Useful command line utilities for Windows
I am a toolmaker. This page is an archive of some of the tools that I think might be useful for others. Unless otherwise noted, they are all Windows command line utilities that should run from Win95 onward. These are all written in PowerBasic. All of these tools are extremely small in size (usually 15 to 25k) and are very fast and efficient (usually). They're not bloatware and no additional runtime libraries are required for any of them.
Disclaimer: These are all free. Do what you want with them. There’s no warranty, and they may malfunction causing damage. I have included sourcecode so you can check it or change it as you need to. I’m not a particularly good programmer so I apologize for the sloppy code. These were written because I needed them at the time, not to prove how 31337 I am.
rh160.dll
DOWNLOAD: DLL SOURCECODE COMPILED DLL
DOWNLOAD: TEST SOURCECODE COMPILED TEST
This is a DLL for retrieving temperature and humidity settings from a RH-160 module.
iamgc
DOWNLOAD: SOURCECODE
This is an IIS CGI module that allows users to convert between common image file formats. It is optimized for use in my own environment, but this might be useful for anyone trying to write image conversion software using tools from Smaller Animals.
iqfind
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This tool searches text files for strings... but only those contained inside of quotes.
aatext
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This tool "inserts" text messages into ascii art files. Check the documentation for examples.
eudelf
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This tool does searches for "unlinked" (ie. original mail deleted) attachments in Eudora directories and executes commands on them.
brodcstr
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This is a simple tool for automating Eudora for bulk-email.
bulkren
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This tool does bulk renaming of files in a directory, either in random patterns or numerically, in any base and character set you choose.
camthief
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This tool "records" output from a static-but-updated webcam by downloading a picture on a regular interval.
findnew
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
Takes a directory structure, and moves all files that are newer than a certain date into a new directory structure.
killzero
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This deletes all files in the current directory and below that are 0-bytes in length.
numfods
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This searches the current directory for numbered file sequences (ie. "img34, img35, img36"). It then sorts them in order of longest and displays that list. It can be used for detecting overruns that happen from viral attachments (Eudora crashes at 999) and so on.
pbacker
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM+SOURCE DOCUMENTATION
This is a periodic backup tool. Every given interval, it scans selected directories for files that are changed. When it finds one, it backs it up. (Note: this needs a major update, but it still useful).
plsdec
DOWNLOAD VER 1: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
DOWNLOAD VER 2: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This is a quick’n’dirty decoder for WinAmp PLS files that converts them to plaintext.
rwrap
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This executes a selected command on all files matching a given mask in this directory and in all below it.
screener
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This is a highly experimental and untested prototype for color separation generation for silkscreening.
wfdir
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
The name stands for "work from directory". It applies commands to all files that have been piped from a dir command.
regren
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE DOCUMENTATION
This is the "Regular Expression Renamer". It searches for files matching a given pattern, and applies commands or case shifts to them. This utility is quite powerful and versatile once you get the hang of it.
bench
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This times how long a given command took to execute.
combfile
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This takes two files, and finds where they intersect. That is, any lines that are common to both files are outputted. This can be used to find all names that exist on two mailing lists and so on.
commas
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This takes long lists that are in a file one-per-line and converts them into multiple comma separated lists. For example, you can use this to cut up a long mailing list into usable pieces.
from
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
Takes a text file (a bulk save of your email for example), and harvests all "from" and "reply-to" email addresses.
harvest
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
Takes a text file of any kind, and harvests all email addresses (wherever they’re located) from within the file.
nodouble
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This takes an input file (for example a sorted list of email addresses) and removes all doubled lines from the file.
strip
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This converts a file from HTML to plaintext.
subfile
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This subtracts one file from another. For example, if one file was a big list of emails, and the second was an opt-out list, if you ran this, you would be left with the big list, but with all the opt-out people removed from it.
treekill
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This dangerous command deletes all files from the current directory and those below it, except those that match a mask you specify.
wrap
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
This executes a command repeatedly so as to allow commands that don’t accept wildcards to simulate being able to use them.
wrapfile
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
Given a list of files in a text file, this command individually executes a specified command on each of them.
urlinfo
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
IIS executable module (or command line run-able, although the output is HTML) that outputs all environment variables on the server.
host
DOWNLOAD: PROGRAM SOURCECODE
Give this command line utility an IP address and it decodes the domain name for you.