REM in DOS

[photolady]

Don't know if this belongs in here but since it's a DOS command thought I'd ask here and if not for this forum, mod please feel free to move me, er...it.

I answered a question in which the above REM was asked about, I was then told REM stood for Remark, not Remove. What does Remark mean and what does it do?

[HappyFace]

The REM command in DOS allows the text following it to be read but will not execute it as a command. Similar to the ! command at the head of a line in other coding. It can be placed or removed as it suits your needs when ordering your coding to execute or not. Rem is generally used to advise you of something that is about to happen.

[dougj]

I think there may have been a REM for remove way, way back, but in most versions of DOS from Microsoft, REM has always been for REMark. Placed at the beginning of a linein a batch file, it denoted lines that were comments, not instructions to be executed. Typically these would be used to explain what the file did, or who wrote it, etc

[photolady]

Thanks for the explainations. I don't do DOS per se, 6.22 or whatever versions has been. My first computer was Commodore 64, then my next was a MAC, then I jumped to one with win98 on it. The only DOS I've used then has been to scandisk, scanreg, and to see the directory of win98. In other words, using DOS was/is very limited.

[Vernon Frazee]

Copied straight from the old MS-DOS 6.22 horse's mouth:

MS-DOS v6.22 Help: REM

[photolady]

Thanks Vernon. I think the reason I thought REM was remove was because I used it to stop a string from loading/showing in DOS. It was a Photodeluxe command and annoying since I no longer had that program installed.

[Platypus]

Originally posted by dougj
I think there may have been a REM for remove way, way back

Perhaps remembering REMDIR? Usually specified as the abbreviated form "RD", both are short for REMove DIRectory.

[Vernon Frazee]

MS-DOS v6.22 Help: RMDIR (RD)

[AlaricD]

Originally posted by photolady
Thanks for the explainations. I don't do DOS per se, 6.22 or whatever versions has been. My first computer was Commodore 64, then my next was a MAC, then I jumped to one with win98 on it. The only DOS I've used then has been to scandisk, scanreg, and to see the directory of win98. In other words, using DOS was/is very limited.

I did a bit of Commodore 64 BASIC programming back in "the day"... Even in 1983, REM stood for "REMark" and was used in BASIC for commenting one's code...

5 REM THIS IS A LOOP THAT PRINTS A LOT OF HELLOES
10 PRINT "HELLO"
20 GOTO 10

[photolady]

Thanks AlaricD but I only had my Commodore for about three months before going Mac. I just wouldn't do what I needed it to do, and I never learned any commands or language.