Command: assign

  ASSIGN - Assign a drive letter to a different drive.

Syntax:

  assign [/m] [/shadow] /?
  assign [/m] [/shadow] /status
  assign [/m] [/shadow] /u
  assign [/m] [/shadow] [{ dr1[:]=dr2[:] }]

Options:

  /SHADOW  This option hides the resident portion of ASSIGN from
           being detected easily. That includes:
           1) The memory block containing the resident portion is
           marked as a part of the system.
           2) The installation check interrupt returns "Not installed,
           but not allowed to install" rather than "Installed" or "Not
           installed".
           If the resident portion is installed with this option, but
           subsequent invocations are made without this option, a
           warning pops up, but the action is performed.
           The option may be abbreviated down to /SH.
  /STATUS  Display all assigned drive letters in the form:
             dr1: => dr2:
           where dr1 is the assigned drive letter and dr2 the drive,
           where dr1 points to.
           If there is no assignment at all, no output will be
           displayed.
           This option prevents the loading of the resident portion,
           if it has not already been installed.
           The option may be abbreviated down to /S.
  /u       Uninstall a previously installed ASSIGN.
  dr1[:]=dr2[:]  This defines a drive letter assignment, where dr1
           shall point to dr2. The colons ":" are optional. There are
           no whitespaces allowed between the drive letters, the colons
           and the equal sign '='.
           If the resident portion is not already loaded, it will be
           loaded without further notice.
  /m       Move the resident portion into the UMB area, if possible.
           This option is ignored, when the resident portion is already
           installed.
  no option  If there is neither /STATUS nor /u nor an assignment
           specified on the command line, all existing assignments are
           broken, so that all letters point to themselves in result.
  /?       Shows the help.

Comments:

  ASSIGN maps a drive letter to a different drive. This
  mapping effects only the drive letter, but not the path,
  what makes ASSIGN different to SUBST / SWSUBST, e.g.:
  With the current working paths "C:\FREEDOS" and "B:\TEMP"
  after the commands "assign B=C" and "cd C:\", the path "B:"
  also points to the directory "C:\".
  Whereas after the commands "swsubst B: ." and "cd C:\", the
  path "B:" still points to "C:\FREEDOS".
  Because this program is no TSR, do NOT load it via the
  "LOADHIGH" or the "LH" command.
  The ':' characters are optional, between the drive letters and the
  equal sign '=' no whitespaces are allowed.
  If no drives are named, and /status or /u are not used,
  then ASSIGN is reinstalled (clearing all previous drive assignments).

  ASSIGN has the following EXITCODES (ERRORLEVEL):
    0  success / help
    3  aborted by user (e.g. Ctrl-C)
    4  syntax error
  Do NOT use ASSIGN in combination with the following commands:
    diskcomp   diskcopy   format   label   print   restore   subst

  KNOWN BUGS:
  -  Because ASSIGN is no TSR itself, a loading with one of the
     commands "LOADHIGH" or "LH" may fail. If you want to load
     the resident portion high, you must specify the /m option.
  -  The options /STATUS and /SHADOW do not follow the option
     standard because of compatibly to the original ASSIGN.
  -  Later installed TSR's or a secondary command processor
     (shell) mostly prevent the uninstall process. In this case,
     ASSIGN is not suspended, but remains active in memory. Use
     ASSIGN without any option to clear the assignment table
     instead.
  -  Some shells  prevent  that ASSIGN finds its resident copy in
     memory, if ASSIGN is installed from a secondary copy of the
     shell.

Examples:

  assign B:=A:  (B points to A:)
  assign B=A    (B points to A:)

See also:

  errorlevel/exitcode
  join/subst/swsubst
  lh/loadhigh
  truename

  Copyright © 2005 Steffen Kaiser, updated 2022 by W. Spiegl.

  This file is derived from the FreeDOS Spec Command HOWTO.
  See the file H2Cpying for copying conditions.