Command Line Programming For Edlin
| Field | IBM PC DOS batch file programming |
| Went Obsolete | Advent of Windows Notepad |
| Made Obsolete By | Lack of batch files or edlin in Windows |
| Knowledge Assumed | Edlin commands |
| When useful | Maintenance of ancient DOS batch files |
The horrible and much maligned text editor Edlin, provided with MSDOS, had one particular purpose which was not always understood; unlike most editors, it could be preprogrammed to make specific edits by using the proper command line. Thus, it could be used within a batch file, for instance, to create another batch file whose contents depended on what had happened previously and was then run; thus it was possible to create some very complex and flexible batch files.
