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Free Software for DOS

Unix >> DOS
21 Aug 2006

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INTRODUCTION
COMMAND INTERPRETERS / SHELLS
UTILITY SETS
OTHER UNIX >> DOS PROGS IN THESE PAGES

INTRODUCTION
The programs featured here are DOS ports of Unix originals, or of the Free Software Foundation's tools for
the GNU Operating System
Programs from the GNUish Project, and some others, run in 80x86 real mode (16-bit) and so will work on
80286 or older CPUs and almost any DOS.
More recent ports from GNU and others are 32-bit DJGPP builds that require an 80386+ CPU and a DOS
Protected Mode Interface (usually supplied by CWSDPMI or by Windows).
See More Resources - 1 for links to additional info and download sites.

COMMAND INTERPRETERS / SHELLS

Also see Mi-Shell (MSH), a Norton Commander-type shell with Unixish features.
bash GNU's command shell, ported to DOS.
****
[added 2004-10-29, updated 2006-08-15]
From the docs:
Bash... the GNU Bourne-Again SHell... the shell, or command language interpreter, for the
GNU operating system... incorporates useful features from the Korn and C shells (ksh and csh)
...a macro processor that executes commands. A Unix shell is both a command interpreter,
which provides the user interface to the rich set of GNU utilities, and a programming language,
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allowing these utilitites to be combined. Files containing commands can be created, and become
commands themselves. These new commands have the same status as system commands in
directories such as /bin, allowing users or groups to establish custom environments.
2003-04-25: v2.05b, 32-bit DJGPP port for 80386+.
Author: Chet Ramey et al. (2003).
Downloads
bsh205bb.zip (503K) Binaries, manual
bsh205bs.zip (2.5M) Source, more docs
MS Shell Unixish command shell for DOS.
****
[added 2004-10-29]
This shell is based on Unix SVR4's Korn and Bourne shells, and the MINIX shell by Charles Forsyth. Some
OS/2 commands have been added. Binaries package includes 16- and 32-bit DOS, and 16- and 32-bit
OS/2 executables. Also see the matching UXUTL utilty set.
Author: Ian Stewartson, UK (1994).
1994-08-26: v2.3.
Downloads
ms_sh23b.zip (810K) Binaries
ms_sh23s.zip (496K) Source

UTILITY SETS
Also see RUTILS4.
GNU Shell Utilities (Shellutils, Sh-utils) Core components of the GNU operating system.
****
[added 2005-03-28, updated 2006-08-15]
These, with the Fileutils and the Textutils, are core components of the GNU operating system. In this version,
all are 32-bit DJGPP compilations.
basename Strip directory and suffix
chroot
date

Specify the root directory

Print/set system date and time

dirname
echo

Strip non-directory suffix

Print a line of text

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env

Modify the environment

expr
factor

Evaluate expressions
Print prime factors

false
groups

Do nothing, unsuccessfully
Print group names a user is in

hostid
Print numeric host identifier
hostname Print or set system name
id
logname

Print real/effective uid/gid

Print current login name

nice
nohup

Modify scheduling priority

Immunize to hangups

pathchk
printenv

Check file name portability

Print environment variables

printf
pwd

Format and print data

Print working directory

seq
sleepp

Print numeric sequences

Delay for a specified time

stty
su

Print/change terminal settings

Modify user and group id

tee
test

Redirect to multiple files

File/string tests

true
tty

Do nothing, successfully
Print terminal name

uname
users
who

Print system information

Print current user names
Print who is logged in

whoami
yes

Print effective user id

Print a string indefinitely

Authors: Jim Meyering, Roland McGrath, David MacKenzie, Richard Mlynarik, Mike Parker, Arnold
Robbins, Joseph Arceneaux, Kaveh Ghazi, Ulrich Drepper, Paul Eggert, Richard M. Stallman for GNU.
DOS port by Prashant TR (2003).
2003-12-15: v2.0.11.
Downloads
shl2011b.zip (1.5M) Binaries, man pages
shl2011d.zip (318K) Docs: dvi/html/ps/texi
UXUTL Comprehensive collection of command line Unix utilities for DOS.
****
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[updated 2004-10-29]
This set of UNIX utilities was originally developed for use with the author's Uish MS Shell but the tools can
be used as standalone programs. The UXUTL set is split into four archives (a, b, c, and d) and mainly
consists of file and text processing programs. Documentation (included with the "a" set) is sparse you'll need
to acquire the corresponding Unix MAN docs to appreciate the full potential of these programs. One util I
use frequently from this package is tee it allows you to redirect output to the screen and to a file
*simultaneously.*
Here are the contents of the four packages that make up the collection:
a
basename Display file namename
bmgrep
cal
cat
cdiff

Fast pattern matching utility

Display calendar
Concatenate files
Context difference

cgrep
chmod
cmp
comm

Searches file for pattern and display context

Change file attributes
Compare two files
Select or reject lines common to two sorted files

cp
cpio
csplit
cut

Copy files
Archive files
Context or line file splitter
Cut data out of a file

USAGE

doc file

b
date

Display / change date and time

dd
df
dirname
du

Data copy
Display Disk Free space
Extract directory name from filename
Display disk usage

expr
fgrep
find
fold

Evaluate arguments as expression

Searches file for string
Search dir tree for files matching req.
Fold long lines to stdout

fstat
grep
head
ls

Print file status information

Searches file for pattern
Display file headers
List directory

c
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m4
make
mkdir
mv

M4 Macro processor
Makefile processor
Make path
Move files

od
printarg
printenv
rm

octal dump
Print arguments to stdout
Print environment to stdout
Remove files

rmdir
setschar
sleep
sort

Remove directories
Set switch character
Wait for n seconds
Sort files

split

Split file into n line parts

d
strings

Display the strings in files

sym
tail
tee
touch

Display symbolic info from obj and lib files

Print tail of file
Copy stdin to one or more files and standard output
Change a file's time stamp or size

tput
tr
uniq
wc

Output a termcap string

Translate characters
Display unique lines
Count number of words in file

which

Display the dir containing a command from PATH

Author: Ian Stewartson, UK (1994).

Downloads
a uxutl23a.zip (239K)
b uxutl23b.zip (228K)
c uxutl23c.zip (222K)
d uxutl23d.zip (161K)
Berkeley Utilities Unixish tool set for DOS.
****
[added 2001-11-16, updated 2005-12-09]
Also see the related Mi-Shell (MSH), which looks for this set.
From the docs;
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The Berkeley Utilities are a set of 40 Unix-like utilities for MS-DOS... It is not as complete a
set of Unix commands as can be found in some other packages (e.g. MKS) but it contains some
useful utilities you don't find elsewhere (e.g. cb, xstr)...[T]hey now work with long filenames
under Win95/98, and df can understand multi-gigabyte partitions...Compared to the GNU
utilities, [the Berkeley Utilities] have the advantage that they are much smaller (20K on average
instead of 100K). Compared to MKS utilities, they have the advantage that each utility is self
contained (it can run separately without any other support file, and each utility contains a help
screen)...
The Berkeley Utilities follow rigorously the Unix System V syntax and include all the options
found on any Unix system plus a few carefully chosen ones. They used to sell for $200 and are
now free.
awk
basename
cal
cat
cb
cmp

string processing language

extract base part from pathname of a file or directory
display the calendar for a year or a month
concatenate files
C beautifier
binary file comparison

comm
cp
cut
df
diff
dtree
du
ech
ed

look for common lines in 2 files

copy files and directories
cut out columns or fields from files
statistics on disk usage
compare files and directories
display tree structure of directory
display space each directory takes
echo arguments
line editor

expand
find
grep
head
join
ls
make
more

expands tabs into blanks

find files with certain properties, execute commands on each
search for patterns in files
display the beginning of one or several files
relational join of two files
list files and directories
update files
text files browser

mv
od
paste
rederr
rm
sed
sort

move files and directories

octal or hexadecimal dump
merge files as columns of a single file
redirect error output of commands
remove files and directories
stream editor
sort files

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split

split a file into smaller pieces

tail
tee
touch
tr
unexpand
uniq
wc
which

display the end of a file

pipe connection and derivation
update file timestamp
translate standard in to standard out
compress spaces to tabs
weed out or find duplicate lines in a sorted file
count words and lines
find which version of a program is active

xstr

extract character strings from C programs

Authors: Jean Michel and Patrick Mrissert-Coffinires, France (1991, 2001). Distributed by OPENetwork.
2001-02-12: v2.0. Formerly paid commercial software, now in the public domain and completely free.
Download berk.zip (1.2MB), complete package with all utils + manual (pdf format).
Go to the Berkeley Utilities page at OPENetwork to download individual programs, and see examples of use
with screenshots.
Online manual.
GNU Diffutils (diff) File difference package.
****
[added 1998-08-16, updated 2006-08-15]
These utils are available in two sets, 32-bit and 16-bit. The 32-bit DJGPP set includes 4 programs: diff,
cmp, diff3, and sdiff. Diff seems best suited to tracking differences among versions of code / documents
through time (i.e., version maintenance) rather than offering quick, intuitive recognition of differences as with
VCOMP. But as noted by a reader:
[diff] has long had a very readable format, that does not require ansi color etc. called the context
format:
diff -C 1 file1 file2

This prints different lines (changed, deleted, or added) with one line that is the same in each file
at the beginning and end, something like this:
first line is same
2C -- second line of file is different
--------------------------------------2C -- second line of this file is different
third line is same

Where the first and third lines are the identical "context" lines. Very readable format for changed
lines, a little less for lines added or deleted.
Also, for hard copy, double column, portrait-mode visual comparison of content (i.e., ignoring
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layout) you may want to re-wrap copies of your two text files to a narrow width (e.g., 35, if that
doesn't mangle the readability too much) and then play with the --width=NUMparameter (e.g.,
=80) in combination with the -y switch. Diff is capable of handling large files. Win9x LFN
compatible under Win9x.
From the docs: Diff
...outputs differences between files line by line in any of several formats, selectable by command
line options. This set of differences is often called a "diff" or "patch". For files that are identical,
diff normally produces no output; for binary (non-text) files, diff normally reports only that they
are different. You can use the set of differences produced by diff to distribute updates to text
files (such as program source code) to other people...The cmp command shows the offsets and
line numbers where two files differ. cmp can also show all the characters that differ between the
two files, side by side. ...Use the diff command to show differences among three files...diff3 can
report the differences between the original and the two changed versions, and can produce a
merged file that contains both persons' changes together with warnings about conflicts...Use the
sdiff command to merge two files interactively.
...provides ways to suppress certain kinds of differences that are not important to you. Most
commonly, such differences are changes in the amount of white space between words or
lines...differences in alphabetic case or in lines that match a regular expression that you provide.
The older 16-bit utils are GNUish Project ports, and do not include sdiff.
Authors: Paul Eggert, Mike Haertel, David Hayes, Richard Stallman, Len Tower, Thomas Lord, Randy
Smith, Torbjorn Granlund and David MacKenzie for GNU. 16-bit port by Helge Oldach, Germany (1993).
32-bit port by Eli Zaretskii, Israel (2004).
Versions
2004-09-11: 2.8.1 DOS32
1993-05-25: 2.3 DOS16
Downloads
DOS32 dif281b.zip
dif281d.zip
dif281s.zip
DOS16 diff23x.zip

(394K)
(719K)
(1.1M)
(139K)

Binaries, man pages

Docs: dvi/html/pdf/ps
Source
Binaries, man pages, source

GNU Fileutils Collection of file utilities.

****
[added 1998-09-13, updated 2005-03-11]
An up-to-date, all-in-one file toolkit. Separately zipped documentation helpful.
32-bit DJGPP port for 80386+, supports Win9x long file names (LFNs):
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chgrp
chown
chmod
cp

Changes file group ownership

Changes file ownership
Changes file permissions
Copies files

dd
df
dir
dircolors
du
install
ln
ls

Copies and converts a file

Shows disk free space on filesystems
Gives a brief directory listing
Setup program for the color output of GNU ls
Shows disk usage on filesystems
Copies file and sets its permissions
Creates file links
Lists directory contents

mkdir
mkfifo
mknod
mv
rm
rmdir
shred
sync

Creates directories
Creates FIFOs (named pipes)
Creates special files
Moves files
Removes (deletes) files
Removes empty directories
Destroy data in files
Synchronizes filesystem buffers and disk

touch
vdir

Changes file timestamps

Long directory listing

16-bit port for 8086/80286, similar but not identical contents:

chmod
cp
dd
df
di
du
install
ls
mkd

change the access permissions of files

copy files
convert a file while copying it
summarize free disk space
list contents of directories
summarize disk usage
copy files and set their attributes
list contents of directories
make directories

mv
rm
rmd
touch
vdir

rename files
remove files
remove empty directories
change file timestamps
list contents of directories

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Authors: Richard Stallman, David MacKenzie, Torbjorn Granlund, Larry McVoy, Paul Eggert, Paul Rubin,
Stuart Kemp, Jim Meyering, H. Peter Anvin, Arnold Robbins, Jim Kingdon, Randy Smith, Colin Plumb for
GNU. 16-bit port by Stephen McConnel (1995). 32-bit port by Richard Dawe, UK, et al. (2002).
Versions
2003-03-27: 4.1 32-bit
1995-03-18 3.12 16-bit
Downloads
v4.1 fil41b.zip
fil41d.zip
fil41s.zip
v3.12 fut312bx.zip
fut312bs.zip

(1.7M)
(537K)
(2.3M)
(341K)
(463K)

Binaries + manual
Docs: html/tex/ps/dvi
Source
Binaries + manual
Source

GNU Findutils Powerful file finding package.

****
[updated 2006-08-15]
These are the programs in the set:
find
locate
locatedb
updatedb
xargs

search for files in a directory hierarchy

list files in databases that match a pattern
front-compressed file name database
update a file name database
build and execute command lines from standard input

Somewhat complex. Supports Unix wildcards. The locate program, which accesses a previously compiled
database of file names, i.e, a file, rather than an entire drive, is accessed during a search (quicker, less disk
wear, but requires regular maintainence of a filename database. The DOS version uses a less than intuitive
batch analog of the file database updater).
A simpler locate program than the one here, but using the same principle is locat110.zip (but database
creation freezes on big drives with long paths).
2003-12-15: v4.1.7. 32-bit DJGPP port for 80386+.
Authors: Eric Decker, David MacKenzie, Jay Plett, Tim Wood, Mike Rendell for GNU. DOS port by Eli
Zaretski, Israel; and Andrew Cottrell, Australia (2003).
Downloads
find417b.zip (373K) Binaries, manual
find417d.zip
(9K) Docs: dvi/html/ps/texi
GNU Textutils Collection of text utilities.
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****
[added 1998-09-13, updated 2005-03-11]
An all-in-one toolkit, available in 16-bit and in 32-bit DJGPP compilations. The 32-bit programs may get the
job done quicker than their 16-bit counterparts, will definitely handle larger files, and support Win9x long file
names. Separately zipped documentation helpful.
Output of entire files
cat
Concatenate and write files.
tac
nl
od

Concatenate and write files in reverse.

Number lines and write files.
Write files in octal or other formats.

Formatting file contents

fmt
Reformat paragraph text.
pr
Paginate or columnate files for printing.
fold
Wrap input lines to fit in specified width.
Output of parts of files
head
Output the first part of files.
tail
Output the last part of files.
split
Split a file into fixed-size pieces.
csplit
Split a file into context-determined pieces.
Summarizing files
wc
Print byte, word, and line counts.
sum
Print checksum and block counts.
cksum
Print CRC checksum and byte counts.
md5sum Print or check message-digests.
Operating on sorted files
sort
Sort text files.
uniq
Uniqify files.
comm
Compare two sorted files line by line.
Operating on fields within a line
cut
Print selected parts of lines.
paste
Merge lines of files.
join
Join lines on a common field.
Operating on characters
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tr
Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters.
expand
Convert tabs to spaces.
unexpand Convert spaces to tabs.
Authors: 32-bit port by Eli Zaretskii, Israel (2003). 16-bit port by Stephen McConnel (1995).
Versions
1995-03-20: 1.11 16-bit port for 8086/80286
2003-12-15: 2.0 32-bit DJGPP port for 80386+
Downloads
DOS16 tut111ax.zip (453K) Binaries, man pages
DOS32 txt20b.zip
(1.6M) Binaries, man pages
txt20d.zip (272K) Docs: texi/html/dvi/ps
GNU Shar utils Prepare archives for mailing.
****
[added 2004-10-29, updated 2006-08-15]
From the docs;
shar makes so-called shell archives out of many files, preparing them for transmission by
electronic mail services. A "shell archive" is a collection of files that can be unpacked by /bin/sh.
A wide range of features provide extensive flexibility in manufacturing shars and in specifying
shar _smartness_. For example, shar may compress files, uuencode binary files, split long files
and construct multi-part mailings, ensure correct unsharing order, and provide simplistic
checksums.
unshar scans a set of mail messages looking for the start of shell archives. It will automatically
strip off the mail headers and other introductory text. The archive bodies are then unpacked by
a copy of the shell. unshar may also process files containing concatenated shell archives.
Also in package:
mail-files
mailshar
remsync
uuencode
uudecode

Send files to remote site

Make and send a shell archive
Synchronize remote files
Force binary file to 7-bits
Restore file from 7-bits

Authors: James Gosling, William Davidsen, Warren Tucker, Richard Gumpertz, Franois Pinard for GNU.
DOS port by Juan Manuel Guerrero, Germany (2000).
2000-10-10: v4.2c. 32-bit DJGPP port for 80386+.
Downloads
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shar42cb.zip (319K) Binaries + manual

shar42cd.zip (132K) Docs: html/dvi/ps

OTHER UNIX >> DOS PROGS IN THESE PAGES

Some of these also appear in the collections above, some don't.
a2ps
AGREP
AntiWord
awk
cal (2)
cURL

Generates PostScript from ASCII, dvi, and other file formats

grep-like util with approximate pattern matching capability
Displays MS Word files, and converts to plain text, PostScript, PDF
Text processor
Displays calendar to standard output; date notes
Internet file transfer

dos2ux
DU
egrep
elvis
emacs
Fast GREP
fgrep
ftp
gawk
GifTrans
grep
gzip / gunzip
InfView
ispell
less
LINK/LN (ln)

Converts DOS format text > Unix format

Displays disk usage for directory tree
Searches file for string, using extended regular expressions
vi-like text editor for power users
Emacs family of text editors
Find files containing search string
Searches file for string (fixed strings), using regular expressions
Internet file transfer protocol
Text processor
Produces transparent GIF files for web pages.
Searches file for pattern, using regular expressions
File compressor / decompressor
Interactive infofile browser
Spell checker (3 versions listed)
File pager / viewer and MORE replacement
Link executable files to file names in other directories

look
lynx
man
man (PCMan)
mawk
MD5SUM
Mi-Shell (MSH)
nano
NcFTP
Penta Text Tools
perl
pico

Word lookup util

Text mode WWW browser and offline HTML viewer
Displays man(manual) pages
Extension of the manpage system
Text processor
Calculate and verify MD5 hash values for files
Programmable command shell
Enhanced clone of pico
Set of ftp programs
Search, view, process strings in any text file
High level programming language
Pine emailer's text editor

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Pine
PPPD
pr

Network / Internet emailer

Internet Point to Point Protocol packet driver
Multiple-file print formatter

PSUtils
RUTILS4
sc
sed
sleep
Talk
tar
tee
Telnet
uniq
uuen/decode
units

Process PostScript documents

Mixed group of programs, some from Unix: banner, cal, cat, tee & more
Spreadsheet Calculator
Versatile text search / replace and formatting tool
Batch util sleeps until event occurrence
Network or Internet Talk (chat) client / server
Manipulates TAR archives
Sends program output to both screen and file
Network & Internet terminal (3 versions)
Remove or display duplicate lines from sorted file
Translates binary files to ASCII text for electronic transmission

units, GNU

Enhanced command line or interactive units conversion

ux2dos
vi
wc
Wget, GNU
wput
XGREP

Converts Unix format text > DOS format

Family of powerful text editors
Simple word count program
Command line ftp / http / https file downloader
Command line ftp uploader
Tiny text finder with regular expression support

Command line or interactive units conversion

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1994-2004, Richard L. Green.
2004-2006, Short.Stop.

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