Com2txt

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'''Com2txt''' is a utility that converts a [[DOS executable (.com)|DOS COM file]] to one whose bytes all belong to certain set of [[ASCII]] characters, and which still (hopefully) has the same functionality. It was developed by Naoyuki Nide. Most of the information about it is in Japanese.
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'''Com2txt''' is a utility that converts a [[DOS executable (.com)|DOS COM file]] to one whose bytes all belong to a certain set of [[ASCII]] characters, and which still has the same functionality. It was developed by Naoyuki Nide. Most of the information about it is in Japanese.
  
 
It's a silly hack, but it had some practical uses, such as for embedding a COM file in a [[Batch file]], email, etc.
 
It's a silly hack, but it had some practical uses, such as for embedding a COM file in a [[Batch file]], email, etc.

Revision as of 17:59, 28 October 2021

File Format
Name Com2txt
Ontology
Extension(s) .com
Released ≤1993

Com2txt is a utility that converts a DOS COM file to one whose bytes all belong to a certain set of ASCII characters, and which still has the same functionality. It was developed by Naoyuki Nide. Most of the information about it is in Japanese.

It's a silly hack, but it had some practical uses, such as for embedding a COM file in a Batch file, email, etc.

It has a -r option, to recover the original file.

Contents

Disambiguation

Other software with a similar name or function includes:

Identification

Assuming version 1.11 is the last, and that it can decode all the formats, there are a total of three formats, which we'll call old, new-default, and new-alternate.

Old files (e.g. from v1.00) start with "TXPPP".

New-default files (e.g. from v1.11) start with a roughly 200-byte prefix that begins "T_OOWW3=XXWX" (see the HDR_DATA.C source file). The signature "com2txt/Nide" also appears in the standard prefix, but is less reliable for format identification.

New-alternate format is enabled with the -c option (undocumented in English). It is named something like "com-batch shared format". The format begins ":=%00%AA5$QP".

Software

Sample files

  • xpa167m.zip → *.COM (files have a customized signature)
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