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16.4 How to pass command lines longer than 126 characters

Q: Can I invoke my program with a command line longer than the infamous DOS 126-character limit?

Q: I have a Makefile of Unix origin which contains some very long command lines. Will it work with DJGPP?

A: Yes and yes. DJGPP supports several methods of passing command-line arguments which allow it to work around the DOS 126-character limit. These are:

Of course, if the DJGPP start-up code doesn't see any of the above methods, it will use the DOS command line by default.

Since the long command lines are a very important feature, DJGPP's version of the system library function avoids calling the DOS command processor, COMMAND.COM, unless it needs to run a batch file or an internal command of COMMAND.COM. Other features of the command processor, like redirection and pipes, are emulated internally by system. See the library reference for system, for more details about its extended functionality.