MS DOS Command: INCLUDE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Includes the contents of one configuration block within another. You can use this command only in your CONFIG.SYS file.

The INCLUDE command is one of six special CONFIG.SYS commands used for defining multiple configurations within a single CONFIG.SYS file. With multiple configurations, you define a menu that appears when your computer starts. Each menu item corresponds to a block of commands, or "configuration block," in your CONFIG.SYS file. For more information about multiple configurations and configuration blocks, see the chapter "Configuring Your System" in the MS-DOS User's Guide.

Syntax

Parameters

Related Commands

The INCLUDE command is one of six special CONFIG.SYS commands for defining multiple configurations. The other commands are for defining the startup menu, and are as follows:

• The MENUITEM command, which defines an item on the menu.
• The MENUDEFAULT command, which specifies the default menu item.
• The MENUCOLOR command, which defines the color of the menu's text and screen background.
• The SUBMENU command, which defines a submenu.
• The NUMLOCK command, which specifies the state of the NUM LOCK key when the startup menu appears. (Although NUMLOCK can be used anywhere in the CONFIG.SYS file, it is especially useful when defining a startup menu.)

For an overview of the procedure for defining multiple configurations, see the topic Commands for Defining Multiple Configurations

Examples

The following CONFIG.SYS file defines three configurations:

• [menu]
• menuitem=base_config, Base configuration only
• menuitem=full_config, Normal configuration
• menuitem=net_config, Normal configuration with network
•  
• [base_config]
• dos=high
• device=c:\dos\himem.sys
•  
• [full_config]
• include=base_config
• dos=umb
• device=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram
• devicehigh=c:\dos\ramdrive.sys 512
•  
• [net_config]
• include=full_config
• devicehigh=c:\net\network.sys
•  
• [common]

This CONFIG.SYS file contains four configuration blocks. The [base_config] block contains two typical CONFIG.SYS commands. The [full_config] block includes the commands in [base_config] plus the DOS=UMB command, a DEVICE command, and a DEVICEHIGH command. The third configuration, [net_config], includes all the commands in [full_config], which in turn includes those in [base_config]. The [common] block appears at the end of the CONFIG.SYS file. It is a good idea to end your CONFIG.SYS file with a [common] block so that installation programs can successfully append commands to your CONFIG.SYS file.