If you want to copy this file from the diskette in drive A to the hard disk but want to change the name of the copy from REPORT to FACTS, type this command and press Enter:

COPY A:REPORT C:FACTS

To make a copy of this file on the diskette in drive A and assign the name FACTS to the copy, type the following and press Enter:

COPY A:REPORT A:FACTS

In this case, you must assign a new name to the copy, because MS-DOS does not allow two files in the same directory to have the same name.

For any of the previous examples, if you omit the drive identifier (A: or C:), the COPY command uses the current drive. For example, if the current drive is C and you want to copy the file REPORT from drive A to drive C without changing the filename, enter the command as follows:

COPY A:REPORT

MS-DOS writes the copy to drive C because drive C is the current drive. You can save a few keystrokes by omitting the drive identifier of the current drive, but it is equally correct to include all the drive identifiers.

You can use wildcard characters to copy a group of files at one time. A wildcard character stands for some other single character or group of characters in the filenames. MS-DOS recognizes two wildcard characters: * and ?. The asterisk represents any group of characters and the question mark represents any single character.

Using MS-DOS With Your Computer 3-21