Uncreative Labs

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:15 am

Remember the SUBST command? SUBST allows you to SUBSTitue a drive letter for a path, which can make copying easier and deletion possible. SUBST has been a part of DOS and Windows for a long time, and hopefully won't go anywhere. It's essential to work around a limitation of Windows that you may run into: Extremely long filenames.

Extremely long file names give Windows problems even still. It simply refused to delete the file, suggesting that I rename it to something shorter. It's not the filename that's causing the problem, it's the path that's extremely long.

The SUBST command comes to the rescue here. Now instead of having to use an extremely long path, there's now a much shorter path in the form of a drive letter. The file can be moved, copied, deleted or whatever just like a normal file.

What's causing the problem with extremely long paths? The IE cache.

To use the SUBST command, just type "subst [driveletter]: [path]" or SUBST /? for a better description.

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

I cannot remeber using it
Tho using Xtree and now ztree, I could create long and complicated pathshs
often by accident!
exampl4e I found my documents direcxtory in win 7 was not
c:\users\walter\documents

I attemted to copy my old win xp dosc
to the new drive
OOOPS I used alt copy that copies the entire "chan and all the path to documents when I shpould have used copy or move
so I would up with users\walter\documents\users
walter\documents
not only that BUT I did it twisce.
some sub direstories had a ... instead of a verticlal line HMMM

Ztree does not UN_NEST directories
so I had to PERER at explorer to drag the lower /lover/lower directories up to the root of the drive.
subst would have helped a LOT.
BY THE WAY
to remove a directory
rmdir [Drive:]Path [/s] [/q]

rd [Drive:]Path [/s] [/q]
it works even in win 7