Bad command or file name
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"Bad command or file name" is a common error message in MS-DOS and some other operating systems.[1] It is occasionally used as an example of a computer message that is perfectly accurate yet confusing to the average user[citation needed].
COMMAND.COM produced the message Bad command or file name when the first word of a command could not be interpreted. For MS-DOS, the first word of a command was the name of an internal command, external command, executable file or batch file,[2] so the error message provided an accurate description of the problem but easily confused novices. Though the source of the error was often a mistyped command, the wording gave the impression that files named in later words were damaged or had illegal filenames. Later, the wording of the error message was changed for clarity; both OS/2[citation needed] and Windows NT output foo is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file (where foo is the first word) instead.[3]
Some early Unix shells produced the equally cryptic foo: no such file or directory for the same reasons. Most modern shells produce an error message similar to foo: command not found.[4][5]
See also
References
- ^ Jim Cooper, (2002). Using MS-DOS 6.22. Que Publishing. ISBN 9780789725738
- ^ "Instructrions:". MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ Harry Phillips, Eric Skagerberg, (2002). "New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows 2000 MS-DOS Command Line, Comprehensive, Windows XP Enhanced". Cengage Learning. ISBN 1285963679
- ^ "GNU Project Archives:". GNU. GNU. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ "TCSH: MostRecentRelease:". Ken Greer, Paul Placeway, Christos Zoulas, et al. tcsh.org. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
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