SUMMARY
Temporary files having a zero byte size can be seen if the DIR
command is issued with a pipe symbol and parameters MORE or SORT. These
files are seen when the DIR command is listing files residing in the
temporary directory.
If the temporary directory is set to be: C:\windows\temp
and the current directory is C:\windows\temp, then the following
examples of commands will show the temporary DOS files:
The files can also be seen if the current directory is not the temporary
directory by including a path as shown below:
dir C:\windows\temp | more
dir \windows\temp |sort
The files will appear as eight-character files with no file
extensions. They will have zero bytes and will be stamped with the
date and time that the command was given, as follows:
AOBOAJCF 0 7-04-91 2:45p
AOBOAJCK 0 7-04-91 2:45p.
If you don't use the pipe parameter, these files will not be visible.
They are temporary and are deleted immediately after the command is
finished executing.
This information applies to MS-DOS version 5.0. In versions previous
to 5.0, the temporary files were not created in the directory
specified by the temp variable, but rather in the root directory of
the active drive.