How can I output a blank line from a batch file on the Atari Portfolio?

Question

I'm am trying to make a batch script on the Atari Portfolio which uses DIP DOS 2.11 (pretty similar to MS-DOS 2.11). I need to put a blank line in my file and it won't work. I have tried echo., echo/, echo(, echo[, echo], echo+, and echo: When I put for example echo/ in there it just outputs a / on that line. Also ECHO , ECHO <tab>, double spaces etc. does not work. It just says ECHO is off. I guess that shows a difference between DIP DOS and MS-DOS 2.11. Any ideas?

Answer 1

In theory, to output a blank line in MS-DOS 2.x, you need to add a single space after ECHO: ECHO .

This doesn’t work in later versions; there, the documented solution is ECHO followed by a space and then the character obtained by holding down Alt and typing 255 on the numeric keypad. This character is a non-breaking space: ECHO  . (This should also work in MS-DOS 2.x.)

The curious can check page 759 of The MS-DOS Encyclopedia.

If that doesn’t work, create a file containing a single line, and TYPE that:

COPY CON BLANK.TXT

Press Enter then CtrlZ, and in your batch file, use

TYPE BLANK.TXT

to produce a blank line.