen, here it is :) and thank you.

Thanks also go to Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer & László Molnár, who wrote UPX, the utility which I packed the 32-bit exe file with.

Disclaimer:

"Random Copy" comes as-is, I take no responsibility for any adverse effects caused by the program. IE, I've done my best to ensure that Random Copy does what it's supposed to, but if it doesn't, it's not my responsibility (Of course, I'll do whatever I can to assist you to get it to do what it's supposed to - or anything else you would like it to do).

PROGRAM SUPPORT AND CONTACT INFORMATION.

PLEASE NOTE: While I have no intention of changing either my email address or the URL of the web page, they may change, If you cannot find my page because it is not there, I try to keep my current web pages listed on, at least, the Altavista search engine (http://www.altavista.yellowpages.com.au/). I don't have any intention of changing my ICQ number and see no reason why this should change in the foreseeable future.

I will answer any and all email (or ICQ messages) about Random Copy and will help you in any way that I can. If you find any bugs in the program, please let me know so that I can fix them, and if you have any suggestions for improvements to the program I'd also love to hear from you.

Regards

Quentin Christensen.