LIBRARY UTILITIES by Editor, KCUG Charleston, May 1987 (A look at some NULU and LRUN) In the last Newsletter, I was discussing the features of NULU. I did not get around to pointing out that NULU also has a filesweep capability with command similar to NEWSWEEP. In the NULU command mode, recall that the one letter commands had to be prefixed with a "-" or hyphen. Enter the filesweep mode by typing: A>-F At that point, one only needs to enter the single letter commands to execute filesweep commands. The hyphen prefix is not required. A few notes about the file sweep mode are in order. If no library is open, you will receive the prompt "No library open." and only the L (Log new drive/user), O (Open new library), X (Exit Nulu), Y (Disk directory), Z (Return to NULU command mode) and ? (Display menu) commands will be available. When listing files in the filesweep mode, the file size in K is displayed. That file size is the size of the file if or when it is extracted. You may find the filesweep mode easier to use or less awkward since you don't have to bother with the hyphen prefix. If you decide not to library files because you feel it may be too much trouble to extract them, there are a few utilities that may change your mind. One called LDIR.COM allows you to look at the library directory without having to go through NULU. Issue the command "LDIR ". The .LBR extension is assumed. Another utility is LRUN.COM. This utility allows you to run COM type files in the library, that is without extracting them. For example, if you libraried the files STAT, PIP, SUBMIT, D and NS in a library called UTILS.LBR, you could issue the command LRUN UTILS d and the file would execute as if it had been executed directly from the CP/M command prompt. Of course, there are some trade-offs. One, you cannot squeeze or crunch the individual file members if you plan to use LRUN with the library. Obviously, you cannot squeeze the library itself. It does require some more typing than having the files individually located on the disk. What it comes down to, is that you have to decide if the trade offs are worth the extra trouble. I have found that many text files, like letters, are good candidates for libraries. Once they have been written, they are seldom, if ever, looked at again. I frequently library notes, tips, hint, etc. that I collect from bulletin boards and magazines. It saves having a lot of loose papers around and keeps those items in one place. Occasionally, I will break out the library and browse through it. 