> Exec(GetEnv('COMSPEC'), '/c copy '+ParamStr(1)+' '+ParamStr(1)+'.bak /v');Now THIS is what I needed to know! Thank you. :-) I originally tried a writeln kind of syntax - '/c copy ',paramstr(1),' ',paramstr(1),'.bak /v' - but that didn't work, hence my other attempts to build the string. I didn't know about the syntax you've told me - all I have to do is use a plus instead of a comma. What other circumstances would I use this syntax? Is it like a back-apostrophe in Unix - evaluate this part before the rest? > There's no need to even use Pascal for this kind of thing. You could use > a .bat file: > copy %1 %1.bak /v Right, and with my old programs - which had hard-coded filenames - that's what I had to do. I had to use a batch file to rename the appropriate files to the names the program was expecting, and then rename them again at the end. What I'm fiddling with now is moving that functionality into the program, so that I have JUST an exe, instead of an exe and a bat (this is one of the cool things about FPC). As I said, I know the functionality is there in the compiler for me to PROGRAM that stuff in, but it's much easier if I can just directly transfer what's in my bat file into the program and substitute paramstr as appropriate - that way I'm not re-inventing the wheel. thanks, DONALD. E-mail - [EMAIL PROTECTED] BIG DON's Home-page - http://jedi.apana.org.au/~jims_son Pedder Passer Rating - http://jedi.apana.org.au/~jims_son/PPR AusNFL mailing-list - http://jedi.apana.org.au/mailman/listinfo/ausnfl "What I always wanted is to be accepted, not understood" - MAN RAY _______________________________________________ fpc-pascal maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
