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Creating Files In Windows That Begin With A Dot

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by RaNCiDDeViL

 

did you ever read a tutorial about something with a web server that told you to make a file called ".rhost" or ".htaccess" as if it had no filename and the letters were all in the extention? and windows wouldn't let you make a file with a name like that, right? as usual, there is a way around windows's little restriction.

 

say you want to make .htaccess

1. make a new text file on the desktop and rename with the "extention" you want, and with a letter in place of the period (hhtaccess or xhtaccess etc). make sure you have windows set to show you all extentions or you won't be getting rid of the .txt!

2. leave the file empty for now (0 bytes).

3. add the file to a new ZIP archive called hi.zip or something.

4. close WinZip.

5. go to Start Button -> Run and type in the following:

edit /70 c:\windows\desktop\hi.zip

6. when in the MS-DOS window, first press the Insert or Ins key to set overtype mode. the cursor will change to a blinking box rather than an underscore.

7. you should see the name of your file twice among the rest of the garbage in the file. in the second instance (closer to the end of the file), click directly on the first letter (dummy letter -- h or x or whatever) so it is highlighted by the blinking cursor.

8. type a period, and it will now read ".htaccess"

9. click on the File menu, and select Exit. when it asks you if you would like to save the file, choose Yes.

10. extract the zip file to the desktop or wherever. you now have a file called .htaccess that you can load into Notepad or whatever you want!

 

NOTE 1: you NEED to have the "/70" switch between the word "edit" and your path/filename to put the program into binary editing mode. otherwise it will save it into text format and it will no longer be a valid ZIP archive (try it -- WinZip will give you an error). actually the switch tells the program how many columns to show (the number can be anything up to 78 -- or higher if you want to have to scroll over). i have no idea why setting the columns switch also puts the editor into binary format but it does! :-) if you are not sure what mode you are in (text or binary), you can tell by looking in the bottom right corner of the program next to where it says what line and column you are at. in binary mode there is a third status bar section called "Value" and in text mode there is just empty space to the right of "Col".

 

NOTE 2: make sure that when editing the file you do not insert or delete characters -- just use overtype. if the file ends up being more or less bytes than it started out as, you will have a problem. ;-) when you try to open the ZIP file WinZip will say that there is a difference of X bytes from how many there should be, where X is the number of characters you inserted or deleted.

 

Credits:

 

by RaNCiDDeViL {e-mail: ranciddevil@yahoo.com, aim: miklf}

 

Ok, this post is regarding an earlier post made by RaNCiDDeViL about making [DOT] files... 

 

I think he went the hard way.. Yes there is an easy way and it doesn't need anything except for MsDos.

 

How?

Ok first create a text file name it whatever you want but keep the name shorter than 6 chars, then open  MsDos (you'll find it in accessroies - I'm using WinMe)

 

By default the target will be (C:\Windows) if you created your file on the desktop then just type "CD  desktop" without the quotes.

 

Otherwise just use cd.. to go back and X:\ to go from drive to drive where X is your drive letter.

 

After accessing the folder which contains your text file just type the folowing without the quotes ::

 

"ren file.txt .extension"

 

An example :: "ren test.txt .htaccess"

 

DONE!

 

MBH

 

Create files that start with a dot or period

 

Hi

 

With reference to RaNCiDDeViL's article on 5 July 02 on CREATING FILES IN WINDOWS THAT BEGIN  WITH A DOT (PERIOD)

 

I have a even easier method.

 

To crate a file that start with a dot or period, example ".rhost". There is a really simple way.

 

For win 9x,

1. Click on Start followed by Run

2. Enter "Command" without the quotes.

 

For NT and W2k,

1. Click on Start followed by Run

2. Enter "Cmd" without the quotes.

 

Follow these instructions:

1. A Dos prompt appears.

2. Say I want to create a file ".rhost"

3. Type the following command in Dos promt: edit .rhost

4. A blue screen editor appear and just type in anything you want.

5. On the menu click on File followed by save.

6. Exit the editor program and there's your ".rhost" file.

 

Regards

Nemesis

 

Re: CREATING FILES IN WINDOWS THAT BEGIN WITH A DOT (PERIOD)

 

Not to bludgeon the technique to death, but here is a one-line

method for creating a nameless 8-dot-3 format file.

 

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1) Open a command prompt

- Start - Run - (cmd-nt/2k/xp, command-9x)

2) 'echo. [filename].[extension]'

 

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**Example**

 

!! XP Environment !!

 

- Start - Run - 'cmd'

- 'cd Desktop'

- 'echo. .rhost'

 

** There is now a file called '.rhost' on my desktop

 

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- B_i_0_H_4_z_4_R_d

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