Reference guide28Filetype and Filesystem Tools

riscos-settype is the host-environment form of SetType. It keeps the original two-parameter interface: one file and one destination type, with no switches.

The target filename is normalised through the CLX filename parser before the filetype is changed. The parser is initialised with the suffix list c o h s c++, so host-style names and translated RISC OS forms follow the same local filename rules as other CLX-based wrappers.

If the type is not a hexadecimal value, the tool looks it up in its built-in symbolic-name table. Names are matched case-insensitively. Common names include Text, Module, Absolute, Template, Squash, PNG, Draw, Python, PDF, SVG, Zip, JSON, YAML, and Perl. The complete built-in table is listed earlier in this chapter.

riscos-copy is the host-environment form of Copy. It copies one file byte-for-byte, or copies several matching source leafnames into a destination directory when the source name contains wildcards.

Following the classic Copy convention, wildcard mode needs a matching wildcard in both input and output, such as c/* export/h/*. Giving a destination directory with no trailing *, such as c/* export/h, does not copy into that directory: the final path component h is dropped silently and every matched file is written into export instead, with no error or warning to indicate the mistake.

Once the destination file has been written successfully, the source filetype is applied to it. On the host filesystem this comes from the source filename's trailing comma-suffixed type if one is present, otherwise the default filetype is &FFF.

The command does not consult Copy$Options. Although it recognises the standard option letters, only V changes behaviour. The other recognised flags are accepted for compatibility with existing usage, but they do not implement confirmation, recursion, newness checks, deletion-after-copy, or the other normal FileSwitch semantics.

If a copy fails during reading, writing, or close handling, any partially written destination file is removed before the error is reported.

Filenames are normalised through the same CLX filename parser described for riscos-settype, so a name with a recognised source-language suffix such as util.h is read as the RISC OS form h.util and mapped to host path h/util, not the literal host filename given.

riscos-cdir is the recursive directory-creation helper for the build environment. It accepts one pathname and works from the top of that path towards the leaf, creating missing parent directories as required.

Wildcards are not supported. If the supplied pathname contains *, the command reports an error and creates nothing from that request.

If no pathname is supplied, or more than one is supplied, the command prints its syntax summary. The tool is therefore most useful in scripts which already know the exact output directory tree that should exist before a copy or build step runs.

riscos-wipe is the host-environment form of Wipe. It deletes one file, or several matching leafnames when the supplied pathname contains wildcards.

The pathname is normalised before deletion. Wildcard handling is limited to the supplied pathname itself; the command does not perform recursive directory traversal.

The tool does not consult Wipe$Options. Only V is implemented. The recognised C, F, and R flags are accepted for compatibility but do not change the deletion semantics.

When verbose mode is enabled, the command prints a message before each deletion attempt. If one deletion fails, a diagnostic naming that object is printed.

riscos-destroy is the exact-name cleanup tool for simple scripted removal of generated files. It processes each filename in turn after normalising the name through the local CLX filename handling.

Wildcard expansion is not implemented. If any argument contains *, the command stops immediately, reports that wildcards are not supported, and returns failure.

If an ordinary deletion fails, the command reports that the file was not destroyed and then continues with later arguments. After all filenames have been processed, it still returns success unless the command stopped earlier for wildcard handling or explicit help output.

riscos-kitten is a small cat-style command which copies one or more inputs to standard output. If no files are supplied, it reads from standard input once; a lone - in the file list also selects standard input at that point in the input sequence.

With none of -b, -e, -n, -s, -t, or -v, the tool uses a raw copy path and writes the input bytes unchanged. Supplying any of those options switches to formatted text output.

Line numbering restarts from 1 for each input file or standard-input segment. In this port, bytes with the top bit set are passed through unchanged rather than being rendered with an M- prefix. The -u option changes only buffering.

If a file cannot be opened, or a read error occurs, the tool reports the problem to standard error, continues with any remaining inputs, and exits with failure status after processing everything. -h and -? print the usage summary and exit with status 1.

riscos-resversions examines one or more Toolbox resource files, detects the Toolbox object classes and gadget modules they require, and then emits the module-loading commands needed to satisfy those dependencies. Inputs supplied through repeated -i options and trailing positional filenames are merged into one requirement set.

When generating command output, the first line defines an EnsureToolbox alias and the remaining lines load or version-check the required Toolbox modules. With -O, the emitted text is escaped for Obey-file use. With -c, the command reports counts for each detected module token instead of generating the loader text.

Substitution mode selected by -s searches the named file for the literal text %<TOOLBOX>% and replaces that marker with the generated commands. If the marker is missing, the command warns and leaves the file unchanged.

Module selection is driven by a description table. On RISC OS this is normally supplied through ResVersions$File. Missing entries fall back to the built-in table. The fuller local documentation records that if -a is omitted, the default application name is This application, even though the built-in syntax summary only shows the explicit -a form.