help.hlp (Table of Contents; Topic list)
Important Notice
The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.
SUBMENU
Example
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
                                  SUBMENU
 
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>.
 
                                      ♦