MS DOS Command: SUBMENU

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Defines an item on a startup menu that, when selected, displays another set of choices. You can use this command only within a menu block in your CONFIG.SYS file.

The startup menu is a list of choices that appears when you start your computer. You define a startup menu by using special CONFIG.SYS commands. Each item on the menu corresponds to a set of CONFIG.SYS commands called a "configuration block." A startup menu makes it possible to start your computer with a variety of configurations. For more information about defining multiple configurations, see the chapter "Configuring Your System" in the MS-DOS User's Guide.

Syntax

SUBMENU=blockname[,menu_text]

Parameters

blockname

Specifies the name of the associated menu block. The menu block must be defined elsewhere in the CONFIG.SYS file and can contain menu-definition commands. Unlike the "main" menu block, which must have the block name [MENU], a menu block for a submenu can have any name you want. If MS-DOS cannot find a block with the specified name, the item does not appear on the startup menu. The block name can be up to 70 characters long and can contain most printable characters. It cannot include spaces, backslashes (\) and forward slashes (/), commas, semicolons (;), equal signs (=), and square brackets ([ and ]).

menu_text

Specifies the text you want MS-DOS to display for this menu item. If you don't specify any menu text, MS-DOS displays the block name as the menu item. The menu text can be up to 70 characters long and can contain any characters you want.

Related Commands

The SUBMENU command is one of six special CONFIG.SYS commands for defining startup menus. The other commands are:

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 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.)
The INCLUDE command, which includes the contents of one configuration block in another. This command cannot be included in a menu block.

For an overview of the steps required to define multiple configurations, see Commands for Defining Multiple Configurations.

Examples

The following CONFIG.SYS file defines a main startup menu and one submenu:

[menu]
menuitem base_config,Base configuration only
menuitem full_config,Normal configuration
submenu netmenu, Normal configuration with network
[netmenu]
menuitem lanman, Start Microsoft LAN Manager
menuitem vines, Start Banyan VINES
[base_config]
dos=high
device=c:\dos\himem
[full_config]
include=base_config
dos=umb
device=c:\dos\emm386 ram
device=c:\dos\ramdrive.sys 512
[lanman]
include=full_config
rem Commands for Microsoft LAN Manager would go here.
[vines]
include=full_config
rem Commands for Banyan VINES would go here

This CONFIG.SYS file provides a choice of four configurations: a basic configuration (base_config), a full configuration (full_config), and two network configurations. Both network configurations include all the commands in the full configuration; the lanman configuration runs Microsoft LAN Manager and the vines configuration runs Banyan VINES network software. To choose a network configuration, the user first selects item 3, "Normal configuration with network," from the main menu. MS-DOS then displays the network choices on the submenu.

When MS-DOS starts, it displays the following menu:

MS-DOS Startup Menu

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