Q66531: Copying from CON to a Subdirectory Doesn’t Result in Error

Article: Q66531
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 21-NOV-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 
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SYMPTOMS
========

If you have a directory called C:\TEMP and you try to create a file called TEMP
using the COPY CON command as follows

  C:\>copy con temp
  hello
  ^Z

instead of creating a file called TEMP, MS-DOS echoes "hello" and "1 file copied"
on the screen as follows:

  C:\>copy con temp
  hello
  ^Z
  hello
         1 file(s) copied

No error message is displayed.

CAUSE
=====

This is expected MS-DOS behavior. When C:\TEMP is a directory, the command

  C:\>copy con temp

is the same as

  C:\>copy con C:\temp\*.*

-or-

  C:\>copy con C:\temp\con

CON is short for console and consists of the keyboard (input) and the display
(output). It always exists, even in subdirectories. Therefore, this command
copies input from CON (keyboard) to CON (display).

Additional query words: 6.22 3.20 3.30 3.30a 4.00 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch
Version           : MS-DOS:

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